My homemade keel protector was starting to snag my line when a fish swam under my boat.  Just a matter of time before I cut my line on a PB. 
 

do I upgraded to an official mitigation measure for keel protection. 
 

I got the thing and I’m just waiting for the adhesive to get here.  
 

ant long term reviews?  The thing holding up to abuse?  

What was your homemade one?  I've been using the 3" black Gorilla tape and haven't had any issues with it.  I put on a couple of layers, so when the bottom layer gets worn out, I can just replace that one layer.  

The solution is to get a cart and skip the keel guard.

once I watched this video I stopped worrying about scratching the keel ?

 

https://youtu.be/RmhdBuPkR_c

18 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The solution is to get a cart and skip the keel guard.

I have a cart.  You still bump the tip.  Emergency beaching etc. 

25 minutes ago, Bankc said:

What was your homemade one?  I've been using the 3" black Gorilla tape and haven't had any issues with it.  I put on a couple of layers, so when the bottom layer gets worn out, I can just replace that one layer.  

I used silicon pipe tape.  It works great but as it peels it’s a snag hazard to my line. 
 

even setting the nose on the ground as I load and unload my kayak is slowly eroding the material. 

I'm a BerleyPro fan.  I seriously doubt the guard will ever fail.  I just used same Marine Goop that I use for much else on the yak.  

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I have a cart.  You still bump the tip.  Emergency beaching etc.

So what.  It's just a few scratches.  One of my boats is a decade old, and it's held up fine without a keel guard.  Two of my boats have a sacrificial drag strip in the stern, and I've never worn through that either.

If I understand the OP, he's referring to scratches and cuts in the bow.  I was getting them and had same concerns about nicking line on them.  Thus, the BerleyPro keel guard...which is actually a bow guard.....got me thinking though...I wish he'd make a keel guard, too.  I have gone through two of the Hobie rubber guards

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

which is actually a bow guard

A bow guard like this (the black thing), or a keel guard just for the bow aspect of the keel?  I'm trying to understand what to compare it to.

Oh, so it's a keel guard.  OP, I can't imagine finding anything that fits better than that.  

I grew up in the desert.  Boat nomenclature escapes me.  Big time.

Use braided line if that's an option.

17 hours ago, J Francho said:

So what.  It's just a few scratches.  One of my boats is a decade old, and it's held up fine without a keel guard.  Two of my boats have a sacrificial drag strip in the stern, and I've never worn through that either.

I've been dragging kayaks since I've owned them, about 10 years. No problems yet.

On 8/12/2021 at 1:47 PM, JimT said:

once I watched this video I stopped worrying about scratching the keel ?

 

https://youtu.be/RmhdBuPkR_c

Beat me to it. Worrying about scratching your hull is unnecessary pain on the brain. 

2 hours ago, Bass Junke said:

Beat me to it. Worrying about scratching your hull is unnecessary pain on the brain. 

We’ve worn through the bottom of several kayaks back when I was taking guided paddling trips . The only time people ever fell into the water was getting in or out so we put them in the boats on the ramp and shoved off. It always put a hole in the stern at the very back of the boat 

My boat is very scratched. I still flip it to put the wheels on. Scratches, cool. 
 

a hole eroded thru the front from “coming in hot” to a concrete boat ramp over and over again, not good. My friend had to patch the nose on his pro angler. It never went thru, but it got soft. It was so thin I could push a thumb thru it. (I didn’t) 

I tend to obsess over scratches on my hull but I know it’s not healthy to do so. Being that I always carry my kayak and am careful with it, the odds of actually doing any damage that goes beyond being superficial is rather low. Getting scratches is part of the experience, I need to remind myself of that. 

On 8/12/2021 at 10:27 AM, Bankc said:

What was your homemade one?  I've been using the 3" black Gorilla tape and haven't had any issues with it.  I put on a couple of layers, so when the bottom layer gets worn out, I can just replace that one layer.  

Here is my tape version.  Works well, until it starts to come apart. Then it will cut your line. The best part.  It pulls off clean. d**n near zero glue residue 
 

here I added a minimalist version until I get the glue for my burlyPro.  
 

 

I don’t worry about gentle scratches. Love marks 

 

 

 

Chuck Earls sells various 'keel armor' kits for different brands of kayak. Another option. 

 

https://lakeeriekayakfishing.com/shop/ols/categories/keel-armor

NM

That thing was a b____ to glue on.  It kept wanted to squirt off. I know how to do it next time.   Have the kayak right side up, put the Hobie wheels on and let the kayak rest on the nose. The weight of the yak would clamp the guard on while it cures.