uhmw-pe

I thought that I should pass this on to everyone. I found a good supplier for uhmw.

Crown plastics @ Harrison Ohio = a mfgr.of snowboard bottom material + .; Was selling as of 2009 [when I purchased] - .093 [3/32"] uhmw-pe that they were testing on aluminum drift boats and air boats. I tried it and it has been holding up well for 5 years now.

This product comes in 2' widths x your length ; and is glued on .                         [material is factory prep'd]

2- pieces 2'x14' was $263.15 and the epoxy was $186.30 [ 2x -1 qt. + 2of 1/2qt.+/- hardener].

I had priced out other options but the shipping was cost prohibited for 5x10sheets motor freight      [this product comes rolled up].

I had the boat upside down on low sawhorses ;sanded ; filled ;sanded ;and sealed with 3 coats of Rot Doctor's - penetrating epoxy sealer. I set up a couple of sheets of plywood on some sawhorses to lay out the material on . then taped the pieces together. and then laid the full piece over the boat ; and marked out about an inch and a half wider than the boat bottom ;leaving ears on the front and back for handeling. & marked center lines.

I enlisted the help of a few friends to help with the final go. The huntsman epoxy was supposed to be mixed by weight [I weighed the cans and it was correct as sent].

when we figured what I would need when I was ordering 1 -batch would have been barely enough ,so I ordered 2 batches , and I ended up using all of it.

The epoxy needs to be worked into the sanding marks on the backside of the plastic ;it is a mechanical bond- but can be trowled onto the boat. ** keep plastic out of direct sun until installed. **

We then flipped the sheet over onto the boat ; aligning while placing -[need 4 guys].

Then I used a roller made of a carsile oar shaft with a 4'x4" piece of plastic pipe around that , to roll from center of boat out. While doing this we were loading on about 1 1/2"  of gravel that I had brought in . To keep the gravel from sliding off I did a makeshift        sand bag setup .2-bags tied together with a piece of rope ,looped over the boat.              1 fore & 1 aft.   

after hardening over night - I finished with router and hand tools to flush . 

This product has held up well for 5 years and is super slick.      Worth looking into.

 

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on May 17, 2015 at 9:14am
Mike, that is very interesting. Would like to know more. How do you use your boat? What kind of water do you run and what type of river bottom? Also what is the temperature variations in your area. The guys in Oregon who have the best luck with a screw on uhmw bottom see a very narrow temperature variation, perhaps 50 degrees from winter lows to summer highs. Here in the Intermountain west that variation can easily be 100 degrees from highs to lows and uhmw just rips apart. No doubt that it is tough and slick. Getting it to stay put has always been the problem.

Thanks for sharing your experience.
Permalink Reply by Mike Baker on May 17, 2015 at 11:11am

Pretty cool idea, using the gravel as a poor mans vacuum bagging.

Mike

Permalink Reply by Mike Wilcox on May 17, 2015 at 12:36pm

HI - AJ  We have pretty good temperature swings here in western colorado . Every once in a while ,I will get a small bubble [ 10"- diameter] when it is hot . but returns to normal when cooled off. we had a bit of a time ,when installing because the sun popped out and the material started to warp while we were installing.    The two things that they had not given me were pot life and cure time; and the salesman that I was dealing with was overseas when I was doing the install. Live and learn.

The rivers around here are pretty rocky . The roaring fork and Colorado around Glenwood springs. mostly.

The bottom has held up well since 2009. The origonal botton was the +/- 1/4" screwed on variety ;and as you mentioned was cracked to pieces. Working the epoxy into the plastic with a notched trowel is critical.  As myself and no one else had ever done this before ; It was hard to coach my help as to how to procede .The manufactures should now have a better understanding of details also. All of their installs were on aluminum bottoms , at the time. 

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