Keel Guard

[Jjoe]

Has anyone ever tried using Rino truckbed liner for a keel guard. You could neatly brush on x amount of layers for thickness. Would this stick to the keel? Just a thought.

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: Keel Guard

Hmmm... I was looking at getting a keelguard for my project (gelcoat thin to worn through on keel in places) but at around $200...not gonna happen. I can get a gallon of gelcoat from Merton's for under $60 so I was thinking of just re-gelcoating the bottom.

What kind of finish do you end up with using bedliner? If it lays out flat and you can get a nice shiny finish, I would think that it would work. Worse case...you end up stripping/sanding it off and doing it differently.

-JMW

 

[i386]

Re: Keel Guard

Those things are ugly and expensive. I'm also curious if/how it affects handling/tracking/performance.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Keel Guard

bed liner is not going to hold up any better. may as well take a piece of inner tube and contact cement to the keel, would hold up better than rino liner.

 

[bekosh]

Re: Keel Guard

Has anyone ever tried using Rino truckbed liner for a keel guard.

but at around $200....

Those things are ugly and expensive. I'm also curious if/how it affects handling/tracking/performance.

I would just get the Keelshield. They aren't that expensive for the short ones. $90 for 4ft, $110 for 5ft from iboats. I have a 4ft Keelshield on my 15ft boat and it works great. Not a scratch in it after 2 seasons and one of the launches we use doesn't have a dock so you have to run back up on the ramp to pickup your crew after you launch.
I haven't noticed any handling/tracking/performance problems since I added it and I don't think it looks ugly. Just go with a matching or contrasting color. I went black on the red to match the rubrail. iboats lists 14 colors for the 4ft shield so you should find one that works with your boat. White, if nothing else. iboats 4ft keelshield

Yes, I'm showing off. :}

 

[i386]

Re: Keel Guard

It doesn't look too bad in that picture. Nice boat too.

 

[strizzy]

Re: Keel Guard

Just cut it back at some angels, wont look too bad.

 

[Jjoe]

Re: Keel Guard

Thanks for all the replies. It was just a thought and I got some good feed back.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Keel Guard

I tried a truck bed liner (hippo liner) on my 12 foot. Work good on the inside but it didn't stand up on the outside and has peeled off.

I probably should have done the prep better but I'm not convinced the stuff would work well on the outside.