Has anyone put polymer on there boat before? Pros/cons. Thanks

You talking about the sheet stuff or some kind of liquid coating?

If it is sheet, you might try searching under the term UHMW. It has been discussed here before.

What exactly do you want to know about it. Kind of a vague question. If you have the money and need it then do it. It will bring hull protection to a whole nother level. Question is.... Do you really need it. What are you doing with your boat?

TXSHOCKWAVE has successfully put it on his rig and its held up going across oyster bars, grass etc. He used some type of glue and created a vacuum and it adhered nicely. Nothing coming off or anything. I'd suggest shooting him a PM.

No coatings, just 1/4 polymer. The only one i know about is the one you have to drill & scwew to the boat but someone told me me there is something out there that you glue. The rivers/creeks i go down are full of stumps/logs so going to re do the boat this winter.

The drilling and bolting it on works good. People have been doin that on airboats since the caveman days. If ya can get it glued on like homeboy is talkin about, it looks cleaner and you dont have to worry about the 500 holes you would have drilled in your boat. Poly, or teflon, whatever ya want to call it works great for logs and stumps, and dry ground for airboat applications.

I have the bolt on 1/4 on my 2054 that Hoyt did for me.

Why i went this rout?

1. I have seen 3 glued rigs that have poped loose due to logs, heat from welding, and bad aplication.
2. The only way to remove or repair glued UHMW is heat and scraper, adn you can not re use it over and over.

It does look cleaner and might even be faster to glue it on. But it i have a problem with my rig car crash, cracke hull, etc. i can unbolt mine and put int on another boat2054 or smaller.

If you want to get a boat with it already on give me a ring i got you covered.

Later

dog, where did u get the polymer at and how much? ur only 45 min from me.

Took my boat to Hoyt at GatorTail.......it runs around 1500 but if you do some prep work yourself and if you boat is smaller it will be less.

They got it done in 2 days!!! Im sure a smaller boat can get doen in a day.

I would venture to say a big ass garbage bag.

Big plastic sheeting.

All us airboater run polymer on the bottom of our hulls.

Helps run dry & doesn't wear the aluminum out.

As far as mudboats, I prefer Frog Spit or Steel Flex.

Way less weight & can be touched up.

A (1) one gallon can from Floral Airboats will cost you $95.00 w/shipping.

A sheet of 1/4 polymer runs about $300.00 bucks, plus $100.00 for rivets.

Owning both types of boats, I'd go with the spray on/roll on coatings.

BTW, most of us down this way "buck rivet" the polymer onto the hulls.

As soon as you use S/S nuts & bolts, the electrolysis begins to slowly eat away @ your hull & you end up with bigger holes.

Bucking aluminum rivets causes no rot & can be easily replaced.

If you need advise about attaching the polymer, I'd be glad to give you a step by step.

I've probably helped with over (30) thirty hulls over the years.

I actually just did my A/B prior to gator season.

Good luck!!!

BTW, I "do not" recommend glueing the polymer to the hulls.

I have personally seen it peel from hitting objects like stumps & such.

Of course, it only begins to peel @ full throttle.

Your hull will act like a big front end loader, come to a sudden stop & eject everyone inside or roll over onto the occupants.

Glued polymer has killed several people over the years down here in Florida & I'm sure in other places.

Rivet, Rivet, Rivet!!!

Everyone has their own opinion. I say go with the poly on the bottom if you plan to beat it hard. I would not waste my time with rivets. Rivets work loose over time. Bolt it with lock nuts. Wont back out that way. Pretty sure a well built hull (aucoin) with poly on the bottom is something I couldn't personnly wear out in my lifetime. On another note.... Rivets are for jon boats. They don't belong on a mud boat.

There is far more poly with bolts holding it on than any other fastening method in my opinion. Like I said each to his own. I have my opinion and was adding it for the person who started this thread.

PS: don't say that a MM cant be run dry! they can but just for shorter durations!

I respectfully disagree about more nut/bolts than rivets.

I get what you're saying but aluminum & SS don't play well together.

Down here, only the fiberglass A/B hulls run with SS nuts & bolts.

Rivets are used on the aluminum hulls due to the electrylosis (?).

Like I said, I strictly fabricate in aluminum & have seen the damage done but using SS.

The alunimum begins to corrode between the hull & the poly when SS is used.

You don't realize you have a problem till you pull the poly off to replace it.

I've repaired one hulls where the aluminum broke out the size of a baseball. Looking @ the inside of the hull, you saw no damage. Once we removed the poly, every hole had corrosion around it. The hull was no repairable!!!

Good Luck!!!

capt if you want to give a lesson on how to install poly then start a thread on it. this thread was started by someone who wanted opinions. i don't think he wanted someone to get on his thread and argue with everyone.


TXShockwave I agree with you. nothing wrong with glueing poly on IMO. Its like anything else. do it right and you won't have a problem. i don't see how 1/8 poly would ever flip a boat over. if it came off that quick on just one ride where it flipped a boat over then there was some obvious installer error. guess they should have used SS bolts and locknuts

Back to the original person who started this thread. IF your going to beat on your boat hard with stump/ rocks and have the extra money then go with poly. You got my vote.

Guys up here gluing the thin stuff on jet boats. Mainly because it slides over rock ledges a lot better than alum. No deaths yet.

87 hours on glued polymer, no issues.

Slid across some dry ground, gravel bars, old cement roads, lots and lots of logs, stumps.

Um yep no issue. But if were to die tomorrow, i wouldnt want it any other way than for my polymer to come unglued at the top of my rake, unpeel to the bottom of my rake (6ft) and catapult me out of my boat into 40* water.

I wonder why i dont get on the site anymore...

Sounds like we have another gigafowl

Its all good, im learning alot from reading post. Still plan on 1/4 poly, i was planning on ss lock nut/bolts but like to no more about the rivets. Thanks

bring ur boat and 2500-3000$ to mark robicheaux's shop in franklin, la.

use the 3/8" poly and tell him i sent u. he will rivit it on and it will look bad ass.


www.marksairboats.com