: I used epoxy over polyester for a Greenland skin boat 3 years ago. If you go
: to the site below , crack open me (Jay Babina) and Dean Bertoldi who both
: used epoxy on our skin boats - built the same time.

: http://connyak.org/Boatbuilders/Yakboatbuildersframe.htm

: Mine has held up fine. no cracks, still has flexability and the abrasion
: resistance is tough. I've gone over barnacle covered rocks with it. I have
: two coats on it. Many skin boat builders are re-coating and having trouble
: with leakage. This workded out great although I think an ideal covering
: would have more flexability. It's like thin poster cardboard. Epoxy
: (colored) was too shiny so I gave it a light coat of matt varnish from a
: spray can (Helmsman). I guess that would help with UV as well although
: it's not my regular kayak - I use it on occassion. I guess the dark
: coloring helps with the UV too.

: Next time I would try colored varnish only for the convenience and maybe
: paint a coat of epoxy on the abrasion areas on the bottom.

I'll defer to Jay since he has way more experience with skin boats. I will say that the epoxy I used to coat my deck lines and to seal in holes into the gunwales has cracked and needed reapplications. I also used epoxy to coat over badly abraided areas in the hull. These have cracked and flaked off. But this could be the epoxy I am using (quick hardening) and the fact that it may not have adhered too well to the underlying poly. At any rate, I lightly sanded and refinished with poly the abraided areas and it has held up better. Probably better mating of similar coating.

sing