Mike, I think there's no way around it,,it takes a thick material to have a long lasting wear strip. A replacable chunk of HMWPE makes sense but what I put on two kayaks works so far. Using dynel cord soaked in cabosil thickened 'poxy then lay it on a shallow recess on the ends before glassing, mask and compress with 2" packing tape. Clean it up so that you can glass over the strip.