: Roof coating was recomended, but would It e fine if I just used the color
: paint that I want? Do I have to use the roof elastomeric roof coating?

Oil based paint has been used for years, and is the basis of George Putz's Walrus. Some people have reported good luck with latex based paints. Putz suggests thinning the (oil based) paint with some boiled linseed oil and adding a mildew preventative. He also adds powdereed chalk to the first coat. The boiled linseed oil helps keep the paint film flexible, the chalk thickens it to make it fill the texture of the woven fibers in the cloth. You can probably get away without adding either of those two.

Ask at the paint dealer for those products. If I was going with latex paint I'd add a mildew preventative that was suitable for the paint. With either type of paint I'd try to get some of the mildew preventer on the inside of the kayak skin.

You'll probably want three or 4 coats of paint. One or two coats make a base that you can lightly sand. You can put your color coat on as the last coat or two.

Since you are not using a coating that is noted for abrasion protection, if you want to add a strip of additional material along the keel or bow for added resistance to abrasion, put it on by embedding it in your first coat of paint.

Put a heavy coat of paint on the area you want to protect, lay on the additional strip of fabric, and then paint over it. after the paint is hard you can gently sand the rough edges of the fabric strip to smooth them a bit before you put on the next coats of paint. Consider bias cut material, even if you have to put on short sections. If you think you want even more material, wait until the first coat of paint has completely hardened (dried), then jsut repeat the process. (If you try to build up three or 4 layers of fabric by embedding them in the paint all at once you get such a thick layer that the paint trapped inside takes a very long time to dry and cure.)

PGJ