: So. Fueled by Dave Gentry's post a while back, I bought a tube of
: this PL Premium construction adhesive when I skinned my kayak
: last week. I used it for various gluing tasks and to goop up the
: coaming-to-skin seal inside. Neat stuff.

: Took a nylon scrap last night and spread a thin smear of PL over it
: like Corey's Goop or whatever. This morning it's probably mostly
: cured though I guess a few more days for it to fully cure. It's
: already tough as crap and still quite flexible etc.

I'm glad you're looking into it, too. Makes me feel better when I'm not alone. I'm glad that Dave investigated this first, too... I don't want to be forging a path into unknown territory on my first build. I'm still looking at the 'yak sideways and saying "Is it supposed to look like that?"

: So I guess Noel (? "The Lucky One" Is that you) is
: coating his new Sea Tour with it. Love to know how that goes
: over a larger surface... and to hear about how paint sticks to
: it.

Yep, that's me.

: The scrap I coated last night, though "dry" this morning,
: feels kinda greasy/waxy. If it were epoxy, I'd guess it's amine
: blush. What is it with the PL? What's that greasiness going to
: do to paint adhesion? I'll wait a bit longer on the cure, then
: wash it with soapy water and see how it feels.

I should've started on a scrap, but just started slathering it onto the polyester. I found it hard to apply initially, using plastic scrapers. I looked up Dave's old posts and noted he used a spatula. My wife generously donated a rubber spatula, and it's made applying it quite a bit easier.

I'm finding the PL really thick. It'll spread fairly easily if I push the edge of the spatula into it, which looks like it pushes the PL into the weave and moves the excess onto the free side of the spatula. I'm free to spread it around, then. Trying to spread the PL like icing on a cake has not worked for me... it's too thick.

I'm also leery of how thick to apply it. Dave's posts earlier seem to imply that he's been able to spread it really thin, so it just wets the skin and darkens the fabric. Mine doesn't darken so much, but the shine of the fabric changes a bit when it's got a thin coating on it. Wherever the PL is thicker, it gives the fabric a bit of a tan color. More, and it's definitively tan. I don't have much in the way of spots where I can't make out the weave of the fabric, visibly. It's hard to spread it that thin and keep it a uniform thickness, though. As a result, I've got a bit of a splotchy tan color scheme going on.

I do have a few spots where it looks like I got the spatula into half cured PL while spreading fresh. There's a few bumps of PL throughout... they trim off fairly easy with a pocket knife. I'm wondering if I shouldn't take some fine sandpaper to the high spots of the PL once it's cured for a few days.

I dunno what's up with that greasy feel, either. Time will tell what it does. Both Dave and Locktite say there should be no problem with paint adhesion after it cures.

: I'm wondering why we couldn't use something like this to form a
: double-layer laminated skin something like on a Feathercraft.
: I'm not sure if the outside of a feathercraft skin is another
: fabric, or if it is urethane imprinted with a fabric texture.
: But my thought is to use a lighter nylon initially, then
: laminate a "pretty" fabric to it for the color and
: outside finish.

I'm with Dave. Slap the PL on areas of wear, or double up on the fabric in those spots, too. Adding another full skin's gonna make it heavy. The PL does seems to imply some toughness to the fabric, though I haven't done much other than press on the uncoated fabric and compared it to pressing on the PL treated areas.

: For that matter, why would we not use something like 5200 instead
: of PL. How similar are these two materials? I've never yet
: personally played with 5200, but I am eyeing it. The fast cure I
: reckon. I don't have patience for a week cure unless the results
: would be phenomenal. Would it even cure if overlaid with another
: layer of cloth?

Never played around with 5200, either, nor have I heard much of it. I'll be happier once I'm done covering my 'yak... maybe I'll make up my mind on my feelings regarding PL by then.

: Also still heavily interested in the Hamm method, and the stuff Dan
: C has been doing with Vectra (whatever that is) etc. But these
: methods may be more expensive?

: Paint is great, varnish, polyurethane, but these things are always
: wearing out on me on nylon, cracking at the heels and sometimes
: the butt. Floor slats take care of the seat area cracking pretty
: much, suppose the same for heel boards, but I had to rip my last
: attempt at heel boards out, just not enough room, too
: uncomfortable. Thinking of smearing some PL up there by the
: heels on the inside of the yak. That might help. Corey's Goop is
: great, but it's such a dang mess to apply, and so ugly when
: done. I just don't have the "touch" some may with it.
: I suppose after 10 kayaks, I might get better at applying that.

: Thoughts on this idea of laminating for an outer fabric finish
: versus paint?

I don't think I've got the touch, either. At the very least, I could see applying the PL in troublesome wear areas, then simply painting the rest of the skin. By the time I finish the whole skin, I'm hoping I pick up that touch ;oD