JEM Watercraft

I was recently at the boat show here and was talking to a dealer that restores boats and I asked him about grafite for my kayak ,he didn't have any but gave me some aluminium powder and told me itshould work similar to the grafite. Does anyone know if it does or doesn't?

Just be careful with the aluminium powder it can be explosive if you get it near fire. Its what most gunpowder is made of now days. Caused the Hindenburg to burn. . . . . .

Thanks for the info I'll be extra careful if I use it.

it will have hardness but won't be as "slippery" as graphite.

Graphite is a lubricant and slippery , Aluminum is a metal and not very slippery.

Will the aluminum powder work to protect the bottom of the boat and is it worth using?I was told that it is used on boats to help protect the bottom (I don't know, it was free as well)

toolman wrote:Will it work to protect the bottom of the boat and is it worth using?I was told that it is used on boats to help protect the bottom (I don't know, it was free as well)

The graphite , besides making the bottom slicker , will add some protection to it. You would have the epoxy and glass then a couple more coats of the epoxy and finally the epoxy and graphite. Normally it is three light coats of it to do the job.
So there is extra epoxy on the bottom along with the graphite mix.

When you hit a stick or log then the graphite lets it slide over it in place of it gouging the bottom of the boat. One person who paddles up north in the rocks area was gouging the bottom of his boat on the rocks and with the graphite mix he would hit a rock and get a scratch on the bottom of the boat and not the gouge he was getting without it.

The mix it not bullet proof but it is a help in avoiding or reducing the damage to the bottom if it is not there. Epoxy without it will resist sliding over an object while the graphite helps to let it slip over.

Case in point....... I was paddling the Okefenokee Swamp in a glass canoe and when I was in the Lilly pads and vegetation there was a squeaking sound as I paddled threw them. It was the vegetation sticking to the bottom and side of the canoe. Back on a different trip I had the graphite mix on the canoe and it slid threw the vegetation without a sound. As one person who tried my canoe in the weeds came back and told me that I had turned the canoe into a 4 wheel drive for going threw weeds with the graphite on the bottom.
One area ( about a 1/4 mile long ) was full of logs we had to go over , I slid over them without any problems while the guys in there canoes , without the graphite , had to push and pull to get over them.

In plain language the graphite will help ( It's an aid ) to save the bottom of the boat but like all things in life it boils down to the person doing the paddling and what abuse or lack of abuse they put there boat threw.

Another bottom treatment I have on a couple of my boats.....One is the Sasquatch 14 posted here on Matt's web site. http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail ... d=Sas14-30
Is the Interlux Brightside Polyurethane ( epoxy paint with Teflon in it ) on them. If you don't like the idea of a black bottom this paint comes in a wide assortment of colors. It also helps to protect the bottom. My canoe and two other boats have it. The canoe was paddled down the Brazos River and hit a lot of rocks plus lined threw a 1/4 mile stretch of rocks and had a few light scratches on the bottom , nothing serious or damaging. WARNING .. This paint is very expensive but worth every dime.

Chuck.........