Painting Kevlar

I just bought a used Kevlar Canoe that is in great shape, except it needs to be painted with camo paint; will be using this to get to and/or hunt in shallow water areas. Never done this before ...any suggestions as to how to prep and what paint will adhere best? In advance, thanks for help.
 
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FME from Lock Stock and Barrel. It's self priming and I think all you would want to do is clean the surface real well of any dirt, grease or wax. Lou will probably see this when he gets on and give you more professional advice since he is the FME man.
 
Thanks, Lee. Great information and I'll hope Lou sees this as well.

Harold,
Actually, you're not painting kevlar (per se), you're painting the resin, be it polyester or epoxy. Still........no problem.
Clean it off, sand it, vac. it off, tack rag it and paint with FME. Easy, Smeasy. :)
Holler with any questions. If you want, I can email you our color chart.
Lou

Painting an Aluminum or Fiberglass Boat
1. Be sure the boat has been cleaned off well with soap and water to remove all dirt, grease, leaves, grime and all that stuff that accumulates from years of hunting.
2. Lightly solvent wipe things down with a rag and lacquer thinner. This will remove any gasoline, oil or petroleum residues that would mess with your sanding or prevent paint from adhering. When finished with the solvent rag, be sure to let it set out and lose it’s solvents before you put it into a closed container or trash can.
3. Sand the entire boat, as required, to remove and/or scuff all the paint. Be sure to remove any loose paint. When sanding a duck boat, I prefer 80-100 grit. It gives better “tooth” and, after all……..it’ll help with the dulled surface and paint adhesion. Sanding must be taken into the best previously adhered surface in order to have the new coat of paint hold properly.
4. For Aluminum boat-Spot prime any bare aluminum with ASG Primer (or AG Primer), specifically designed for use on “Aluminum, Stainless & Galvanized”. Do not thin AG Primer. A second option would be to prime the entire boat with PPG’s Epoxy Primer.
5. For Fiberglass boat-You can go right to the FME as this is a Primer-Based Paint and will serve as its own primer. If you would like, another option would be to prime with PPG-Epoxy Primer and then follow up with FME.
6. Once the primer has dried (AG, PPG or 1st coat of FME), you can base coat the entire boat, inside and out, with the base coat FME (Flat Marine Enamel-oil based) color of your choice. FME is a “primer-based” paint and requires no other primer underneath it on a properly prepared surface. You may use a brush, roller or sprayer. When spraying, the best is an airless sprayer though you can thin slightly with a high quality paint thinner for use in a regular air spray gun. If using the air-feed spray gun, we recommend the top-feed, gravity style of gun. It requires less air and less thinning to get a proper pattern. You will also achieve greater success with a couple thinner coats rather than one thick coat. Thinner coats will cure/dry much faster and more thoroughly….thus, more durable. Secret: “thin, you win”.
7. When the base coat is dry (usually overnight in good temps), you may accent with any other FME color you’d like. The options are endless……match your local vegetation.
8. We have several camouflage patterned paint schemes and colors available.
*Our 2-tone Reed Stripe was developed for the cat-tail marshes & flooded corn. Base coat in Starcraft Camo Light Brown (#26) and reed stripe with an automotive striping brush with Starcraft Camo Dark Brown (#27), thinning #27 on the palette as you work. We developed these colors through PPG specifically for us and Starcraft. You can even “green it up” a bit with Dead Grass Green (#28), O/D Green (#35) or some Olive (#18).
*Our Open Water Gray Pattern is very effective for layout hunting. You can base coat the entire boat with Open Water Medium Gray (#33) or Open Water Dark Gray (#34) and allow it to dry. Once dry, overstripe with a wave pattern of Open Water Light Gray (#32) by cutting the feed pressure down, reducing the size of your pattern to a small area and reducing the feed rate so it will be easy to control. Move the spray gun around in a lazy “wave”, walk alongside the boat and “wave” the gun to give the pattern you’d like.
We have pictures of these patterns that we can email to you.
9. You can create your own color patterns/schemes with any of the FME colors we have. All the decoy and boat paints are TRUE - FLAT MARINE ENAMELS and work well with each other. We also do custom colors at no extra cost…try us.
Lock Stock & Barrell, Inc.
123 Avery (shop)
Clinton Twp., MI 48036
Ofc.Ph: (586) 790-2678, Fax: (586) 790-2653, Shop Ph: (586) 465-0339
www.lockstockbarrell.com * duckguylsb@juno.com
 
FME from Lock Stock and Barrel. It's self priming and I think all you would want to do is clean the surface real well of any dirt, grease or wax. Lou will probably see this when he gets on and give you more professional advice since he is the FME man.

Thanks Lee. Your commission check is "in the mail". ;) Go ahead, wait outside by the mail box for it. Trust me. ;)
Missed you at Westlake partner, tons of fun.
Lou
 
Lou: Thanks for all of your input. It would be great if you could send the color chart. I plan to tackle this in the next few weeks and may take you up on your offer to answer questions. You guys are great ...that's why I enjoy this site. Thanks again.
 
Lou: Thanks for all of your input. It would be great if you could send the color chart. I plan to tackle this in the next few weeks and may take you up on your offer to answer questions. You guys are great ...that's why I enjoy this site. Thanks again.

Hi Harold,
Happy to help, that's what makes the world go around. :)
I will need your email addy to send you the color chart. You don't have it listed. Either post it here or email me: duckguylsb@juno.com
Later,
Lou
 
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