painting ocean kayaks w/ krylon fusion for plastic

hey folks, anyone ever tried altering the colors of their kayaks before? i was thinking of doing a little color to the top of the kayak just to make it unique and the only paint i can thin kof using is krylon fusion for plastic. ever used this stuff? i hear its good for auto interiors and dries fast as well. i just dont know how it holds up to sea water and sunlight.

comes in lots of nice colors.

here is a link:

http://www.krylon.com/main/product_template.cfm?levelid=5&sub_levelid=10&productid=1751&content=product_details

I think B3D painted his. not sure what he used or how long it lasted.Brian might be able to help you out.
Jack

It works good for plastic crab trap boies.

john,
 I have used the infusion paint on buckets, it covers well but scrapes off easily as if it didn't bond to the plastic.
 Maybe I should have washed the bucket first but they were brand new.
 The boat is a differenty plastic, maybe try a small area unseen first!?
 I was thinking of adding name to boat but the paint not sticking has halted it. let me know how it works.

John, 

I sought advice on this site and from Ocean Kayaks when looking for an adhesive to mount a transducer inside my hull.  The unanimous response was that the only thing that will stick to polyethelene is polyethelene.  Might email the folks at OK but since it sounds like nothing sticks, the worse case is you may have a mess to clean up.  I did find an acceptable product for the transducer but it definitely is not bonded.

Pete

Hey,
As well as a fishing freak I'm also an aquarium enthusiast and I have used Krylon fusion on things in saltwater aquariums and it held up fairly well. It's not to say you won't ever have to touch it up but it will stick. I painted a starboard cutting board which is polyethylene I'm pretty sure and it stuck until I tore the tank down not too many months after setting it up. But that is constant submersion. Give it a shot. Couldn't hurt.

I kept my old tandem kayak in my workshop and was doing some finish work on a few trim boards. After staining them I noticed a few drops flew off my brush onto my kayak. NOTHING got those stains out. Tried paint thinner, naptha, W-D 40, goof off, everything I had around and the stains held true.

hey folks, thanks for all the tips and suggestions. i may try it as soon as i have a weekend to do it and i'll post results. i'll try to locate some of that paint and test a section inside. then i'll see how it sticks and scrapes off.

thank you all!

john

Hey John,

I bought a very used OK malibuII that was a faded pink color.  Although the pink color might have helped with the WAF, I thought why not try the Krylon Fusion pant.  To my surprise it worked ok.  The paint has come off in a few spots where hard surfaces rub on it, like from where a solid milk crate scratched it but overall, the paint has lasted. 

This winter I wanted to touch up the bottom of the yak ,so I used my pressure washer (the box claimed 2500 psi) to try and remove the old paint but surprisingly the paint would not come off with the high pressure water.  After that I just decided to add another coat to the bottom and it looks great.  The other thing that I did, is since my yak was kinda of a pink color, I painted it red so that in the small areas where the paint comes off, it is not very noticable.   

The thing that I found with the fusion paint is that it is dry to touch with in a few minutes, but it will easily scratch off for the first few hours.  After the paint drys for a couple of weeks it seems to be most durable.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how it works out John.

Brian 3Dog

Hey John,

I bought a very used OK malibuII that was a faded pink color.  Although the pink color might have helped with the WAF, I thought why not try the Krylon Fusion pant.  To my surprise it worked ok.  The paint has come off in a few ......

excellent news! i will give it a shot as soon as i get some time. i still want to pick a color. right now its granite but i want to maybe do a blue or something like that. thanks for the info!!

john

John - I would suggest a high visibility color - like yum-yum yellow 

yum yum yellow is the preferred color for getting top water hits from 20 foot 5000 lb fish in low-vis conditions!

switch to a more natural blue or green for clear water!

J

Neutral or natural colors will get you hit on the surface by 20'+ PB's. Stick with the high viz colors.

Hey John,

I bought a very used OK malibuII that was a faded pink color.  Although the pink color might have helped with the WAF, I thought why not try the Krylon Fusion pant.  To my surprise it worked ok.  The paint has come off in a few spots where hard surfaces rub on it, like from where a solid milk crate scratched it but overall, the paint has lasted. 

The thing that I found with the fusion paint is that it is dry to touch with in a few minutes, but it will easily scratch off for the first few hours.  After the paint drys for a couple of weeks it seems to be most durable.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how it works out John.

Brian 3Dog

I, too, bought a used pink kayak and after reading this post, went to the local walmart and picked up a couple of cans of Krylon Fusion (blue). I used 2 whole cans of that stuff on a OK Scupper Pro. I think it's 16 feet long. I'm surprised with the outcome. This is my very first spray paint project so there were little patches of liter layers of the paint and pink still showed, but the kayak as a whole looked great, with a much newer look. As Brian has mentioned, the paint does scratch and rub off. I took it out after only 24 hours after painting it and the paint didn't peel off or anything. So it held surprisingly well. About $9 and 45 minutes, can't imagine a better solution. I'm very pleased.

P.S. I've picked up a 3rd can for the necessary touch ups.
P.S.S. I realized that this thread has aged, but figure that my input may help others searching for opinions.

I heard that some people did tests at the farrallons towing different colored surf boards. they said that the red ones were attacked the most and yellow ones the least.