: What's the best way to do an opaque nylon skin on a skin-on-frame
: kayak? I see a lot of people using 2-part urethane, some over
: acid dyed nylon, for a translucent tinted effect, but I'm not
: sure what's best to use to get an opaque skin. I'd like to do a
: jet black opaque semi-glossy covering using 8.9oz nylon.
: Is this as simple as using a tinted polyurethane? Perhaps Varathane
: "paint"? Does Epifanes or Coelan take tinting? New to
: this, sorry.

Colean offers tubes of colorant that can be added to the clear to make an opaque coating. One tube per 750ml tin, doesn't change any of its other properties. Epifanes recommends their Monourethane Topsides paint, which is opaque as well. Varnishes are hard to make absolutely opaque, but you can make them less translucent with artists' oil colors or earth pigment. Most polys can be tinted with Universal Tinting Colors from a paint shop, and some can be tinted with liquid aniline dyes (like transtint or mixol), but the latter is not very color stable when exposed to UV. People frequently use dye with Corey's Goop because it's what he recommends. There are a wide range of paints that people use, marine or otherwise. It's your kayak! Make it how you want it!

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