: Hi folks. I just pulled the canvas off an old kayak I got cheap at an auction
: and was thinking that rather than just put new canvas on it and paint it,
: what about canvas, then epoxy resin, then marine paint. Is this viable?.
: I was thinking that it might be a bit more robust for my kids to use than
: just a painted canvas skin.
: Cheers for any advise.
: johng

Don't waste your money or your time. If you go with a cotton canvas you can forget the epoxy. The paint does just fine without the epoxy underneath it. The epoxy won;t give you any better bond with the paint, either.

Be sure to put on a mildew preventative. You may be able to find one which you can just mix into the paint. I saw a package suitable for treating a gallon of house paint at the local Home Depot two months ago for about $2-$3. There are some house paints which already include such materials.

But if you want a more durable alternative, consider a polyester fabric rather than a cotton canvas. The price is attractive ( about the same as #10 duck (but somethimes you can even find it cheaper), it won't rot, it is more resistant to cuts and tears, and you can sometimes heat-shrink the material to make a tighter fit.

If you have a lot of epoxy on hand already and you are just dying to use it, consider covering the frame with a 10 ounce or heavier glass cloth and putting your epoxy on that. With glass cloth you can see when the resin has saturated the fabric because the material turns clear as it wets out.

By the way, I hope you removed that old canvas carefully. You can use it as a guide for cutting your new fabric. take a few measurements and see if you can get a shorter length of a wider fabric and possibly save some more cash.

Good luck with your project.

PGJ