: Alan,

: As I was reading your latest on this subject, it dawned on me that
: the skid plates I have on my whitewater canoe may be the
: solution you are looking for. The skid plates are made of kevlar
: felt and are installed by wetting out with epoxy much like you
: would add fiberglass tape on stems. The material is opaque and
: thick by you may be able to conform to the bow and stern of your
: boat and blend into the sides by sanding and using thickened
: epoxy. The stuff is really tough and takes the beating my
: whitewater canoe gets banging into rocks. It's available at most
: canoe shops and I've seen it on E-Bay as well.

: Regards,

: Bob Beaullieu

Actually if you don't mind the weight issue, the pre-cut rolls of fiberglass tape works quite well as rub strip and cost a heck of alot less than the Kevlar felt. Usually the tape, with it's non-raveling edges, is cut from 8-9 ounce glass, once wet out with epoxy it's pretty tough stuff. It's what's normally used on fiberglass production kayaks for keel strips, holds up pretty well. Normally it's I think 3" width. It sucks up a pretty good volume of resin, thus the weight.

Bill H.