polyester dye

[SBknox]

Jeff,

What have you used to dye the polyester?

Steve

[Kudzu]

Paint.

From what I have read dying polyester isn't practical. I forget the details but the advantage to polyester is the fact that so many finishes will stick to it. So you just use a tint in your finish.

[steve_b]

On a related vein, do you know if a thinned-down coating of paint could be used to simulate a dyed (see-through) finish?

[Kudzu]

On a related vein, do you know if a thinned-down coating of paint could be used to simulate a dyed (see-through) finish?

I would 'assume' that if you have a good enough coat to be waterproof your not going to see through it. But you could use any number of finishes, such as ZAR, Dura Tuff, Varnish, etc., that could be tinted and but remain opaque.

[dbirkmei]

I used varnish on my kayak and was not real happy the way it did not seem to fill the fabric and the voids it shows on top of the frame. Next time I would experiment with thinning the varnish on the first coat. A transparent stain might have helped even out the color.

Not to worry, the more the boat gets used the less it will matter.