Paint drying time...

A friend just picked up a canoe I restored for him. He strapped it onto the top of his SUV using what are called 'cam' straps - not the ratcheting type - so the pressure wasn't too high. After his 2 hour trip home he noticed that the straps had left a slight but noticeable 'pattern' on the canoe's painted surface. The paint had been drying for 2 weeks. It was an Epifane's paint - 3 coats.

So the question is: how long should we allow out painted canoes to dry before transporting?

 

For what it is worth, I usually pad the straps where they contact that hull with soft cloth, towels, old T shirts, etc. if I need to transport a new canoe, and have the feeling the paint may not be fully cured.

 

Howie, I go through this a lot. Doing this for a living it's always a question of finishing a job, delivering it or having it picked up, and getting paid. Can be stressful . I have people come with those giant ratchet straps and crank them down on the canoe , not good. Yes always pad under the straps on new paint. I've noticed that Interlux brightside can be strapped gently after a week or two. Epifanes always seems to take a little longer for some reason. And I always help them strap it down. Would be nice to let it dry for a month but that always isn't practical. I always keep a box of padding material around .

 

I just painted last week with Total Boat Wet Edge Topside paint. I read the instructions and any advice that I could find on it. I thinned the paint with their special stuff, exactly the percentage they suggested. I put the paint on so each coat was as thin as I could get it, one coat a day, four coats, sanded in between. I had pretty much ideal temperature and humidity. I painted over their brand of primer. It appears to be dry so far. Applying it in very thin coats makes sense to me to optimize drying. If you try to sand a varnish drip. it can stay gooey in the center weeks later. Also using the recommended thinner, since the paint won't dry until the thinner evaporates. I don't know how you get the right weather.

 

Honestly, I don't think it matters. The last W/C boat I had would get those marks and that filler was from the early 1960's and the paint had plenty of time to dry. It's just something that can happen with the right combo of temperature and snugness. They tend to sort of pop back out over time but if you want to avoid it, some closed or minicell foam padding can be slipped underneath.

I have roped thousands of canoes to thousands of cars in my day and using the cam straps is still the best option, but for softer materials including things like wood canvas boats, epoxy strip boats, sew togethers, rotomolded or blow molded plastic and even composite boats with thick gel coat like some modern sea kayaks have, you can have issues and the only real solution is learning how to make the boat snug enough so it's not going anywhere, but not so tight that you start to put an unnecessary or unprotected load on any given area of the hull.

 

I have one of these and have ordered another. Was able to trailer my canoe from Colorado to Maine and back without any rub marks. It even protected the rails pretty well too. They are fairly cheap insurance for storage and transportation bumps and scuffs. https://danuu.com/canoe-covers/