Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

jetpowered

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My husband and I purchased our first boat last summer, a brand new 2009 Yamaha AR210. We had a blast beaching the boat all over the place, unfortunatly that included a couple sand/rock areas which scratch the bottom of our boat up pretty bad. After brainstorming we were wondering if anyone had installed spray in bed liner to the bottom of a fiberglass boat to prevent scratches. We would not want to takel this ourselves and would have it professionally done. What are people's thoughts? Thank you!
 

xxxflhrci

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Even the smooth stuff would likely cause more drag than gelcoat causing a loss of speed. In addition, while bedliner is some tough stuff I doubt if it is designed to be submerged under water. If it started peeling and comes off, you'd have a mess because they will have to sand your boat's finish to get it to adhere. You might end up with a boat with worse scratches than you have now.
 

jetpowered

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Is there anything out there that would help? We really do not want to have to patch every year
 

Bondo

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Is there anything out there that would help? We really do not want to have to patch every year

Ayuh,... Quit Beachin' it....:D

'Glades Airboats use a thick bolted on polymer....
They do the same thing to the air Iceboats up here on the river, just a different polymer...
 

Summer Fun

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Welcome to iboats. :)

Try a Keel Guard . http://www.iboats.com/Hull-Keel-Pro...3058144--**********.551022500--view_id.217418
keelguard_15.gif
 

LippCJ7

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Nearly every type of boat has to weigh the options of weight and performance, Spray in Bed liners are very heavy but most don't realize it because it is spread evenly over the bed of a vehicleand is split porportionally between front and rear axles, I bet if you spray the hull of your boat with 1/8" to 3/16" of spray bed liner your going to add 400 lbs to the boat and that will hurt the performance of the boat as much as the increase in drag, but these factors would compound each other making the situation much worse.
 

cribber

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

There is this stuff called Frog Spit tht they put on airboats to reduce friction. Not sure if it will work for beaching a boat, but hey... ya never know.

http://www.chemical-supermarket.com/Frog-Spit-Quart-p622.html

Anything sharp like a rock or shells will cut through any type of coating you apply.
 

fishrdan

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Covering the whole underside of the hull would be bad, but I don't see a problem with a strip down the keel/bow, where the boat is getting chewed up by the rocks/sand. If they do a poor job of applying it and it starts to peel up, yeah, that would be ugly, but from what I've seen that stuff it pretty durable. For a fiberglass boat, a Keel Guard like SF posted would be best.

I going to bed liner the keel/bow of my 18' aluminum hull (6" up each side and 5-6' long) since Keel Guards are not recommended for my type of hull. I need to beach from time to time while camping in the middle of winter...
 

cr2k

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

"...camping in the middle of winter..." that's hardcore!
 

Home Cookin'

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

reconsider your "beaching" techniques. Boats aren't made for scraping bottom on a regular basis. Approach the shore, gentle touch, disembark, moor the boat so it floats completely. If you have to stay in contact, carry an old tire or piece of carpet. You wouldn't drag your car along a rock wall, would you?
 

dozerII

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

I had a Marlin Satilite that I applied a 10 inch wide strip of bed liner down the center of the keel on. I put two good heavy coats on it and it stayed put really well. I lost about 2mph on speed and could not trim out as well because the boat would porpoise at a lower speed. With my Starcraft I carry a 3x3 wash bay mat that you can throw in the water on the beach then pull the bow on the mat works very well. Similar to the one in the link.
http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/chinaexact/product-detailIqHJwSmEsfpW/China-Wash-Bay-Mat.html
Glen
 

barbosam

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Even when people use antifouling bottom paint the rough surface (rougher than the smooth gelcoat on the rest of your boat) creates an immense amount of drag and effects the performance of the boat. Bedliner is exponentially even rougher than bottom paint and I think even a small strip on the keel could have a very noticable impact on the boats speed and handling. Bottom line is it is not designed for what you want to do with it so I wouldn't try it.

I think the keel gaurd would work best for you, its designed not to have a negative impact on the performance of you boat. This product is designed for exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
 
D

DJ

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

The "Keel Guard" is the answer.

I beach my Whaler all the time. AZ lake beaches are not sand (gravel) and the Keel Guard protects it just fine.

I've even pulled it up on concrete launch ramps :eek: and the Guard had hardly a mark on it.

WhaleratSag.jpg
 

xxxflhrci

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637
Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

Nearly every type of boat has to weigh the options of weight and performance, Spray in Bed liners are very heavy but most don't realize it because it is spread evenly over the bed of a vehicleand is split porportionally between front and rear axles, I bet if you spray the hull of your boat with 1/8" to 3/16" of spray bed liner your going to add 400 lbs to the boat and that will hurt the performance of the boat as much as the increase in drag, but these factors would compound each other making the situation much worse.

It only takes a couple of gallons to do a pickup bed. The stuff doesn't weigh 200lbs a gallon...More like 12. Even if you put 5 gallons on the bottom of a boat at most you would add 50-60lbs....The stuff weighs less after it dries because the solvent evaporates out of it.

And yes, I have applied bedliner to myself...
 

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Home Cookin'

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

whenever you brush paint a bottom, be sure your brush strokes run fore to aft and not port to starboard, to reduce drag.
 
D

DJ

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

It only takes a couple of gallons to do a pickup bed. The stuff doesn't weigh 200lbs a gallon...More like 12. Even if you put 5 gallons on the bottom of a boat at most you would add 50-60lbs....The stuff weighs less after it dries because the solvent evaporates out of it.

And yes, I have applied bedliner to myself...

Regardless of all that:

1. It was NOT designed for underwater use.

2. If it starts to peel, you have a REAL MESS on your hands.

3. How does it react with fiberglass????

4. If it's NOT glass smooth, it will effect performance significantly.

A BAD idea.

Go with a Keel Guard and be a little bit choosy on where you beach. That's all part of boat ownership.
 

xxxflhrci

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

3. How does it react with fiberglass????
.

I can answer that....The pic I posted above is of a fiberglass Jeep top. I put it on the top 6+ years ago. It stuck like glue.

However, I also agree it isn't a good product for the bottom of a boat.
 
D

DJ

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Re: Spray liners for the bottom of a fiberglass boat: Pro's and Con's

I can answer that....The pic I posted above is of a fiberglass Jeep top. I put it on the top 6+ years ago. It stuck like glue.

However, I also agree it isn't a good product for the bottom of a boat.

The "Jeep Top" is a heck of an idea! Good Call!

We both agree, not for boat bottoms!;)
 
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