Rob, you're a canoe guy also...would you recommend the old standby Kevlar felt skid pads on a canoe or this polypro stuff?

Shawn

: I use a 1" wide 60" long (cloth width) strip of polypropylene cloth
: on the keel stem edges,
: starting at the waterline, on all my boats. Polypropylene cloth wets out well
: and is translucent.

: The keel stem edges will get a lot of abrasion. I would not put this cloth
: anywhere else since it will
: add a lot of weight when used in large quantities.

: Dynel and Xynole are opaque when wet-out.

: Underwater Stem Protection
: The edges of the fore and aft stems and underwater edges along the keel of
: your boat can sustain damage from abrasion fairly quickly if not
: protected.
: Fiberglass cloth has tremendous impact strength, but it is not very good at
: abrasion protection. Use a specialty cloth designed for abrasion
: resistance to protect these edges. I use polypropylene cloth from Defender
: Industries.

: This strip of protective cloth need only be 1” wide. Sand with 80 grit paper
: along the keel bow and stern where you will be applying the abrasion
: strip. Use 2” masking tape to mask off an area along the keel at the stems
: from just above the waterline, back under the hull as far as your cloth
: length will allow.
: Apply masking tape 1/2” on either side of the keel line. Apply tape crossing
: the keel strips at the ends to mask off this area. See photo top.
: Cut a strip of the abrasion cloth 3” wide and full length, usually 60” long.
: Tape and stretch this cloth to the keel straddling the masked area.

: Wet out the cloth and the cloth edges extending onto the masking tape.
: Press waxed paper and/or clear kitchen plastic wrap onto the wet resin. This
: will leave a smooth surface when removed.
: When the resin has set to a leather hard stage, start peeling back the
: masking tape and cut the excess cloth on the edge of the inner cloth tape
: edge.
: Lift and cut pulling the cloth up into the knife edge reducing the chance of
: damaging the underlaying glass.
: Use a new blade in a utility knife to cut the leather hard resin and cloth.
: Press just hard enough to cut through the soft resin.
: The underlying glass is hard enough to prevent hull damage unless you press
: into it really hard.
: Continue to peel back the tape & cloth and cut a neat edge to the
: abrasion strip.
: Let the abrasion strip harden and then sand the sharp edges smooth.

: All the best,
: Rob Macks
: Laughing Loon CC&K
: www.laughingloon.com