Installing uhmw on my 1656 G3

[Fisher88]

Well I just finished glueing the second piece on both outside strips and got the rib pieces cut getting ready to hit them with the router. So far it looks like it will hold I tried prying the first piece off and it would not budge.

 

[Jim]

Awesome thread! Thanks!

 

[redrum]

So that triangular shaped piece you are showing. You will use that to link the pieces together to reproduce the chines? Will you be strictly using the adhesive only for those as well? If you don't mind me asking. How much does the adhesive cost?

 

[Fisher88]

Yes I will be routing out the center of the triangular pieces for ribs and using glue only for those as well..I will have 1" of contact on the bottom of that piece plastic to plastic and it fits snug on the rib. I have 3 pieces glued so far.. It is a time consuming process but it seems to be holding very tight we will see after an impact. I got 3 quarts of glue it's a 2 part with a 2:1ratio it was $475 before shipping.. That being said I have roughly $1k in all materials and I would not repeat this process on a used hull for the fact that I had some body work to do. I am also being overly cautious and taking more time than I should to make sure I do it exactly right.

 

[SPI]

K-5 Polyurea applied to an aluminum jet boat. Take a look.

 

[Fisher88]

How much did that run and how thick is it?

K-5 Polyurea applied to an aluminum jet boat. Take a look.

 

[SPI]

Over the ribs, around 200 mils and 125 mils on the sides. This 28 ft boat was around $4,000.

 

[Fisher88]

Only thing left is the center rib then I'll be flipping her and getting her wet hopefully this weekend sometime

 

[Jim]

Looks awesome!

 

[riverrat717]

How well do you think the epoxy would have done in a vacuum bag? (was it runny or thick) to eliminate air pockets and voids between the hull and the uhmw.
Are they full length (of hull) pieces? Looks great so far!! If I were to uhmw my hull, I'd do the same thing but bag it. Let us know how it turns out!

 

[amk]

where did you order yours from. I was thinking of adding maybe some 1/8 inch due to oysters where I run.

 

[Fisher88]

Bottom is done flipped back over on the trailer so glad to have only the easy part left

 

[Jim]

Whats next and when is the first test ride?

 

[PSG-1]

K-5 Polyurea applied to an aluminum jet boat. Take a look.

I think that's similar to Line-X, isn't it?

My boat was done with the Line-X 350, which is a mil-spec grade. It was sprayed about 125 mils thick.



Although this gives it quite a bit of protection from corrosion and abrasion, I would not trust it against a rock strike. At some point, I might experiment with some 1/4" UHMW and see if I can get it to bond to the Line-X. If it will, I may end up doing my bottom with UHMW, for ultimate protection.

 

[Fisher88]

I haven't posted since I've tried the boat out but I've had her out about 5 times. The plastic doesn't seem to have affected the performance at all and I have smashed one rock running down stream. The overall impact seemed better since it glides over rocks like butter now. It hasn't really even left a noticeable mark on the plastic so I'm very happy I decided to do it.

 

[Scott85]

I plan on using wetlander on the bottom of my boat.


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[Wood_Duck]

where did you order your uhmw from?

 

[redrum]

What's the plan of action to install it and what thickness are you going with? Only suggestion I have is to use thin plyboard as templates to see if it'll conform to your hull before cutting up the expensive stuff.

I'd love to do it but I think it would turn out looking like crap on my pressed rib thin hull. I think some of the epoxies will give me better results from a low speed impact.

I got some adhesive from a company called Reltek they claim it has been used in some pretty harsh conditions and holds up great I hope they are right as much as it costs. I know that mostly everyone that installs it from the factory bolts it but I can't bring myself to drill holes in my almost new hull. I am going with 3/8" I plan to run that between the ribs and above the water line on the sides. I will be getting a 1" piece as I get closer to finishing and I plan on routing the center out to fit over the ribs and cutting the sides of the strip on an angle so I won't have big square blocks of plastic for ribs in case I am drifting downriver sideways and find a shallow rock hopefully it won't hang as bad.. That's also why I am going up the sides.

Which specific product did you use? Reltek seems to sell many different adhesives. https://reltekllc.com/productlist.aspx Can you post pictures of the products?

You mentioned that you had been researching this for some time. Did you contact any other boat manufacturers to find out what products they were using? I know you mentioned SJX.

Also any further updates?

 

[riverrat717]

SJX is Polyurea. I contacted Bruce Linker of Linktec about his bondable uhmw. He said its difficult to get a good bond without treating the surface first. Linktec uses a hot pressed felt bonding surface on their product. Crown Plastics uses a flame abraded surface. Both manufacturers have an epoxy system that works with their products. But its pricey!!

I'd like to know how the OP's is holding up as well.

 

[Fisher88]

Hey guys I have been fishing nearly every weekend. Doing some exploring on new stretches of river now that I have the protection on the boat. It is holding up way better than I imagined it would. I wish that I had a decent camera to film some of the rivers that I have been running lately. I am not a salesman for Reltek or anything of the sort I just found them by doing my own personal research and I will have to say that anyone looking to take on this project I would without a doubt recommend the product that i used which was the bondit b 45th. I have bashed some rocks running down stream at full speed and it barely left a mark on the uhmw. I don't recall if I mentioned before but i did not use the virgin uhmw either due to cost that also has not been an issue. I have used the boat both days every weekend just about since i have installed the bottom with not even the slightest indication of any of the adhesive letting go. Hope to see someone else give it a try and have the same results that i have.