Painting Interior Compartments on a Wooden Kayak

I have almost completed my first wooden kayak and my glass work on the inside of the storage compartments was not so great.  It drives me nuts that you can see the milky haze in the epoxy.

Does anyone know of a place or a person that can spray the insides of the compartments with some sort of epoxy paint or something to cover it all up?

Thanks,

Tony


2 replies:

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RE: Painting Interior Compartments on a Wooden Kayak

   Making a couple of assumptions - like there will be relatively little wear and tear (surface abrasion of the paint) in the compartment, and that you're only interested in cosmetically hiding things well enough that a casual observer won't notice anything while accessing the compartment (not someone sticking their head in the hatch with a light).

If these assumptions are true, you might want to just do this yourself.  Just go get some spray enamel from the hardware store and spray.  Mask the hatch entry a bit to avoid the overspray getting on things.  Wear a mask, and maybe some goggles and use a fan to put a light breeze in the vicinity of the hatch - the air will still be still inside the compartment. There will be a lot of paint vapor created in the compartment.  I'd very lightly scuff the areas that you can reach that will be painted - a green scotchbrite pad followed by an alcohol wipedown will guarantee good adhesion.

Then just stick your arm in the hole and spray away, avoiding too many drips if possible.  If you choose a medium brown color to match the wood, most casual observers will never know you painted anywhere.

I must admit that I spray painted my most recent kayak build (a Chesapeake) in the vicinity of the end pour.  I was using microballoons in my fill epoxy (which makes it white). My "dam" in the forepeak had a leak that I didn't notice until I poured.  Had to put my fingers (and hands) in the dike and try to run for the duct tape and back to the boat to get the flow stopped.  I was only partially sucessful due to goo all over.  Actually stood there for over 30 minutes stopping the flow until things set up.  Luckily NPR was already playing on the radio.  No one that didn't stick their head in the hatch was ever going to see this mess, but pride being what it is, I gave all the white splotches I'd created down in the end of the boat a quick spray with brown spray paint out of the can.  It was easier for me than it will be for you, as I had yet to install the deck.  And next time, regardless of kayak type, I think I'll go back to the "stand it on end after the deck is on" end pour method that I used on the Shearwater, rather than the "make a dam before installing the deck" method called for with the Chesapeake.

RE: Painting Interior Compartments on a Wooden Kayak

   Close the hatches. Put the cockpit cover on the kayak or install a full sized paddler. Those usually cover up most interior imperfections.  Classicly though 98% of the observers will do the 25 ft look and think it is bueatiful.  The other two percent will likely have done it themselves and keep quiet.

.

OR you could spray some Krylon Fusion on cleaned epoxy. It is made to cover plastice and works well. Has good abrasion qualities.

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