# Raft painting



## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

So I bought a new mini-me! Yeehaw, I can't wait for high water!

Anyway, it's bright yellow and I want to put a brown bucking horse on the sides to show all the CSU sheep how Cowboys run the Poudre. I could use some advice on getting these logos on my boat. 

Inflatable Technologies uses Urethane and they tell me "it's like a tattoo." I've been told that you can remove gacoflex, but they don't make it in brown. Red and blue make brown right? 

Ideally, I want to be able to remove the paint, in case I ever want to sell the boat (my name and phone number will be inside the bow - I'm sure my future buyer will want the bucking horse...). 

If anyone has experience in boat logos, please comment or message me. 

Also if anyone wants to have some big fun in May, let me know. This little puppy will be one hell of a big-water ride!


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Congradulations on the Mini mee. I own a green one I call my Pickle....but that's another story. 

Red and blue make purple. You need to mix several colors to get brown. Check out this link. As you scroll down you'll see the instructions for making brown. There is more than one color combination depending on the shade and hue you are after. 

How to Mix Paint Colors to Make Brown - wikiHow

I have several friends who run Mini mee's on the Ark. I had a row frame made for mine and I use 8' carlyle oars with it. (Don't tell anyone.....but the trick to R 1........ is to put a bunch of weight up front, be it beer or rocks in a dry bag  ). 

SYOTR


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

Oh, I meant to say red and blue and green.... it looks like you have more sophisticated mixing advice though, caverdan. Who made your frame?


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Urethane and hypalon paint are fairly permanent. They can be removed, but it is hard to do with out removing some of the underling material. Mostly it takes a dremmel or a power drill and the right sanding disc, plus a steady hand.

The Mini me will be great at high water on the Poudre for Stevens down, and when the flows drop a bit the lower narrows go for sure.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Marshall of Marshall Welding in Salida made mine. It's sweet with the corners 45 angled to reduce sharp edges. A friend just made one for his Mini Mee from Down River tubing and fittings. I'll have to measure the width but I know he made it 4' long with three bays and a flip up seat. Both of them have foot bars and open oar locks with 8' oars.


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## eljim (Sep 19, 2007)

*Hyside is Hypalon*

Since hysides are Hypalon boats, use gacoflex (a Hypalon paint). My girlfriend fixes a fleet 100 of hyside, nrs, and of course avon rafts. Which means many a night I'm fixing them too. Try red and green (sooner or later three of any color will be brown), NO BLACK! White to lighten of course. Tuelone to remove it.


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

Thanks y'all. 

eljim, tell your girlfriend (or anyone else you might know) that I would pay a good price for a quart of brown - or small amounts of mixable colors that could make brown- gacoflex. The problem is that I just need to paint on one boat, but I can only find quarts of the mixers, and it's pretty expensive. Maybe she could make a few bucks and just do the boat? I can bring the stencil. I'm just trying to get a good price and still use hypalon (inflatable technologies uses urethane only). Anyone else with access to the goods to paint brown hypalon, let me know...

Hey caverdan, did you work at AVA or run with that crew? Davel Seel and I borrowed someone's green mini-me a few years ago and he called it a "pickle." That would be funny if I've been in that boat.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

I've never worked as a guide, but I know a lot of guides from different companies around Buena Vista. There is a possibility you've floated in my pickle. My brother Tony has a matching one and I let him keep it up there in the summer. They're a pair of pickles (Pee-der and Pie-per) that kind of like hanging out together and are ofter seen in the Numbers and Browns Canyon. Sometimes on a daily basis. Before I bought it, Eric at Inflatable Restoration and Repair (IRR) had it as a demo boat and it saw a lot of use by different people. It's one of the first ones made and is slightly narrower than the new ones. He added a two position NRS style removabe thort mount and foot cups along with a couple of extra D rings. Being able to move the thort to the rear makes it easir to brace when R-1ing it. The cooler fits better too. :-D I take it out when I put the oar frame on. Did your boat come with a removable thort?

Come to think of it......you might try contacting Eric to see if he has some extra paint to sell to make brown with. I can PM you his number if you need it. Another thought might be to contact a sign shop such as Fast Signs and see what their options are for a sticker you could design and stick on it. Last time I was there to get caving helmet stickers made, they had several different flexable materials to choose from. That would be a lot less permanent than paint and you could use sta-bond to put it on with. Just a thought. 

Good luck and enjoy your new toy.


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

Yeah, if you cam PM me his number that would be great. Yeah, my mini-me has the newer Hyside pin and hinge thwart system, so I might so the same thing and glue on a set of hinges closer to the stern. We'll see...


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