...that's where Pruden lives. I thought I'd drop a line to tell y'all (for those who don't know) that rubbing a kayak down with acetone and a rag is an activity that should only be performed by those who can remember they basic chemistry and actually have fairly decent recall so that they can realize before it's too late that they are doing something they should most likely not be doing, especially when someone else's kayak is involved. Yah, technically, there's nothing wrong with wiping a kayak down with an acetone soaked rag to remove fine dust prior to doing more epoxy work. The acetone (non-recycled stuff) evaporates in well-ventilated areas almost immediately and you are left with a nice clean surface to work on. There is also no problem if you are wiping your kayak down with a red rag but not using acetone or some other organic solvent. The real problems begin when you combine acetone with a red rag and proceed to wipe down the kayak while not noticing (got to get my eyes checked) that a red residue is being left behind with each swipe of the soggy rag. Worse, if the surface of the kayak is at all porous, the red dye gets into the pores and is really hard to remove. Worse (yes, it gets worse) is if, after not noticing prior mistakes, you begin to apply epoxy to the kayak and are almost done and notice that the stuff you are squeegeeing along the hull is getting pinker the more ya shove it along the length of the hull. That did indeed happen to me. I have worked for 27-years in chemical labs and you'd think I wouldda stood back and considered that mixing red rags and an organic solvent was not a good idea. Not me, I looked at the fresh batch of epoxy in my cup, no color there, looked at the red outside of the cup, no color running there...looked at the hull, couldn't see anything there...so I kept working the epoxy while thinking where the hell did that red come from. I was too tired to think and too rushed to stop and think things through. What I should have done long before I started work that evening was to have stopped myself from reaching for the cheap rags I spotted on the shelf at RONA. Normally I use the clean lint-free cotton rags that are not dyed but I couldn't find any so I opted for the cheap quick solution on the shelf. That $$$ savings cost me more $$$ when I madly rushed to scrape off all the pinkened epoxy after coating Keith's entire hull in it. Fortunately, I got to it in time and managed to remove 99 % of the pinkishness from Keith's Solace 17. Needless to say, I was seeing red because of my near fatal mistake. That was a few nights ago. That night, I talked to Linda about my pink slip (up) and suggested that I could just not say anything to Keith since it was barely noticeable and within a year the pinkishness would disappear with UV exposure. She hemmed and hawed about that idea. In the end, I decided to tell Keith that he now had a slightly pink kayak. He laughed when I told him and thought a little extra color wouldn't hurt anything. I was tickled pink to learn that I would be allowed to live another day but still a bit red-faced about the obvious mistake.

The moral of this story is when you see a red hot deal on cheap rags, don't be tickled pink that you saved a dollar because you'll only see red after the deal is done. And never let a dyed rag mixed with acetone get between you and your project.

Robert N(ot nuts about pink kayaks) Pruden

PS: When Keith's wife learned that a kayak could be colored pink, she immediately wanted one complete with Tinkerbell images burned all over it. Looks like Keith and I will be busy next winter. One man's mistake is another woman's desire. Something like that...