Refinishing Wave Hulls, XIM Primer

Has anyone tried or heard (1st hand) of anyone using X I M primer on Wave Hulls?

I stopped to talk to some painters that were painting roto molded decorations, to see how they got the paint to stick. They were using X I M Primer for plastics. According to the painters, this stuff is more of a glue than a paint. You rough up the surface and the primer fills the scratches leaving a smooth surface for painting.

It looks like they have a shitload of different primers.

XIM Primers

Which one are you thinking of?

What the frak are you painting the wave hull for? Boat is slow enough without doing that to it. I used wetsand paper on all the blemishes. It still looks like butt but what are you gonna do??

If the primer sticks, then you can use conventional repair materials to fill the scratches, cuts, etc that the soft hull picks up over the years. I would really like to fair and smooth the keels.

Probably the one in the picture> The painters had a white 5 gal bucket with something written on it.

Yesterday I discovered that in the 1990's they actually made interior doors out of cross linked LDPE. The problem was if the home owner painted it, the paint would just slide off. When I called the paint store,I discovered this is why they carry the X I M Primer.

Let me know how it works, my boat looks like it was dropped off a trailer at road speed. Needs some love.

Use sand paper and a sweep of propane flame for best results. The flame smooths the plastic surface. Wide flame like used to shrink wrap boats for winter storage.

I used a propane torch and a flat blade. Heat the blade to red hot and run it over the rough spots on the keel to get rid of the really bad uglies.
Rick

X I M primer was about about like a thin layer of paintable polyurethane adhesive and is more expensive.

5200 seems to fill small deep cuts better. The wet faired 5200 fills look the best.

I guess it's a propane torch and plastic brazing rod for the keels again. I have done this so many times I am beginning to wonder how much keel I have removed.

Since I do this free hand with a propane torch and a putty knife, if they come looking like a NACA foil, thats ok right?

Does your propane torch and plastic brazing rod work on the skegs? I bought a plastic welder on ebay and then a representative from Hobie said it wouldn't work, because the plastic in a Wave is "cross linked". So I didn't try it. There's a couple of videos on Youtube that show guys repairing kayaks. Looks easy, when they do it.

I did exactly that, but didn't want to admit to it here on the forum. If I took a torch to my boat, imagine the shiz I would get from everyone!
It worked for me too (just like Rick did) I heated the area with a wider flame, then heated up a flat narrow scraper to redhot and it seemed to help. I sanded with some heavyish grit black wet sand paper and smoothed it up as nice as I could. Worked well enough to stay in sight of Glanden for a few races last fall
Funny as hell!

When you get to the point of using a propane torch and a hot putty knife, cross linked does not seem to be a factor. Last year I put thin rod (1 mm) in any scratch deep enough to hold them, hit it with a torch and then used a soldering iron with a big flat tip to smooth the skegs. I did this because I am getting concerned about removing material every time I smooth the hulls

I tried plastic brazing with a soft black rod, it was not very strong. I tried hot air brazing and the skin bubbled up. A local company supplied me with a 100 watt soldering iron with a flat 1 in diameter tip and what they called neutral LDPE brazing rod.

update

I think I finally found a way to smooth the hulls. Forget he putty knife. I put a flame spreader attachment on my torch, to flame smooth the hulls.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2564149&cagpspn=pla

As I was working I noticed the flat side looks like a red hot putty knife. It works. I was able to build the skegs back to about the original shape.

You have a hot scraper or you can melt braze rod by pressing the flat side against the braze rod and the braze doesn't stick to it. Just keep the flame level to about half and don't point the flame directly at the hulls when you use it this way.

Also I found that the 5200 I applied to hot hulls, last year stuck a lot better than when I applied it to a cold hull. See the West System Video about "activating plastic".

Thanks for the tip.
This is real scary for me to try as I can imagine me melting a hole right through the hull.

How about making a short video and posting it on YouTube? I think lots of Wavers would appreciate it.

You won't. It is not nearly as easy as it sounds. This works fine for tiny scratches and gouges but you won't be putting a hole in anything. This boat is a tank, you'd need a gun to put a hole in it.

Unfortunately, I have moved the boat for the Wed Night Races and unless I screw something up, it will be Oct before I can do anything.

My suggestion is get a 5 gallon plastic bucket, scratch it up like what you what to repair and practice on it. The bucket is much more sensitive to heat distortion and melting than the Wave. If you can smooth a plastic bucket, you can smooth a Wave.