Poke Boat fixer upper

Mark W

Mark W

Well-known member
Late last year I purchased a Kevlar Poke Boat - the regular one not the Maxi. I may have been a bit quick on the purchase but I had been looking for awhile and couldn't find anything close or reasonable. Ron Schuna turned me on to this one and after a 5 hours drive to take a look, I purchased it and drove back 5 hours with the Poke. Came with some extra stuff - airbags, camo cover, cockpit cover, foot braces, seat and some J hook cradles to put on the Yakima bars. Thought it was a fiar price and with the extras, I was pretty happy. Boat had some minor defects I could see while examining it but nothing major.


View attachment PB1.jpg


Took the boat out last weekend to look her over. First, I have to say, I am not impressed with the build quality of the Poke. uneven lamination, lots of resin voids, shoddy workmanship and so on. After speaking with a couple of others, what I got is not uncommon I hear. Boat is fine and will work, no leaks (at least I don' think so) and it will work for the way I want to use it.


I washed it up and removed the joint tape (rub rail tape). My initial plan was to wet sand some of the scratches and then buff it up to a good shine and use the cover that came with the boat. After closer examination, I'm rethinking that plan. As you can see in the pictures, there are quite a few resin voids and a few places where there is some minor damage to the laminate. The resin voids were made darker by me while buffing. I purposely used a dark polishing compound so I could see the defects.


View attachment PB3.jpg
Damage
View attachment PB4.jpg
resin voids

So far nothing too major. I also found some spots where there was very little resin at the joint. It didn't appear to be cracked or damaged in anyway it just was lacking in resin. I also found one area where I did have some delamination


View attachment PB5.jpg
delamination
View attachment PB6.jpg
resin light area


So here are my questions/thoughts.


1. Plan was to keep it looking original and fill in the voids and seam areas lacking resin with flexible epoxy. Matches the color of the boat and works well for this application. I have seen luthiers (spell) use the same resin to fill voids in guitars. I am thinking I may just ditch this idea and fill in the voids and other resin light areas with a vinyl ester filler, sand it and then just paint over the whole thing. Pro's and cons?
2. Was going to use the cover but I am thinking it will get in the way, extra thing to carry, and will get wet and add weight. Painting would solve this problem as well.
3. What would you use to fix the delamination area? I was thinking 5200 but am thinking it is going to take too long to sure. Maybe just some epoxy here as well and tape clamp it shut until cured.
4. Should I decide to paint, would FME work on such a flexible surface?


More questions will come I am sure. Still not warm enough up here to do much.


Mark W
 
Did you ever determine, from an authoritative source, whether these are built with epoxy resin or polyester resin?
 
By authoritative if you mean Poke Boat - I did call them. Couldn't get past the person answering the phones and she said polyester resin is used with the kevlar boats. I don't believe her. Anyone else here know for sure what resin is used with their Kevlar boats?


Mark W
 
 
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I have not worked with something like that, but general comments. If the piece you are fixing has flex, make sure your fix does not make a hard spot that borders an area that flexes easily. If you are planning on sanding anything associated with the Kevlar - try to minimize that. Sanding will fuzz the fibers. I had OK luck with scraping the fibers off with a sharp edge like a knife when the epoxy was fully cured and hard. I'd use epoxy to fix, it is compatible with any resin used.
 
I don't really know what they use for resin but would think with Kevlar it would be epoxy. That thin of a laminate in polyester resin would crack fairly easy. Epoxy has much better flexibility. I would use epoxy resin to make the repairs. There are several types of fillers you can use to thicken the resin.

Tom
 
By authoritative if you mean Poke Boat - I did call them. Couldn't get past the person answering the phones and she said polyester resin is used with the kevlar boats. I don't believe her. Anyone else here know for sure what resin is used with their Kevlar boats?
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I have nothing good to say about that company in KY after trying to get some help on a boat thru their customer service. I was trying to get some pieces for mounting the rub rail on one of their boats. They asked me to send them a piece of what I was talking about. I removed a piece from the boat and sent it to them. They no longer used that type of fastening system and threw my piece away. Great customer service. That pretty much made my mind up about never buying anything they make. For the prices they charge, their customer service should be outstanding. and their products should be flawless.
 
Mike, That really is unbelievable. I had to read your post several times to believe it. They really just tossed your parts???? Even in this day of horrible customer service that really sucks. BOOOO to poke Boat.
 
Mike, That really is unbelievable. I had to read your post several times to believe it. They really just tossed your parts???? Even in this day of horrible customer service that really sucks. BOOOO to poke Boat.
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Tom, They really threw away the piece that I sent them. They were not sure what I was talking about on the phone and asked that I send them a piece. They also never called me back after receiving my part. I had to call them to find out they got my part, no loner used that fastening system, and they had thrown my part away. You remember being treated like that for a long time.
 
There was a statement in a TDB thread on this website some year back, regarding their level of customer service during the period they were producing the TDB-14' and TDB-17' Sea Class boats. The gentlemen said, " they don't have poor customer service skills; they have no customer service!"

Mark, apparently Phoenix used a high-elongation isophthalic polyester resin to build Poke boats-slightly stronger and better "waterproof" capabilities. Here is a straightforward a discussion of its properties:

http://beetleplastics.com/why-isophthalic-polyester-resins-are-ideal-for-fiberglass-fabrications/
 
RL, I took the time to read the article and it confirms why I use straight ISO resin in all my boats. There are some resin manufacturers that have resins that they classify as marine grade even though some are Ortho or Ortho/ DCPD blends. The problem is Ortho absorbs water at too high a rate for marine use in my opinion and DCPD resins are too brittle. It pays to know the difference between types of resins. ISO costs more but over the long hull Its worth it to me.

Tom
 
Thanks, Tom, apparently one more valid question that should be asked of the manufacturer when buying a commercially produced duckboat.
 
Thanks for all the info everyone - thanks for the pictures and PM's Rick.


I'm pretty sure I have decided to paint the Poke and call it good. If I decide to sell it at some point in the futures I can remove the paint, or paint it a more appealing color for the masses I guess. Not sure camouflage suits everyone's taste. Not sure what paint to use..... or what main color either. I have vinyl ester filler here at work that I can get for the right price and this will be used to fill in all the resin voids and other defects on the boat. The "rub rail" tape will hide the seam and Kevlar fuzzies that are exist in this area.


I still have my raffia grass/bungee cord camo set up from the Ducker I sold last year so this will be part of the camo system. Hope to have the boat complete and in the water early spring. Weather permitting.


Mark W
 
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Snowed yesterday. Working out just as I expected. Wish I had a heated garage or work area in the house. I'm pretty sure the wife would not appreciate the smell of styrene wafting through the house so the waiting game is on......


Mark W
 
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