I have been using Keeleazy keel strips on my three main kayaks. The Romany that I use for guiding day trips along the Pictured Rocks (Article on repairs to my Romany due to trailering), my Anas Acuta which I use for playing around and my Explorer which I use for tripping.
The Romany gets the most use and abuse getting dragged through sand a bit. The Keeleazy keel strip on this kayak has failed around the skeg and that is causing it to peel off from that point forwards and backwards. Other than that there are no compromises.
The Explorer had a tear in the Keeleazy keel strip from last year's trip on Isle Royale. This year I used it to explore the islands in northern Lake Michigan and then to paddle around the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan's UP. The sand of the Lake Michigan islands had little effect on the keel strip. Paddling solo around the Keweenaw was another story. The keel strip has many places where it is shredded and has many holes in it. While it may have protected the gelcoat, it is no longer doing that and I am not sure that the gelcoat would have taken much damage on this trip, but there is no way to know.
In the future, I will replace the Keeleazy keel strip on the Romany and Explorer with gelcoat keel strips which I hope will work better and be more resilient to the type of use/abuse that I give my kayaks.
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