Fixing UHMW Runners to Fiberglass

Brandon Bolling

Brandon Bolling

Active member
The Longtail is almost finished so I need to move on to my boat. Last season I spent a lot of time dragging my boat over dikes bridges, gravel, etc. I want to put some UHMW runners on the bottom of my sneakbox to make it a little easier to pull and less abrasion to the bottom. The question I have is how to secure them properly. My boat is an old sunfish so the bottom is fiberglass. Do I have to put wood on the inside and secure the runners with ss screws or is this something I can accomplish with an epoxy? I have used the 3M fiberglass epoxy (purple stuff) and it seems like it would do the job. Please point me in the right direction. Once again, all comments are very much appreciated and thank you in advance.
 
Brandon

I just ordered 1X1/8 uhmw that has a self adhesive back. I had to order 100 ft. I am going to use it on a boat I am building. I will not use much. If this is what your looking for send me a PM.


James Roberts
 
Brandon,

I just went through pretty much the same ordeal building the NFZ. I ended up using 3/8" x 1.5" strips of UHMW. I did a lot of research into adhesives for UHMW and there isn't a lot out there. Crown plastics has some stick on, but nothing as thick as I wanted. There is another company using a vaccuum bagging process to adhere it, several that are doing this on aluminum boats. A couple of companies that are simply mechanically fastening the sheets of UHMW to the bottom of drift boats.

I finally came across a company out of CA called Reltek. They make a specialty adhesive for UHMW that works quite well. I ended up using the adhesive and a combination of recessed stainless screws and recessed ss bolts/barrel nuts. The problem is, the only carrier is McMaster Carr and since its considered a hazardous material (corrosive) they would not sell to me in a residential neighborhood no matter how high up I talked. So I ended up calling Reltek back and he was really surprised to hear all this. They ended up selling me one of the small sized quantities that McMaster carried, as they usally only make sells of $600 and up.

Granted this stuff isn't cheap at all, 1.5 qts ended up costing me about $250 with hazmat shipping. I only used a small amount so I'll have some for other boats down the road.

Here's a shot of the keel strips installed on the NFZ.
NFZ19.jpg


Brad
 
Brad

Do you think the self adhesive uhmw will not stick with out screws?
This boat I am building is a light wt (60 lb) marsh boat for protected water. To stiffen the boat I am planning on using internal stringers and lay a removeable floor on top of them. I could screw the uhmw into the stinger if needed.


James Roberts
 
I don't know. The NFZ is set up to be a mud boat so the bottom will likely take some abuse. Also UHMW has some expansion with increase in temperature and vice versa so I would be a little concerned about that as well. Lastly, I think it would be a pain to get it to lay right with enough pressure until the epoxy cures.

Brad
 
Screw it to the hull with either ss machine screws and washers with nuts or just screws. Bed all screws and countersunk holes with 5200 and I would even bed the strips in the same. It will not glue it but it will take up the space between the hull and UHMW.
Good luck.

It is tough stuff and way better than wood and brass for the bottom as rash guard. Used on comercial boats all the time.
 
Thanks for all the help! Looks like James is the hero of the day with helping me out with materials, thanks again! My boat has no stringers and there is some flex when coming over the crown of the dike. I think that it may be the best option to place some. SOOOO...... Stringers? Is this a epoxy, bend, screw, then glass in process? And what is the best material to use. Thanks for the input, a new project has begun!
 
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