My dad and I bought a willie that has hardly ever been used. We got it for that reason but the bottom has never had gluv-it or any other protective coat. We're going to put some on this summer when it gets warm and dry but will we be okay fishing in the DB until then without hurting the bottom?

P.S. We have a 14 foot Lavro and we fish the Sol Duc, Bogachiel, Hoh, and etc. every weekend

Great choice in boats!

Your boat will survive without the coating till summer but if you run any water where you'll do some rock bouncing I strongly recommend you put something on the bottom because raw aluminum is "sticky" when it contacts rocks and if your in wild water it could cause the boat to react in a way that you don't anticipate.........that would be bad.

I recommend and use "Coat-it". It's an improvement over gluvit because it includes graphite in the resin which makes it slippery. It takes 2-3 coats to last on the boat bottom and offer good gliding qualities.

If you can find a shop with a heat source you can apply it easily this time of year. Heat equals a faster curing time and helps it set up better. I've applied emergency coatings in the winter before with the above mentioned heated shop and it worked great.

Maybe any covered area would work if you put a catalitic heater underneath after you finsished coating........ but dont catch anything on fire.. Just a thought..

I am glad to hear that there are responsible guys out there making sure they put some protection on their Willie before they use it.

especially if your goin to the hoh

some of the local boys are using spray on bedliner (Rhino liner, linex etc..)instead of Gluvit for the bottoms of their boats .. its gauranteed for life , even on a drift boat .. if it ever comes off they will repair or replace the whole coating for free. so far the coatings seem to be lasting longer than Gluvit... the semi rough surface of the bed liner acually makes the boat handle a bit better. ....Von Warner

Von Warner,

I too have heard of guys using the spray-on bedliner for their boats. I don't doubt the toughness but wonder how well it GLIDES on rocks? If it's like the stuff sprayed on my truck bed it's rough and isn't what I would call slippery. Your thoughts?

That does seem to make sense. I know the bedliners seem to be very sticky when they are sprayed in the back of trucks but when they are sprayed on the bottom of drift boats they seem not to grab the rocks like you might think . In my opinion it is comparable to Gluvit, but without the upkeep and that terrible noise you hear as your boat screeches over a rock and scrapes a big chunk of Gluvit off the bottom ... I will ask around some more but from what I have seen and experienced in my friends boats you wont be disapointed ....Good luck ...Von Warner