If the boat doesn't leak I wouldn't mess with it. If you try to sand kevlar it'll frizz like cottoncandy, then you'll have a huge mess. Think of the scratches as "character"! Heck  they're on the bottom I won't say anything. Now if the boat leaks, that's different. If you patch with resin, do so very conservatively,THIN LAYERS! Is your boat colored? you can try to match the color but It will never look as good as new!!! I'm not saying it CAN'T be done,$$$$$ LOL FISHPIG - Leave a personal message for TimA on this site, look at his POSTS, he can help if you don't want to tackle it yourself.

West Marine, yes. Get the pumps from them that meter out the correct amount. Work with small amounts. Don't go back over wet areas. It needs to pool out to get smooth. If you keep messing with it, it will set up rough from your roller.

You already know what some of the fuzz looks like from some of the cuts and scraps in the bottom. Go lightly in an area till you get a feel for how much sanding is too much. You only want to help make a mechanical bond with a little structure for the epoxy to get hold of. Your not trying to remove layers.

If you have a real fuzzy area. Epoxy it first and tape it down smooth. Regular box tape is good, but needs a dry edge for the tape to stick to. After the epoxy is set, remove tape and you can lightly sand it when you do the whole bottom. The fuzz should be stuck down flat from the first epoxy coat.

Geo: canoe repairs are no problem...just stash them under the "spreading Chestnut tree"....the smith, "a mighty man is he" will,with great heed..just strike an arc, and run a bead ........by the way, I always thought you had some really nice photos 

Hi Geof...    Nothing that I saw in your photos looked that bad.....#7 looks a little suspect of a stress but not a bad one. Little sand with 600-400 grit should give you the mechanical bond that you are looking for.....topical only. You can cover only up to the waterline if that is where the sustainal damage or scratches are or go above....its really up to you-the smaller amount of west that you apply to the boat the less weigh you will PU-minor at best. If there is fuzz that you can feel on those deeper scratches use a disposible razor and give them a shave....wetting b4 maybe be necessary but try dry first.....Back to the stress issue-----look inside the hull and look for those white halos around the deeper stratches....those are stresses....the next level of damage beyond a stress is basically a hole/tear/or crack that runs through all the layers of the lamination of the hull. They're straight forward to fix----if you can sand and make mac-n-cheese you can fix a hole or stress, but you will need a repair kit-wenonah dealers should have these-I know that Bell does but i am not sure about the compatiblity of the resins between the two manufacturers....ANYONE? Wear rubber gloves and carbon mask-the resins are not good for you...and a sharp SHARP sissors for cutting the textiles whether it is glass or kev....glass is more appropriate.....Do all your preping  and check all your fit before you mix your resin pot. Prep: sand, cleaning, cleaning-EtOH work pretty good-masking if appropriate-cutting the lamination material, and check it all again.....Mix pot----resin area-appli fabric-resin carefully-----roller or brush...your choice...Me Brushes that's it......dont use to much resin and use enough----very similar to painting-to much=runs/excess weight.....not enough its to dry-the idea is to saturate the fibers (all) in the lamination textile-because once the resin kicks all the way there is really no way to saturate them-dry lam is not as strong and a wet lam is heavy.....but a good lam oh my ..., This patch gig is done on the inside of the hull and on the the outside....just follow the instructions. The resins for the laminations are different than West-they are kicked with peroxide and strong oxidizer that is to be done in a well ventilated area.....dont do it in your house or attached garage Remeber to that on a really hot day the pot life of the resin is shorter and I have seen pots start to smoke from the heat generate on a hot day-burning resin is not KOOL The West thing is a walk in the park-pretty tame.....those mini rollers short knap would be what i would use.....the thing about West is that it has somewhat of a tendacy to run.....think on that a little and play with it you will come to see what i mean....dont alter recipe ...just teach yourself how the West behaves. The other thing that I have experienced is that the West system has a ton of UV inhibitors in it-----simply a fading /cosmetic issue.....If you dont fix you will have water migrate into the kelvar and repair will be more diffecult....A stitch in time saves NINE

I'm with db and Jim J on their suggestions.  Use the "slow" epoxy and a credit card or similar type of spreader to get light coverage over the superficial scratches and to fill the deeper ones.  I didn't see anything that looks like it needs patching.  Epoxy should fill those deeper gouges just fine though it will probably take 2-3 coats to get them back up to the same level as the rest of the canoe.  Patching would only be necessary if you plan on really abusing the canoe in rocks/rivers.  If you'll be doing normal touring and avoid giving the canoe a severe beating there's no way you'll stress those areas enough for them to fail, especially if you fill with epoxy.

I've filled a couple good gouges on my own canoe with this process.  My gouges had exposed kevlar just as yours did.  The hardest step is getting started.  Once you get going, you'll quickly gain confidence and by the time you are done you'll wonder what the heck you were so worried about to start with!

I always carry a duo syringe pack of "quick" epoxy and a small piece of fiberglass cloth as part of my repair kit on any canoe trip.  The quick stuff won't make a good permanent repair but it will certainly get you out of the woods should you damage the canoe to the point where duct tape won't provide enough of a temporary fix.  You can get those syringes of quick epoxy at Home Depot or probably any other good-sized hardware store in their "glue" section.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

If you go the epoxy route - keep in mind that epoxy breaks down if left out in the sun.  So you could do a fine job of recoating the hull - only to have it go cloudy and flakey a year or 2 down the road if you store the hull outside unprotected.

A coat of exterior/UV-protective varnish would be called for in that case. 

Another thing you can do is to cover up to the waterline with a mixture of epoxy and graphite powder (mix the powder with the resin, then add the hardner and mix again).  You'd want to tape/mask off above the W.L., and lightly sand everything below, and you'd want a pretty thin coating.  Graphite powder is available from epoxy vendors - as would be details on how much per amount of resin.

I've started the process....................Did a quick.....light sanding tonight.

Took all the shine off.........there were some places the epoxy was really, REALLY thin..........I have about 5 places where I have kevlar that fuzzed up a little with the deep scratches.

I'm getting the West Marine 105/205 system and pump tomorrow......

Per Old Scout and a couple from here, I taped an "artificial" waterline using some painters tape......I'm hoping to eliminate runs with it.  I know I might have to do some very light sanding to blend it in, but that is OK.

One other question..........

Do you suppose I need more than one coat of epoxy resin?  I am only planning on doing one coat, but I'm REALLY hard on gear, and a second coat will not bother me too much............

What do you guys think.

Thanks,

Geo

GeoFisher wrote on May 5^th, 2009 at 2:11am:

I think you should trade it for a white gelcoat lay-up and not worry or else do a second coat after your trip.    One good scrrrraaaape and you'll be right back to the fuzzy scratch scenario anyway.

BTW - Why such a fast catalyst? Does the pump add proportionally less to slow it down a bit?

The west 207 gives UV protection - I don't think the 205 does.

205 is not recommended for clear-coating.  And if you've never had a batch of epoxy heat up on you - you might want to stay away from the fast harderner anyway.

GeoFisher wrote on May 5^th, 2009 at 7:03pm:

In an effort to keep these thoughts linked - here's the link:
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It always strikes me that folks usually refer to maintaining their canoes as Kevlar repair when really what we're referring to is what's covering the Kevlar or glass or wood... My canoe is Kevlar but any repairs would be completely different.

Here are some pictures of the AFTER repair...........I'm not completely happy with my results.......but I think it will do.........

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And another Youtube Video:

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THANKS to all that gave me advice.

Later,

Geo