Kayak Art Gone Wild

After reading all the posts about nose art there were some very good points made.
I think safety was most important and being able to uniquely identify a kayak made the most sense to me. Many times I have watched kayak fishermen ( and women ) from the bluffs at Ft Ross. I couldn't tell who they were.
The name on the nose of a kayak seemed to be an easy solution to this so I got busy...VERY BUSY! I wonder what the sharks are going to think?????

Nice work there, Tote! 
So, tell us about the paint you used and what you did to prep the boat!

John

Nice work there, Tote! 
So, tell us about the paint you used and what you did to prep the boat!
John

The bottom already has war wounds from a couple years of use. I used really fine steel wool to clean the bottom and knock off some burrs from scratches. I used a black crayon to draw the design. I took Adam's ( Fishhunter's ) idea and used a  giant sharpie to color it in. I went through 3 of them. Two coats of clear coat and called it good. I am sure that being on the bottom it probably wont last long but that's OK. It looks good for now. The name will stay on for a while and that is all the really matters.

That looks cool! It must have taken a long time.

  Nice job!  I think I've found a winter project for my yum-yum yellow Outback!

That looks cool! It must have taken a long time.

Four hours start to finish.

Hey Tote,
 I hope that you have not accidently discovered a design that turns great white sharks on.
 Steve

Hey Tote,
 I hope that you have not accidently discovered a design that turns great white sharks on.
 Steve

I doubt it.

Mother
Nature protects certain species
of animals with distinct coloration
patterns. The technical name for
this phenomenon is aposematic
pattern coloration. Examples of
coloration imitation on land  are
the Monarch and Viceroy butterfly
and coral and king snake.  Several
species of fish share a distinct
striped pattern and are not prey
items for sharks. In the documentary
"Smile of the Shark", shark experts
proved Tiger sharks would not eat
striped poles filled with fish.

The "research" is business research in the tropics....w/ tropical species. The ad claims that remora, pilotfish, lionfish, seasnakes are striped, and repell sharks including slow, deliberate tiger sharks [ which eat their own striped young at times].
 Those striped species are small animals by mass and IMO none of those species are relevant to GWS behavior.
    GWSs decide from afar and initiate the charge from a distance. Little stripey things would not be seen til after the charge was in progress....and, we have the general lack of visability issue here on top of that.
       
GWSs are a different breed and looking up at a kayak in poor visability with the sun above making the entire shape a big shady mass....?
 A cloudy day may be the same.
 Sharp stripes in bad visability may become blotches as in harbor seal blotches.

 Who knows? I think that killer whale b&w blotches would be a notion to try.
 Steve

Looks great Tote.  It could be interpreted as a LARGE poisonous amphibian. very scary
Ive been rolling around the Idea of making the bottom of a kayak resemble a school of bait fish.

It wouldnt last long but if you could stick or paint a reflective coating on the bottom of your boat it could make for predator style camo and a very interesting pre spawn.

Tote-

Holy smokes man... you've got talent... and a lot of time on your hands. I'd like to know exactly how long that design will last. Your name should last a while though. The bottom... may not.

Freddie

PS. Terry... your putting a lot of thought into the pre-spawn for next year. You still thinking about a party???

The design and implementation was very impressive!

a LARGE poisonous amphibian.

Huh?
 You mean like a "water dog..."[ie. tiger salamnder] or bass bait.
 Steve

The design and implementation was very impressive!

a LARGE poisonous amphibian.

Huh?
 You mean like a "water dog..."[ie. tiger salamnder] or bass bait.
 Steve

It's just art. Sheesh.

I like it!
Very cool design Tote!

Awesome work Tote! Well done.

Z