U V Protection for Polyethylene Boats

[Manateeman]

Calling all kayak people. The manatee crew gets frequently beaten about the head by paddles without tipping you guys over...so you sort of owe us a favor.
What’s the best protection for our Polycraft Tuffy dinghy when it arrives.
No..we are not going to use white latex paint.
No, we don’t have access to used chaps from the women servers at Gilley’s bar in Las Vegas. Or from theChippendale dancers.
Good grief...Please be more serious than my crew.
Thank you for all replies in advance.
Mark

[smj]

303 UV protectant

[Karanga]

Zero protection required.
Nada, zip, zilch, geen, none.
As in, it is not necessary, to put anything at all on the PE surface to maintain or protect it (from UV or general use).
This is one of the benefits of the Tuffy (and probably the origins of its name).

[smj]

Originally Posted by Karanga

Zero protection required.
Nada, zip, zilch, geen, none.
As in, it is not necessary, to put anything at all on the PE surface to maintain or protect it (from UV or general use).
This is one of the benefits of the Tuffy (and probably the origins of its name).

Absolutely didn’t hold true in regards to our Ocean Kayaks. They fell apart eventually from UV degradation. Maybe the Tuffy uses a different formula in their plastic?

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Karanga

Zero protection required.
Nada, zip, zilch, geen, none.
As in, it is not necessary, to put anything at all on the PE surface to maintain or protect it (from UV or general use).
This is one of the benefits of the Tuffy (and probably the origins of its name).

I’ve seen a lot of PE kayaks with holes in them after getting brittle with prolonged UV exposure.

[HankOnthewater]

Should not need any protection, see here FAQ Polycraft https://www.polycraft.com.au/faqs/

Not all plastics are the same, and I guess neither is their UV protection. Here are my experiences with plastic:
- i have a red sea kayak (Prijon) that I had a cover for, cover disintegrated and could not be bothered with it anymore, kayak is still in good condition, but appearance when from fire engine red to pretty pink..... after 22 years.
- I had 2 Nylex dinghies both would have been close to 20 years old; the yellow one remained reasonably good; the skin of the orange one became 'non-smooth'; a furniture scraper could be used to bring it back to being acceptable (but I did not do that).
- I had a Walker Bay dinghy (these are not PE, but PP poly propylene), no issues
- With sea rescue and naval cadets we had each a Polycraft dinghy (4.5 mt), no maintenance for the plastic, never an issue (one blue, one white)
- We built a RIB type of dinghy out of black sheet and tube PE, now more than 15 years ago. I believe it is still in near perfect condition, except it is too heavy for daily use.
- My marina neighbour had a blue Finn dinghy on his davits, for at least 10 years, never used, still looked good.

[Franziska]

On a side note, regarding discoloration after years in the sun, many thermoplastics can be restored to original, or close to original by gently (!) using a blow torch or heat gun on them.

We used this for example on our Raymarine instrument covers which looked very faded.
The same method is used to restore plastic stadium seats.

Keyword is gentle (enough heat but only for a short time) you don't want to distort or burn.

[Ambler]

I think it depends on the amount of pigment used in the plastic.
If you can see a lot of light through the plastic (like one brand of roto molded kayak I know of) it will become brittle in a shorter space of time than plastic that doesn't allow light through.
So that is my test and it has worked out well so far with 3 different brands of plastic kayaks

[NPCampbell]

From Polycraft's website:

UV Stabilized
Polycraft boats are manufactured from UV stabilised marine grade polyethylene designed for extended use in direct sunlight. The colour is part of the material so your boat should retain the original colour and will never need painting.

I don't know about PE, but HDPE is not inherently UV resistant. UV stabilizers have to be added by the manufacturer to make it so. It looks like Polycraft does this with their PE.

[john2445]

Years ago Portabote recommended Armorall .

[smj]

The Tuffy warranty and what it doesn’t cover.

5.5the defect or fault is caused by an act of God, an act of war, storm, hail, wind or other natural event or force of nature;
5.6the defect or fault is caused by reasonable weathering/degradation over time;
Why not be proactive and use a UV protectant to protect your investment?

[Rumrace]

303

I thought kayakers liked being rolled over, sorry, a little.