Skid Plates w Pics

I was concerned with the thin skin of my P13 on the nose and the tail everytime i slide onto a concrete boat ramp or when I need to rest it when I am carting it around, so I fashoned some aluminum skid plates to take some of the gruff.

For the nose I used a 4 foot long, 1/2 inch wide, (0.64") thick aluminum bar ($6 @ Ace Hardware). I bent the bar slightly to fit the contour of the nose and wrapped it around the top and fitted the end to the nose drain plug ring to hold it in place, Then I took a wire brush and prepped the nose, followed by wiping the area as well as the contact side of the aluminum bar with rubbing alcohol.

Once I had the bar bent to the correct contour I put a thin bead of 3M 5200 marine sealant on the bar and fitted it to the kayak. press it in place then smooth out any excess sealant.

Next I used duct tape to hold the bar on the yak while the sealant cured, wait a little extra than recommended as the duct tape seals out air which slows the curing a little.

For the rear skid plate I used a 4 x 6 inch plate ($6 @ Ace)and hammered it to the countour and attached it the same way using 5200.

So far the nose bar is holding strong, I ram into shore to see if it will hold and its holding up just fine.   

Interesting idea,
Please post pictures and let us know how it holds up after some cold (winter) and heat (summer) flex the boat a little.

If the aluminum holds to the yak it could be very useful (especially for the ice breaking I've seen posted lately ).
But seriously I think this is a good idea especially after seeing the wear on my new Trident 13

Another option would be to get a plastic welder (avail. at Harbor Freight) and add an extra layer of plastic (avail. at Ocean Kayaks) as it wears.

Eric

Eric, have you ever welded one of those plastic pieces on? Level of difficulty?

Welded a 1" scrape/hole not pretty but very sturdy and lasted better than the surrounding plastic

I like the look of those skid plates and if the glue holds up I may try it on one of by river kayaks since we always have to slide over rocks and boulders.

Great job and ingenuity,
Eric

I wasn't happy about white 5200 but that was all I could find locally. I am re-doing the tail, so I'll post those pics soon

Looks cool I have often thought about using a teflon strip   with the alum. I would worry about catching the edges on a rock.
 alum. is pretty sticky. You might think about putting Gluvit or Coat-it its tough stuff to bad it won't stick to plastic.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=30
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2091&familyName=Gluvit+Epoxy+Water+Sealer

Looks like your drain plug is now inoperable.There are an amazing amount of different plastics out there now with adhesives all over the place.Some plastics you could heat up and form to the hull before gluing.I will post more with pics later.

I wonder if that strip of aluminum will have any positive effect (However slight)on the tracking? It should.

Looks cool I have often thought about using a teflon strip   with the alum. I would worry about catching the edges on a rock.
 alum. is pretty sticky. You might think about putting Gluvit or Coat-it its tough stuff to bad it won't stick to plastic.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=30
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2091&familyName=Gluvit+Epoxy+Water+Sealer

Yeah, the alumiminum is sticky, the only time it helped was on a steep ramp when I had to rest, I didn't have to work about is so much rolling down hill.

I wonder if that strip of aluminum will have any positive effect (However slight)on the tracking? It should.

Haven't really notice if it tracks differently/better, I almost always use my rudder

Looks like your drain plug is now inoperable.There are an amazing amount of different plastics out there now with adhesives all over the place.Some plastics you could heat up and form to the hull before gluing.I will post more with pics later.

I really don't know if the drain plug is all that necessary anyway. Between the front hatch, and rod pod there is plenty of access to get water out. I also don't like it right above the battery bag so I may permanently seal it anyway.

The 3M 5200 isn't rated for plastic (at least the tube I used) but seemed to adhere pretty well. I'll look into other adhesives, because a little is flaking out here and there.

3m makes an adhesive that will bond to polypropelene. You also need to use a bonding agent that they also make. You can find it at automotive paint supply shops.

The 3M 5200 isn't rated for plastic (at least the tube I used) but seemed to adhere pretty well.

5200 generally sticks pretty well to yaks, sometimes better than you want.