I will try to detail my application process for any of you guys considering a DIY of Gator Glide. I (regretfully) did two boats at the same time. It helped for drying time between coats....but, it was still two boats!

I used the G2 Marsh Mud Brown. It wasn't the color I thought I was getting. I just told David I wanted the really dark brown. I looked back and saw I really wanted the "Graphite" color. Oh well, my bad for not paying attention to detail!

I got pretty much everything David Ward of Gator Glide said to get in preparation:
2 gallon paint bucket
Paint roller grid to fit the bucket
Gallon of Acetone
6" Roller w/ 3/8" nap. I chose the Wooster Brand with micro-fiber roller. It was actually a 6.5" roller.


Also, I had the wide variety of sanders in hopes of finding out which one would be the most effective. Had a Dewalt 1/4 sheet sander, Skil and Craftsman 1/3 sheet sanders and Skil mouse sander. We later opted for an angle grinder with 80 grit flapper sanding discs to help expedite the sanding process.

I used a wheeled office chair and a small moving creeper to work from a seated position when possible.



More to follow....



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The boats:

1848 Sportsman's Fab Custom w/tiller steer
1854 Uncle J Custom w/Center Console

The 1848 rig we took the motor off of it, flipped it and planned on applying the G2 9" up each side. The 1854, left everything intact and suspended using an overhead crane and planned on applying 6" up each side.

Another guy and I did the sanding together. He did nearly all the 1848 and I was tasked with the CC rig. I initially tried using various sanders to get the original paint off the boats. That wasn't working fast enough for my liking. We resorted to 80 grit flapper discs (tiger disc) which was much better. We then came back over that with 100 grit vibrator sanders for a finer anchor pattern.

Needless to say, working from the creeper was not the easiest of means to sand the bottom of the boat.

In general, where I didn't need to remove paint, the Dewalt 1/4 sheet and the Skil 1/3 sheet sanders did a really good job of simply scuffing the bare aluminum. They left a decent looking profile for an anchor pattern.

The painted portions were a different story. Although, the painted surfaces probably had a good enough bond that it could have been used as a primer base, I opted to take it down to bare metal. This worked best (fastest) with the 80 grit flapper discs. It took little effort and didn't roughen up the surfaces too bad. I then followed up with a light sanding with the sheet sanders. Again, the sheet sanders did a really good job on the bare metal.

We also used the flapper discs to smooth out any burrs, scratches and dings on the bottom. The sandpaper sheets didn't like those gnarled up scratches and pock marks.

I used the trailer to act as a safety device in case something let go on the rigging. I was not very comfortable working beneath that load. Another issue with the suspended load was movement. I eventually just tied the sides to anchor points to minimize swaying and movement while working on the hull.



The other rig was flipped over and rested on a moving creeper on one side and a pallet on the other. A pallet mover was all that was needed to move the boat around quite easily.




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Once all the sanding was done, I pulled off the masking tape which I had used as a guide and gave one pass across all surfaces with acetone soaked rags before calling it a day...errrr...night.

This was pretty much an all day Saturday event. The masking tape idea was an okay idea. But, I never was much good at staying inside the lines. On the Sportsman's Fab hull, we just took the grinding/sanding to the press break on the sides. The break on the Uncle J was a little higher up.

Here's one more before calling it a night.



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Sunday morning, I started off by pouring the acetone into a garden sprayer and "washing down" the surfaces and then following the wash with a wipe down using rags. I used bulk cotton rags for this. I learned Saturday night not to use the colored rags. The dyes bleed out of the colored rags. Use the white rags.

Time to mix the G2.

I thoroughly "shook" each container for Part "A" and Part ""B" prior to pouring out. The activator was in a container clear enough to mark off 1/4 increments. The pigment container, I measured using a paint stick from the top of the container to the liquid level and marked on the exterior. I then measured from the top of the container to the bottom of the inside in the same manner to make a bottom mark on the one gallon bucket with which it was sent. From, there, I marked off the 1/4 gallon increments on the bucket exterior. I marked a paint stick to know where my half gallon mark was to know when I had poured out one half gallon...which was where I had planned to start.

This was where I realized I got the wrong color! LOL I started by mixing up a half gallon into the 2 gallon bucket. In hind site, for this project, I would have mixed up about a third of a gallon.

The product actually started out very "thin" and viscous. I would be willing to bet this could be applied using a sprayer if mixed in small amounts. The Marsh Mud actually looked like chocolate milk and really had that type of consistency. Very thin, when first mixed.

I put down the first coats on each boat, starting with the suspended boat, first.


Then, moved over to the flipped boat and rolled out its first coat.





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Tips and tricks for the first coat:

No doubt, the first coat was "tricky." This stuff will fish-eye on you making you think you didn't properly prepare your surfaces. It made me nervous at first. David's slogan of "thin to win" is what I practiced. I literally squeezed out every gram of coating from the roller before re-wetting. As you can see in the above photos, the first coat looked almost like a poorly applied varnish. It was semi-transparent once it dried.

I also figured out a good practice for these bottoms was to roll the rakes with the length of the boat. Roll the bottom across the width. The bottoms of both of these boats were slightly "channeled" between the longitudinal runners. The roller went over these better going the width than the length. I sectioned off small areas, basically "squares" that I rolled out. Basically, half the width by about three to four feet long sections. I thoroughly wet the roller and rolled out over the grill to remove excess G2, then started with a "V" or "W" over the area to roll. I then rolled out that area with what was on the roller picking up extra in my "V" or "W" to get full coverage.

Dents in the bottom took a little extra attention to cover.

I also somewhat ignored the side to bottom welds and transom to bottom weld areas with the first coat. Basically, I didn't spend any time trying to get full coverage over the welds with the first coat. I addressed these areas in the next coats.

On the sides, I used an up/down motion to roll out. After wetting/grilling the roller, I "striped" the sides for nearly half the length of the boat, keeping the wetted vertical stripes about 18"-24" apart. On the second coat forward, this was where I took the time to "dab" the roller into the corner welds, making sure the weld and adjacent surfaces were adequately wetted with each coat. After striping, I started from where the first stripe was rolled and rolled out that full half boat length. Again, I squeezed out every gram of coating I could get from the roller and what I had on the surface before re-wetting the roller.

Time wise, the suspended boat took about 45 minutes per coat to apply. The flipped boat took 30 minutes per coat.


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Tips and tricks for the first coat:

No doubt, the first coat was "tricky." This stuff will fish-eye on you making you think you didn't properly prepare your surfaces. It made me nervous at first. David's slogan of "thin to win" is what I practiced. I literally squeezed out every gram of coating from the roller before re-wetting. As you can see in the above photos, the first coat looked almost like a poorly applied varnish. It was semi-transparent once it dried.

I also figured out a good practice for these bottoms was to roll the rakes with the length of the boat. Roll the bottom across the width. The bottoms of both of these boats were slightly "channeled" between the longitudinal runners. The roller went over these better going the width than the length. I sectioned off small areas, basically "squares" that I rolled out. Basically, half the width by about three to four feet long sections. I thoroughly wet the roller and rolled out over the grill to remove excess G2, then started with a "V" or "W" over the area to roll. I then rolled out that area with what was on the roller picking up extra in my "V" or "W" to get full coverage.

Dents in the bottom took a little extra attention to cover.

I also somewhat ignored the side to bottom welds and transom to bottom weld areas with the first coat. Basically, I didn't spend any time trying to get full coverage over the welds with the first coat. I addressed these areas in the next coats.

On the sides, I used an up/down motion to roll out. After wetting/grilling the roller, I "striped" the sides for nearly half the length of the boat, keeping the wetted vertical stripes about 18"-24" apart. On the second coat forward, this was where I took the time to "dab" the roller into the corner welds, making sure the weld and adjacent surfaces were adequately wetted with each coat. After striping, I started from where the first stripe was rolled and rolled out that full half boat length. Again, I squeezes out every gram of coating I could get out of the roller and what I had on the surface before re-wetting the roller.

Time wise, the suspended boat took about 45 minutes per coat to apply. The flipped boat took 30 minutes per coat.


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Looks great!!

When ya want to do another one LOL!!!

Well worth your efforts , you'll love it.

H Finn

The ONLY advantage I found to doing two boats at once was that you had adequate drying time between coats.

The second coat went on very similar to the first coat. Seemed there was still a little bit of fish-eyeing going on. And again, I was laying it down pretty thin. The dry coat was a few shades darker than the wet coat. So, it was easy to see where you were going with the roller. The second coat still had a "semi-transparent" appearance about it. If you are looking for it, you can see it in the photos. Here is a look at the second coats.






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By the time I got around to applying the third coats...keep in mind this was already four individual coats down...I could tell the G2 consistency was getting a little thicker. I hadn't taken many breaks other than to stretch, head calls and eat a shrimp poboy I had brought out to me. When I did stop rolling, I did as instructed, covered the bucket with a wet cloth. The G2 still had good, thin consistency to roll out, though. Again, the third coats still left things looking a little "splotchy" in some areas. But, you could see things were starting to progress. Here's what things looked like after the third coat:






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At this point, what I had left in my mix bucket was really starting to "coagulate" and had the consistency of a poorly made chocolate milk shake....and the same color!

I knew I needed to mix more product, but didn't want to waste what was left in the bucket because I felt there was enough to at least get the bottom of the 1854 rig and maybe the sides. I sent David a text...on Sunday of course...those dang weekend warriors!!...and asked him of it was okay to mix into what was left in the bucket or start from scratch. He said start from scratch. He told me what I had in the bucket was still good to go. So, the fourth coat went on with some pretty quick rolling action! It was really starting to cling to the roller. But, I managed to get the full bottom and sides of the suspended boat before tapping out.

So, one half gallon produced a total of seven, thinly applied coats.

Here's coat number four on the suspended hull.



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I cleaned up the paint bucket, roller and roller grill with water. I thoroughly dried off my roller. I thought about just changing out the roller with a spare roller purchased. But, the spare was a different brand and I was happy with what this one had done. I rinsed it very thoroughly and used compressed air to dry it out. I mixed up one quart of the G2 and complimenting amount of activator and went back to work. I put the fourth coat on the flipped hull and put the fifth and final coats on each boat afterward. Surprisingly, it took every bit of that quart to get three coats...where I was able to get seven coats from two quarts. I was scraping the bottom of the bucket to get the sides finished! But, I got it done! Whew!!

The fourth and fifth coats really started taking on shape and "filling" in the splotchy appearance from the first three coats. So, if you're doing this yourself, don't get alarmed if after three coats, you think you are not getting good coverage. The fourth and subsequent coat(s) will take care of it.

Here are what the fifth/final coats looked like.







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Now, the boats stay like they are until Wednesday night. That will give them the recommended 72 hours cure time. Then, they will go back on the trailers and be ready to tackle some lilies!

I will come back with a rattle can and touch up areas where I got a little carried away with the grinding/sanding.

I still have a quart of G2 left. No doubt, you go thin, you will get enough coats down to take care of business. 3 quarts gave me ten coats between two boats. I have a couple of kayaks I am thinking about converting into layouts. That will be the next G2 project.

I'll be sure to update this with some video/photos of the performance and wear over time. Keep an eye out for updates!


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Great write up, Troy! It sounds like it was money well spent for me to pay WC to do mine, lol.

LOL....your new hull was probably pretty easy to coat in comparison to what we did. No motor to take off. Bare, smooth aluminum to work with. Heck, a little scuffing, a little acetone, and your boat was probably ready to go! I'm still having trouble lifting my arms up. Probably able to use 18" rollers on yours!

BlueShamu, outstanding! Fine work and great write up, thank you. Sorry about the color thing, GG does not take pigment well and we are at the mercy of the pigment makers and limited by the ones the product will except. As a painting contractor for a lot of years I've learned not to pick colors for folks. (They have a deferent kind of guy for that ) however the good news is its on the bottom where no one can see it. Also keep in mind if you want to change the color to something like graphite you don't have to go through all of that and it would only take a few coats. I would run it for a while first and see if it grows on you. I know it's a lot more work to take all the paint off but you've done the right thing. You have eliminated any reason for failure as far as I can tell. Looking forward to hearing how you like the performance. Again great job!

Not a bad idea....go with the graphite when it's time to "refresh."

I'm like you and most men when it comes to picking colors. My wife would have said, "Graphite." Me...."the darkest brown."

Thanks for all your help.

Looks good! Sorry I couldn't make it by we had a lot going on.

It's a good thing you didn't come by, Saturday. I would have put a sander in your hands!

Any luck with the fish?

a little.

I was extremely suprised at how slick this shit was. After reading several threads and talking to Frog, I decided to put it on the bare aluminum.
IMG_2411.JPG

The problem came when I tried to paint the boat this pass week. Took some tape and tried to tape off the gator glide so I could spray my hull. The shit wouldn't stick. So I thought WTH, let me get some duck tape and just tape off enough to get it to stick, then come back with the painters tape. That shit wouldn't stick. So I ended up taping off the gator glide anout .5" - .75" above the G2 and sprayed the hull.
IMG_2508.JPG

Then I had to come back with a small brush and cut it in. You have to get very close to even see the fine brush lines. So in doing this, I had to do the rake section so I removed all the tape and drop cloth and uncoupled the bow eye to move the hull back. I barely touched the hull and It slide back about 1'.
IMG_2511.JPG

I can easily see that If your shit isn't coupled to the trailer when you drive off, the boat will be sitting on the ramp. This shit can get me in some serious trouble. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw the price of the stuff, I was like "this is a gimmick". But after applying the stuff, letting it sit for about a week, flipped it back over and placed on trailer to paint, this shit is slick. Don't know exactly WTF is in this stuff, but it seems to be a great product so far. Thanks again Frog for all the help and advise.

Your rig slid back on bare wooden bunks?!?! Now, I am really looking forward to seeing this stuff in action!

My thoughts on painting after putting down the Gator Glide...a piece of cardboard against the edge of the gator glide while spraying should help out instead of trying to tape off everything. If any overspray got on the GG, it would probably come off or not even be noticed. At least this will be my rattle can touch up technique.


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Your rig slid back on bare wooden bunks?!?! Now, I am really looking forward to seeing this stuff in action!

My thoughts on painting after putting down the Gator Glide...a piece of cardboard against the edge of the gator glide while spraying should help out instead of trying to tape off everything. If any overspray got on the GG, it would probably come off or not even be noticed. At least this will be my rattle can touch up technique.


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Yes this stuff is really slick. Even with a ratchet strap across the back of the boat to the trailer I can still slide the boat from side to side.

When rolling on the gator glide go back and re roll as you are applying and it will help tighten up the fish eye effect. As I would roll on I would go back several feet where it was starting to get tacky and re roll and it really helped. I got 4 coats out of 1/2 gallon gator base and 4 coats out of 1/2 gallon G2 on an 18 x 48 boat. I can take my pinky finger and slide the front of the boat from side to side with ease, this stuff is super slick.

WOW! 1400 pounds of boat, motor, fuel, batteries, trolling motor, etc. I could have pushed this rig right off the trailer and onto the concrete!!

This stuff is so good, I think it would give a Go-Devil instant reverse!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J53oGPBmWsY&sns=em


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Nice shop.

D.a.T. is a nice shop!


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Yep that is a nice shop

Done it. Love ir

Blue, have you run your boat with the Gator Glide on it yet? Wondering if there was any difference in it? Have same size cc boat as you with a 36 PD on it. Wanted to see if all the work was worth it before i went thru the pain staking process myself.

Not yet. Probably get out one afternoon next week. I am up north right now without the boat. Bit, trust me, there will be reviews, photos and video.


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Well. Took the plunge and ordered the G2. Fixing to get started prepping the boat and wait for it to be delivered