Newbie here to air-boating. I bought a Bill Salt built boat about 2 months ago and have loved it so far. My question is the boat has a fiberglass coating on the outside of it that I feel is creating a lot of drag compared to the slick and stronger ploy. So has anyone ever seen that before and removed it to add the polymer? I can't tell but it looks like from the inside that the fiberglass might be bolted on, there are hundreds of little bolts in the bottom of the boat and that's all I can think they would be for. Thanks for advice
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Welding with the poly on is possible. Just have to take it at slow so not to heat things up. A spool gun works best. I weld over stuff all the time I don't want to destroy with excessive heat.
I certainly do not claim to know all about welding, but I've welded cracks on my boat a number of times, and I did not remove the poly. They have all been fairly small repairs, so it didn't get really hot for an extended time, and my poly survived...I may have just been lucky. I have a few more to repair this summer, so I hope my luck holds!
R
i am new to air boating my boat has a few cracks in the hull is there any way to fix them without removing the poly
Mine took 1200 bolts for a 16' boat. I beleive you can source polymer locally at Laird Plastcs in SLC. Be sure to install poly in a temp controlled room, or wait until early summer. I think 65-70 degrees is a good temp. Poly expands a LOT in the heat and contracts in the cold, so when you install it, you want to be somewhat lukewarm. That may be overkill on my part, but i'm a little OCD about that stuff.
R
Polymer Systems
PO Box 190478
Boise Idaho 83719
Phone 208-888-1496
Fax 208-895-7885
He advertised on the old Utah Airboat Association site. I think his name was Mike. I also bought the stainless steel bolts and nuts from him. Poly cost for my boat, which I covered the bottom and eight inches up the side, was around $1100.
Thank you. Do you mind sharing where you bought the poly?
I am not certain about the fiberglass bolted on the bottom, but poly is generally bolted on with stainless steel 1/4 20 countersunk bolts. If the fiberglass is like poly, you would have to take all those bolts out/off by flipping the boat over. My 18 foot hull has over 1100 bolts holding the poly on. Putting poly back on will take some time since you will likely have to drill through existing holes in the hull and then through the poly. You will then need to counter sink the poly before putting the bolts in.
I put poly on my new hull in one day with help from three other guys. It will likely take longer to pull the old off and install the new.