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Painting Keel Guard?

Guitarjesus

Jet Boat Lover
Messages
150
Reaction score
62
Points
77
Location
Menifee, CA
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2018
Boat Model
SX
Boat Length
19
Had some fiberglass and gel coat repair work done on my SX190. Had a KeelGuard installed and all he had was white apparently. Sticks out pretty bad.

Anyone know of types of spray paint that will hold up with a few good coats?


1000010832.jpg
 
Had some fiberglass and gel coat repair work done on my SX190. Had a KeelGuard installed and all he had was white apparently. Sticks out pretty bad.

Anyone know of types of spray paint that will hold up with a few good coats?


View attachment 217131
Doubt it would last long.
Did ya think about a color matched keelguard?
They make all sort of colors now
I got an exact match to my swede grey hull
 
When they took the boat to do the gel coat work, I just figured common sense would said "red". But I'm guessing that turn around time was considered and all he had was white. When it's in the water, who cares I guess?
 
Had some fiberglass and gel coat repair work done on my SX190. Had a KeelGuard installed and all he had was white apparently. Sticks out pretty bad.

Anyone know of types of spray paint that will hold up with a few good coats?


View attachment 217131
Won't even show in the water, and the Fish won't care. Looks fine. Better to protect your boat.
 
The only time it's noticeable is when it's on the trailer, and after you're thankful you had a keel guard on.

You MAY be able to get a paint that's made for that material, but with the conditions this will be under, I would highly doubt it will last longer than a season, if that. You'll then be painting this thing every year to keep up appearances. If I were in your shoes, I'd skip any notion of coloring it to match - even a red keel guard is likely to not match exactly, AND it can/will fade over time, so that it no longer matches over time.

I'd learn to love the protection it gives, and the contrast/match with the hull colors as they are. The only other alternative is what @Ronnie suggested - remove it, at more expense, along with the hassle and struggle of removal, and replace it, likely with a red that won't be a perfect match, and therefore just as noticeable or aggravating as the white currently is.

I also would have specified the color of keel guard you wanted. IF you did that, and they didn't follow your instructions, I'd be taking it back for removal and replacement with the proper one. If you DIDN'T do that, well, that's on you. Assuming they'd do what you would have, can only be accomplished with voicing that directive prior to installation. At the very least, you could have specified that they call you with info about the keel guard. There's no reason to assume they'd color match the red, since the white still mates with the rest of the colorway of the boat, and as stated here, it'll be below the waterline, and out of sight.

I know it sucks to see that it doesn't match what you were expecting, but without laying out your expectations, no matter how small, they were never given guidance as to what you were looking for. Common sense to you included matching the color. Common sense to them meant protecting the keel. "Common sense" is only common if it's always done one certain specific way, and I've seen more than one boat with a contrasting keel guard. To me, a black one would have faded into the background better than the white, but because red is so hard to match, I wouldn't have chosen it to begin with, so common sense, in this case, can't be assumed, and must be specified to either put on what you want, or to not do it altogether until the specified color can be obtained.

Not having that color isn't an excuse, since I can find a red keel guard in several different lengths on Amazon, and all can be at my doorstep in 2 days. I will also note, NONE of the red keel guards seem like they'd match your boat. Black or grey are similar in speed of delivery.
 
To add: my father-in-law had your exact issue. He had a red Sea Ray with white topside. He went with the white. This color combo isn't foreign to me, and it got a lot of questions from guys about what it was, OR some wistful comments about how they wish they'd done it before such and such (or "I gotta get off my butt and get one of those on my boat too"). It's not something that's out of line, tacky, or just uncommon.
 
The only time it's noticeable is when it's on the trailer, and after you're thankful you had a keel guard on.

You MAY be able to get a paint that's made for that material, but with the conditions this will be under, I would highly doubt it will last longer than a season, if that. You'll then be painting this thing every year to keep up appearances. If I were in your shoes, I'd skip any notion of coloring it to match - even a red keel guard is likely to not match exactly, AND it can/will fade over time, so that it no longer matches over time.
This quoted part of the reply was all that was needed or warranted. I asked a simple question yet got some exposition on a whole bunch of other things that are fairly irrelevant.

If trying to write a treatise on " the expectations of boat owner and boat tech" in a said transaction, you hit the nail on the head. Kudos Lord Tennison.

I'm not blaming the repair guy in any capacity. Otherwise I'd be demanding a solution from him. My only question was about putting some paint on the keel guard, that's it.
 
The only time it's noticeable is when it's on the trailer, and after you're thankful you had a keel guard on.

You MAY be able to get a paint that's made for that material, but with the conditions this will be under, I would highly doubt it will last longer than a season, if that. You'll then be painting this thing every year to keep up appearances. If I were in your shoes, I'd skip any notion of coloring it to match - even a red keel guard is likely to not match exactly, AND it can/will fade over time, so that it no longer matches over time.

I'd learn to love the protection it gives, and the contrast/match with the hull colors as they are. The only other alternative is what @Ronnie suggested - remove it, at more expense, along with the hassle and struggle of removal, and replace it, likely with a red that won't be a perfect match, and therefore just as noticeable or aggravating as the white currently is.

I also would have specified the color of keel guard you wanted. IF you did that, and they didn't follow your instructions, I'd be taking it back for removal and replacement with the proper one. If you DIDN'T do that, well, that's on you. Assuming they'd do what you would have, can only be accomplished with voicing that directive prior to installation. At the very least, you could have specified that they call you with info about the keel guard. There's no reason to assume they'd color match the red, since the white still mates with the rest of the colorway of the boat, and as stated here, it'll be below the waterline, and out of sight.

I know it sucks to see that it doesn't match what you were expecting, but without laying out your expectations, no matter how small, they were never given guidance as to what you were looking for. Common sense to you included matching the color. Common sense to them meant protecting the keel. "Common sense" is only common if it's always done one certain specific way, and I've seen more than one boat with a contrasting keel guard. To me, a black one would have faded into the background better than the white, but because red is so hard to match, I wouldn't have chosen it to begin with, so common sense, in this case, can't be assumed, and must be specified to either put on what you want, or to not do it altogether until the specified color can be obtained.

Not having that color isn't an excuse, since I can find a red keel guard in several different lengths on Amazon, and all can be at my doorstep in 2 days. I will also note, NONE of the red keel guards seem like they'd match your boat. Black or grey are similar in speed of delivery.
Does anyone know of a bow guard that's not stainless, say a vinyl of some sort? I only want to protect above the eye bolt where the roller is scuffing. I have the Stolz roller installed. TIA
 
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