Glen-L.com

Hi,when you use graphite it turns the epoxy black,im going put it on my bottom and 1 ft. up on the sides.being black will heat affect the epoxy glue or coatings? im only going up a 1 ft. on the sides and i want the rest bright,how do i get a crisp edge with the graphite? 3M tape?

I used graphite powder filler on my boat bottom. Yeah, it looks black if you mix enough in. It behaves just like any other epoxy resin. I suppose you could tape it off, but I never actually tried to tape off a clean edge.
I noticed that if you rub it you can get black on your hand like rubbing the ink off a newspaper.

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God Bless our Troops; especially our Snipers

I just want it up to my spray rails and the rest is going to be left clear,so 1 ft. up from bottom. thanks

I have a related question. Several canoe building books talk about using graphite on the canoe bottoms, and several say specifically that you should not varnish over the graphite. The reasoning seems to be that the varnish would reduce the "slickness" of the graphite and make the whole process useless. None of the books I've read say anything about the UV effect on the epoxy/graphite surface, though. So does the graphite add some UV protection, or do people just not worry about it, since the bottom of the canoe would (presumably) not get enough sunlight to make it an issue?

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Tom
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Knot-So-Fast (A stretched Bo-Jest design)
Travel Log at www.tomstug.blogspot.com

"It's amazing what one can do when one doesn't know what one can't do." - Garfield

Tom

I think it's a combination of less exposure and the graphite does offer some protection. the graphite actually shades the epoxy under it.

The flaw is that canoes are usually stored upside down. The bottom ends up with far more exposure than the top.

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

Graphite bottom coat you say?
I purchased West System graphite for my boat, the can had great instructions.
I wetted out the bottom fiberglass with normal mix of epoxy and added a fill coat. After it cured I sanded the entire bottom, and taped off the edges. It took 6 coats of graphite mix to get the nice dark color, don't worry about blotching on first few coats it'll all be black when you are done. I put on all 6 coats in 19 hours, keeping the cureing in mind it worked out great. When you are all done remove your painters tape when epoxy is still tacky/green you'll have a nice clean edge.
I never had to sand the graphite coat instead I rubbed on a few layers of car wax. Still looking for an answer on varnishing the graphite because it does not keep it's shiny black luster, after two years it's a flat black. Finally as for duarabillity the bottom has taken a beating on the rocky shore lines of Hebgen Lake in Montana and barely a scratch to talk about.

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It's amazing what one can accomplish when he doesn't know what can't be accomplished.

Thank you ! great info!

Looks like we all skipped over the heat issue. I would think in Wisconsin there wouldn't be a problem from that small about of black showing on the hull.

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Tom
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Knot-So-Fast (A stretched Bo-Jest design)
Travel Log at www.tomstug.blogspot.com

"It's amazing what one can do when one doesn't know what one can't do." - Garfield

Yes im concerned about the heat and UV ,i could paint over the 1ft. up on the sides ,do you think the bottom would OK IF LEFT JUST BLACK GRAPITE AND EPOXY

If I leave mine in the Tennessee River for 3 days, it gets a bathtub ring around the graphite bottom.
Whats that all about??

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God Bless our Troops; especially our Snipers

dont know pond skum

Im picking some up tomarrow.