Boat Hull coating.

[robodad]

I was just curious what you all would recommend for a hull coating on a river boat to help it slide over the bottom a little better and maybe avoid some of the damage caused by the rocks !!

[huntnphool]

river boat to help it slide over the bottom a little better

Horsepower baby, horsepower!!!! When in doubt hammer down!!!  Unless your talking about drift boats, in that case M-Ray and TMike will be piping up soon

[rainshadow1]

Lots of guys are having 1/4" of truck bed liner sprayed on them. Rhino, or Arma, or etc. The hot applied liner materials can be finished slick. They're tough as heck, bond hard, and the finish is smooth as glass. Probably run a few hundred.

Second hand information, but I've heard good things.

[Coasthunterjay]

Lots of guys are having 1/4" of truck bed liner sprayed on them. Rhino, or Arma, or etc. The hot applied liner materials can be finished slick. They're tough as heck, bond hard, and the finish is smooth as glass. Probably run a few hundred.

Second hand information, but I've heard good things.

That will slow your HP down.

[cohoho]

Huntnphool, I like the way you think.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HP = shallow running..   

There is air boat guy in Eagle River, AK that runs something on the bottom of his boats instead of 1/2" polymere like the rest do.  I will admit another guy that sells air boats there had him try and exit the water and follow him up a shore line and into the weeds and he couldn't his boat moving cause it was stuck to the dry ground like super glue versus the polymere covered bottom that slide out of the water like nothing.  It is called (Dura Glide) he boasts about it being extremely durable, it is hard and slippery.  His web site is Air Boats R Us..  http://www.airboatsrus.com/

Another boat Jet driven called "Extreme Shallow by Jet Craft" is running polymere on thier bottom and fused with a steel keel that bounces off everything in the river...  Saw a video of it skipping across a sand bar then back into the water, no doubt it hit it hard but it did do it. 

[popeshawnpaul]

I'm interested in this as I have a project I'm thinking of starting.  I have a perfect jet ski other than the fact that I crashed it on the river and split the hull.  I wanted to put it in a small sled and coat the bottom.  I have seen a few on youtube and they go over anything.  I'm looking around for the right boat currently.  I'm thinking 12-14 feet, lightweight, with a thicker bottom.  I dunno, still trying to come up with ideas...

Shawn

[robodad]

Maybe I should clarify that I have a 16 foot drift boat with only me at the oars for power, I have this stuff called "Slip Plate" it is a paint on graphite coating and is slick as hell once you polish it but it is quite thin and provides no cushion between the aluminum and the rocks so I was looking for something a little bit thicker. The rhino lining sounds good but is quite heavy, Hope to see some more ideas in here !!!

[Ridinshotgun]

Call Bobs sporting goods they will tell you what to use.  Glov-it is one that is used, its about $50.00 for a gallon.

[jackelope]

for your driftboat, keep whatever you do as light as you can. the more weight, the harder that boat will become to maneuver. if it's aluminum, i wouldn't even worry about it IMO. my fiberglass boat has hit a few rocks pretty solid and a little wack here and there over the course of it's 15-20 year  life span. hardly anything to speak of.

[cohoho]

Robodad:   The stuff he has might be what your looking for: It is called (Dura Glide) he boasts about it being extremely durable, it is hard, light weight and slippery.  His web site is Air Boats R Us..  http://www.airboatsrus.com/

[huntnphool]

Check out this forum, http://riverjetmagazine.com/ ask the same question, you will get a bunch of expert opinions, most of which you can bank on.