Drift boaat

[horseman_37601]

i am thinking of having line-x applied to the bottom of my fiberglass drift boat. i am in east tennessee, frequently float watauga river. if you havent hit a rock , then you are about to--lol. i have heard good and bad things about line-x. some people say its great, other think it trys to "grab" a rock and can be dangerous. i was just hopeing to fine a inexpensive way to protect my boat, fibeglass reapir is not my idea of fun!!!!
thoughts?????

 

[lightline]

Don't do it. It would take away the "slipperiness" of the hull, making it more resistant to the water, and possibly noisier. The beauty of a fiberglass drift boat is its smooth, slippery, quiet hull making it easy to maneuver and control, and easy to clean.

Small chips to the hull are easy to fix once a season. If you think you're going to be slamming rock after rock, maybe trade for aluminum, inflatable that will bounce off, or maybe you shouldn't be floating there to begin with.

I don't mean this in an offensive or combative way, but really, we float all kinds of rocky western rivers out my way, with rapids and rocks all over the place. Often we slide right over some rocks. Once in a great while, we actually "ding" one. We beach our boats on rocky bars and shorelines. Nobody I know ruins their clean, smooth hull with any kind of coating. A little patching here and there in between seasons is all most of us need, at most.

 

[akruss]

I coated the bottom of an aluminum drift boat I used in Alaska with a product that had graphite in the mix - can't remember the name of it off the top of my head and I'm not familiar with line-x. The coated bottom I used allowed the boat to slide over gravel and rocks much better than the bare aluminum and had no noticeable difference in water resistance. I did do some prep to the aluminum before painting the stuff on. What I did not like about the coating was that during the winter, moisture under the coating caused some cracking and chipping. This required that I reapply those portions every spring. I wouldn't think you'd have that sort of trouble this far south but I'm hardly an expert. Now I wish I lived near water that moved fast enough to own a drift boat, LOL.

I had two aluminum drift boats that I used to fish the Kenai River. The first was an old beat up FishRite with a bashed and dented bottom. It almost hurt to look at it when I rolled the boat over for the winter. I knew a perfectly shaped bottom would be much easier to row and manuever. Several years later I had saved enough rubles to buy a brand new AlumaWeld Guide. I was never able to tell a bit of difference on the water. I fished with the AlumaWeld for 3 years before coating the bottom.

I'm not sure I'd put anything on a fiberglass boat. I'd certainly wouldn't put anything on that hadn't been tried before by someone else with success.

 

[fyshstykr]

Not familiar with the product mentioned, but can't help but think that the aforementioned "grabbing" would hold true, whether it be the bouncing or sliding on the bottom gravel, rocks, or even when loading or unloading. Some repair work every couple years gives me something to do on the weekend during the winter. If it ever gets to the point I can't stand it anymore I'll either take it to Clackacraft and have them remove and replace the bottom or buy a new boat.

With our Clackacraft I've always figured it is meant to be fished and will get it's fair share of scratches and dings on the bottom, I try hard not to damage the chines though, but occasionally they take a hit.

 

[watson]

No expert here and I never owned a glass boat, but over time I have used a product called "Glove-it".
It works really well on aluminum, giving a little more protection and keeps it from grabbing. Have no idea how it would work on glass but something you may want look into.

For wood, glassing the bottom has seemed to be ideal.

Maybe by adding a buffer of glass, it would allow you to feel a little bit better about bumping up against something next time.
Never thought about that until just now but I don't know why it wouldn't work...other than cosmetics and weight

Look forward to hearing what others have to say!
Cheers!
Watson

 

[fredaevans]

+1 to the above but the products name is "Gluvit." Give it a Google.

Fred