From: "Michael O'Flynn" <moflynn@sd23.bc.ca>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: baidarka Dacron finishing
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 17:38:25 -0700
Jason:
I went to the airport and found a fellow who builds and repairs
cloth-covered airplanes. He sold me 2.7 oz dacron for $9 per yard. But
since "dacron is dacron" (that's what the textiles teacher here at the
school -- and her university prof too -- told me), you could just go to a
fabric store and get some heavier material there. It'll probably cost more,
but may have a design. Personally, I'd staple a sample over a hole in a
sheet of plywood and then heat-shrink it with an iron to make sure it works.
Incidentally, the fellow who works on airplanes told me to use an iron,
_not_ a heat gun.
The aircraft dacron (Ceconite, by name) required an iron with a temperature
of 235 degrees fahrenheit. I solved that by getting a candy thermometer to
calibrate my iron. $4 candy thermometer at Wal-Mart.
Cheers!
-----Original Message-----
From: Llama <llama@mb.sympatico.ca>
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Date: Monday, July 05, 1999 7:22 PM
Subject: Re: baidarka Dacron finishing
>Michael:
>
>Many thanks, Varathane is the stuff I will use. It is easy to find
>around here - I didn't know you could get it in a pigmented form,
>though. Where did you get your Dacron from? I would really like to get
>it from a Canadian source as ordering from the States is so expensive.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jason
>
>Michael O'Flynn wrote:
>>
>> Jason:
>>
>> I used water-bourne polyurethane. The brand was Varathane Diamond
Outdoor
>> Finish. If you're not from Canada, I'm willing to bet that pretty well
any
>> water-bourne polyurethane will work, especially if it says you can use it
>> outdoors.
>>
>> I painted a test piece of stretched dacron with the stuff and submerged
it
>> for more than 24 hours. It became slightly milky, but didn't seem
different
>> in other properties from an unsubmerged sample (experiment and control!).
>>
>> I know that the test isn't highly scientific, but the boat works well.
The
>> skin is taut, never gets saggy, and withstood an errant whack up against
the
>> brick exterior of my house as I took it off the van the first time.
>> Couldn't find the scrape.
>>
>> It's low cost, and the stuff comes as an "enamel" too, which is
polyurethane
>> with pigment added so it's just like paint. I'll probably use that some
>> time. As it is, I probably have enough left from the original gallon to
put
>> 5 coats on another two and a half boats.
>>
>> Cheers!
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Llama <llama@mb.sympatico.ca>
>> To: Baidarka List <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
>> Date: Saturday, June 26, 1999 9:25 AM
>> Subject: baidarka Dacron finishing
>>
>> >What is the best way to seal a Dacron skin? I have decided to use
>> >Dacron for my skin kayak, mostly because of light weight, but the low
>> >cost and ease of working (from what I gather from the archives) was also
>> >a factor. Now I have to figure out what to finish it with. The ideal
>> >sealant, it seems, should be light, flexible, inexpensive, and
>> >non-toxic. I also do not want a transparent skin; an opaque colour
>> >would be required. I don't think anything I've run across yet meets all
>> >those requirements. Platt Monfort recommends acrylic house paint - how
>> >is this as far as flexibility is concerned? What are your experiences
>> >with the various ways of finishing this skin?
>> >
>> >Regards,
>> >
>> >Jason