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Fiberglass vs polymer-running dry

4

4x4

Member
Currently have a 15 rivermaster hull with a direct drive 472 Cadillac. I currently can run about 30 yards on dry ground (short brown grass) before the boat stops dead, then I am stuck. Will polymer allow me to run dry ground better than my current set up?

What types of surfaces (brown grass, green grass, short grass, tall grass, sand, leaves, etc) are more difficult to go over? Give me your order of hardest to go over vs the least hardest. Thanks 4x4
 
Well, when I first bought my boat it had slick bottom on it. It wore out pretty quick, so I went to Steel Flex. I had been crossing roads and running over some gravel, so after the third application in a year, I was bound and determined to get polymer. I did, got the thickest I could find. Trouble is, it added weight to the boat and it doesn't handle as good as it used to. I also think the polymer isn't near as slick as Steel Flex.

Bottom line, if you're going over rough roads or somethin' polymer is worth it. If you're lookin' for slick, go with Steel Flex.
 
I was thinking about 1/4" poly. I currently run local shallow lakes here in NC with a lot of stumps, but will also be running down at the NC coast in the near future. Can you put steel flex over polymer?
 
Good advise fish now what the hell are you doing in the automotive power only section ?

I thought your momma told you bout them carboat fellers..... :D
 
I clicked the link off the homepage. Didnt know it was gonna be here. Dont worry Ill be goin to Church later though. :D
 
Slick bottom is the slickest application for a fiberglass boat and adheres to the bottom good (if applied correctly). The problem is slick bottom doesnt take any abuse. It hates SAND, GRAVEL, PAVEMENT, LOGS, ROCKS and cypress knees.
It loves green grass, dead grass, doller grass etc.
Its alot of work to pull rigging out of a 15 ft boat and flip it over to put slick bottom on each year.

If it were my boat I would put 3/8 polymer on. Get the wide polymer that goes from chime to chime to cover the entire bottom.
With poly you can run over SAND, GRAVEL, PAVEMENT, LOGS, ROCKS and cypress knees. You can also run green grass, dead grass, doller grass etc.
Poly adds some weight but a 15' boat is already heavy and you wont have to flip the boat over for years to replace the bottom (1/4" dont last as long and isnt much lighter than 3/8)

I would list hardest first being
black mud
mud
dollar grass
green grass
tall grass
short grass
pavement
sand
brown dead grass
leaves
 
my poly was great brand new but after runnin some dry and some rocks understandably its scratched all to hell and now has more drag. boat runs slower on water and ground. advantage is hit plenty of rocks and stumps and havent punched any holes in the hull. who knows if your gonna ride your gonna pay!
 
the only problem I have ever had with frog spit is right when the dew starts to fall, after its down it's slick but when its falling its sticky, weird weird weird
 
There is something wrong with your rig. This is my fathers 16x8 Rivermater DD 500 Cadillac with a 72x44 Florida airboat propellar and it will run dry like a champ.


here is the boat
BRADLIESCCHUNT032.jpg


Here I am comming out of plane to pick up two more guys.[/img
BRADLIESCCHUNT088.jpg



Here is the total load I was hauling in a DD 500 cadillac with a 72x44. No it will not run dry with all of this but with me and another guy it will.
BRADLIESCCHUNT089.jpg



The boat now has a 78" 3 blade sensenich narrow carbon prop and it does even better. I would not run a load that big on a 16' boat because it will sink if you stop in deep water. The weekend before this I blew the motor up on my boat and had to borrow the old mans rig.


This is what happens to a new motor with less then 1 hour run time if your builder uses cheap valves. [/img]
boatpictures075-1.jpg
 
Thanks for the responses guys. Crowhater, from your advice and advice of others, I purchased a sesenich 3 blade 78" prop (narrow blade). The boat does run better with this prop. Last time out I could only get about 2700 rpm's. So when I took it back to storage I adjusted the pitch again. This time I tightened it down at just over the 1st notch, maybe 1.1 or 1.2 on the 3 notch scale. I have not ran it yet a that porp setting, so it should do a little better. I was courious to know if polymer would give me better performance running dry grass. I have put one small ding in the bottom already when I drove over a stump I did not see. So polymer may be in my future. My engine is 472 Cadillac, so I don't know if that will make much difference between your boat and this one. My set up has about 6" of the prop BELOW the transom. I know I'm losing some thrust because of this. My next project is to rerig with stainless, raise the engine/prop 3-6 inches, and install polymer or steelflex. 4x4
 
There are plenty of 15' Rivermasters that run dry with 472 / 500 DD Cadis down this way...You haven't said anything about engine mods...suggest you read the thread by CadilacPerformance about their DD motor mods..poly really adda Oh Sheet comfort and it usually doe not hurt the dry ground performance...if that salt you are headed to has oysters...put poly on before you go the first time. Put up some pics of your rigging and weight distribution...also, check your engine for level. Plenty of places for you to look for improvements. Good Luck...and Welcome.
 
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