drift boat bottoms

ZaQ · 02-19-2001, 04:24 AM

Anyone know of anyone or had themselves, that rhino spray on bed liner stuff put on the bottom of their drifter? My uncle was buying one of the franchises and told me that was one of things they showed in the video. Any one have any thoughts on it? Experiences? Thanks!

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Fish this!
ZaQ

Big Willie · 02-19-2001, 07:09 AM

Howdy. I think it would be to 'sticky'. It is polyeurothane and stays flexible. I've got it in my truck bed and it works great there, not sure about drift boats. Kinda curious though.
-Gary

Bait O' Eggs · 02-19-2001, 07:42 AM

I dont think I would put Rhino on the bottom of my drift boat. It might be a Ford -vs-Chevy question though (a preference thing).

I put Line-X in my truck bed. I found it to be a lot harder and slicker than Rhino. I think the Rhino would be great in a truck bed if you were concerned about things not sliding around. It is fairly soft and things would stick to it better. The line -X is very hard and slick. If you take a sample of line -X and sample of Rhino and rubbed them together, the Rhino turns to erasure dust in no time, and the line - X looks unmarked.

I would think a boat bottom should be hard and slick to slide over rocks not soft so the rocks stick to them. Just my $0.02 worth. I dont think I want either of them on my boat bottom. I wouldnt want the extra weight. Most river rocks are round and the boat slides over them fairly well anyway. I believe my boat has Gluvit (sp) on it, came that way though.

Kwiky · 02-19-2001, 08:02 AM

Not to take away from ZaQ's original question, but I had one I wanted to add on the subject: has anyone tried both gluvit and coat-it (I think that is the other one), and which do you prefer?

ZaQ · 02-19-2001, 04:58 PM

They actual have brochures at Rhino showing drift boats with it on the bottom.
It can't be that much weight really. I have the PTFE(or whatever it is) on there now and it is coming up. I don't think weight would be a factor at all. I learned to row on a boat that had diamond plated floors, you want to talk about extra weight.
Line-x, searching............

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Fish this!
ZaQ

Spooled · 02-19-2001, 07:35 PM

Zaq. I think it would add a lot of weight to your boat. This question has come up on another board, www.piscatorialpursuits.com and you might search their archive for threads.

Kwiky. I have Coat-It on my boat and it seems to work well. Once again, this came up on the other board, so you might check there. The guide that runs that board, Bob, says he likes Coat-It over Gluvit. I don't know enough about Gluvit to have an opinion.

[This message has been edited by spooled (edited 02-19-2001).]

[This message has been edited by spooled (edited 02-19-2001).]

Big Willie · 02-20-2001, 06:36 AM

I use Coat-It on my boat. It seems to work better than Gluvit because of the added teflon. Anyway you go, if you run low water yer gonna have to fix the cracks and the bare spots every year. No biggie though.
-Gary

Kwiky · 02-20-2001, 06:55 AM

Big Willie-
About fixing the cracks: I heard you can't really do this with coat-it. Was I mislead? Guys at the local marine outfit said that it didn't bond well with itself. Can you let me know how you've done this? Thanks!

Kwiky

superfly · 02-20-2001, 05:45 PM

Coat it, coat it, coat it, inexpensive, easy to apply and can be feathered out if you just need to repair a few spots. I fish my boat 3 to 4 days a week in the peek of the season and it holds up well on our nasty streams.
Superfly

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If you want to run with the big dawgs then get your ass off of the porch!!

Big Willie · 02-21-2001, 06:27 AM

Hey Kwiky. I've had good luck fixing the cracks. As Superfly said, it can be done. Just make sure that you sand the area down with a coarse grit paper. Almost as important is to clean the sanded area with alcohol. I had a few bare spots as well and they were fixed up nice, just make sure it's sanded and clean. Did this last summer and not one patch has cracked or peeled off.
-Gary

Kwiky · 02-21-2001, 07:49 AM

Thanks SF and BW!

Kwiky

chinook_hunter · 02-21-2001, 06:45 PM

My boat has gluvit on bottom. That will need recoated this summer. Will coat it bond to the gluvit?

SummerRun · 02-22-2001, 10:53 AM

My spring project is to clean off the bottom of my drift boat and recoat it with 'coat-it'. What is the best way to get the unknown substance off of the bottom? The boat was bought used and I have no idea what is on it now. Also, has anyone else ever had a Steenson drift boat? I got a great deal on a older boat in good condition but have never seen any others around. Just curious.

Master Baiter · 02-22-2001, 12:27 PM

Summer,

A pnuematic Dual-Action (DA) sander with 60-80 grit should get you down to bare metal effectively and provide a good clean rough surface for the new coating to stick too.

MB

Eric · 02-22-2001, 01:49 PM

As was mentioned above, coat-it can be fixed and patched. I've had the best luck flipping the boat upside down on saw horses and taking an orbital sander with 50 grit sandpaper to all cracks and holes. Patch jobs have worked great. One thing I do though is after sanding, I coat an entire section of bottom (usually the middle third) instead of just the crack as things seem to seal tighter that way. Also, I keep 3-4 coats on at any one time. This offers much better protection. Just my .02 worth.

Uncle Roman · 02-22-2001, 05:11 PM

I called a place to do that on my boat, and they wanted $300 and a sandblasted bottom on which to apply it(that's the bottom of the boat to be sandblasted, weirdos), so i went with GLUVIT instead. It sucks to apply but it is efective.

Spooled · 02-22-2001, 05:25 PM

SummerRun. If you see my first post on this thread, it has a link that is another BB that this has come up on more than once. Just go to the BB and search under Coat-it. I think this will answer a lot of the questions asked here so far.

Rippenlips · 02-22-2001, 08:36 PM

What about a sheet of that white plastic stuff that they make cutting boards out of, or is that what GLUVIT is? I think the plastic stuff would slide over rocks pretty easy?
Jon

ZaQ · 02-22-2001, 09:09 PM

Talked to a guy at Rhino. He says they do about 3 drift boats a month there. There is no problem with sticking reported to him. Over all weight was less than 50 pounds, according to him.
He wanted a 120 bucks to do the bottom if it was already bare. Who knows if they have to get stuff off before they hit it. Something to think about.

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Fish this!
ZaQ

rob · 02-22-2001, 09:14 PM

Have I seen new boats advertised with kevlar bottoms?

Tanner · 02-23-2001, 02:11 PM

Zaq,
My fishin buddy bought my old Alumadrifter last year. The first thing he did was have the trailer and the bottom of the boat sprayed with Rhino Lining. Half of it is already worn off of both.

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Work is for people who have an expensive fishing habit to support.

Artwo · 02-23-2001, 02:31 PM

When I bought my driftboat (used) four years ago it did not have the bottom protected. I call the spray on liner companies around town and got estimates around $300. I also heard through rumor that one problem with these spray on products was that if water got in between the hull and the product through a crack or hole that it had a tendency to start to seperate and come off in patches, never could confirm this though. I figured for the $50 cost and one afternoon of my time coat-it was the best way to go. I put on a good thick coat of coat-it and have not had any trouble with it and this will be my fourth season on the original application. For cost and durability I believe in the coat-it product.

JK

ZaQ · 02-23-2001, 05:14 PM

Sounds like coat it is the way to go. Thanks guys!

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Fish this!
ZaQ

SAUKit2em · 02-23-2001, 05:23 PM

I have the Rhino Lining on the floor of my drift boat and it grips nicely. I would think that Rhino Linings on the bottom would grip rocks instead of allowing the boat to slide and that could spell BAD NEWS!!! If you really want to have a slick bottom on your boat, then go with the UHMW bottom. Slick as snot and your aluminum boat will slide over the rocks like a fiberglass boat, however, you will need to shell out a few bucks and find somebody in the area who will tack it on for you. Coat it works fine, it's cheap, and fairly easy to apply so like they say....if it ain't broke don't fix it! Good luck - Justin

Line_Buster · 02-24-2001, 02:44 PM

Been thinking about going with the Line-x. I have used the coat-it a few times and it won't stick right. I clean it and sand it really good with a belt sander and it just starts poping off and next thing I know I have very little left down the center of the boat. getting tired of the hastle of this. I am thinking about the UHMV or Line-X. but no more coat-it. I find myself on shallow rivers alot and always scrapen things up so I need something that will last. Line-X says they will give me a lifetime warranty so how could I go wrong?

Line Buster