Not worth it, imo
Posted by: Glenn_MacGrady
on Oct-14-12 1:03 AM (EST)
As g2d states, Royalex has a pretty tough outside layer of vinyl, which slips nicely and quietly over river rocks. It's not going to wear through except under extreme whitewater usage. Putting something over the vinyl to resist abrasion would probably lessen the slipperiness.
I've painted a Royalex hull with high quality marine paint, and it began scratching off almost immediately on whitewater runs. The scratched mess of paint now looks much worse than the scratched vinyl ever did.
Daggermat may fall into the category of extreme usage, given that he is a whitwater poler who also suffers collisions from inattentive canoeists in a Hemlock SRT. However, that SRT, in turn, got a lot of paint on it from Matt's hull by just rubbing against it on roof rack for 10 miles.
Methinks paint doesn't stick well or long on Royalex in abrasive or collisive environments.