hey anyone had experience with waxing for speed

[bigbore]

if the pad and the rest of the hull gets waxed has anyone noticed an actuall m.p.h.difference.the marine here in ill. is saying they got a special wax for this(some kinda less friction wax)so whats the word on this guys,the marine that filled me in on this is pretty repitable.:cool:

[Greg Moss]

If you wax it you will kill your speed. a boat flys faster through the air than through the water. when you wax something you see the beads form that is caused by the suface tension of the water making the water stick to the surface. What you really want to do is have a surface like primer, it will aerate the surface causing the boat to fly through the air instead of through the water. The primer cause small air bubbles to form between the bottom of the boat and the suface of the water increasing speed. Anybody that says they waxed the bottom of their boat and it increased the speed is wrong and totally clueless.

[Raceman]

if the pad and the rest of the hull gets waxed has anyone noticed an actuall m.p.h.difference.the marine here in ill. is saying they got a special wax for this(some kinda less friction wax)so whats the word on this guys,the marine that filled me in on this is pretty repitable.:cool:

Hmmm, more snakeoil offered to the high performance boater. The marina is either: A. NOT "pretty reputable" B. NOT knowledgeable on high perf boats

[NNT]

bigbore,if your looking for all out speed,then you need to round the bottom of your boat.everyone knows something round goes through the water much easier than something square.now git er done :D

[mendo]

In some cases having a good wax or bottom treatment will help.

Now let me clarify before you get all up in arms.

If you put something on the bottom that will keep some of the growth from attaching then it will keep you speed up compared to having the bottom all furry.

Most of us keep our boats pretty clean so this really isn't an issue.

It depends on how clean you keep you boat.

I put a product called "Super Slick" on one of my boats that I keep in the lake for most of the summer. It keeps the bottom much cleaner that without it. I know this because I missed some spots once and they grew fur much faster. This type of product helps me when I clean it too. The stuff comes off much easier. So in this case, I use it because it helps me go faster for more of the summer without having to pull it and clean the bottom as much.

Have Fun, go fast!

[bigbore]

naples i think youre on to something there,how should i go about that anayway,hhmmm chech it out-grind it with a cutting wheel to rough it,and shape it,then finish the surface with a belt sander to give it the rough affect.done deal-that'll work.so no wax?what about cleaning it?my boats more important then my room.

[bigbore]

Hmmm, more snakeoil offered to the high performance boater. The marina is either: A. NOT "pretty reputable" B. NOT knowledgeable on high perf boats
so what is the answer raceman?

[bigbore]

If you wax it you will kill your speed. a boat flys faster through the air than through the water. when you wax something you see the beads form that is caused by the suface tension of the water making the water stick to the surface. What you really want to do is have a surface like primer, it will aerate the surface causing the boat to fly through the air instead of through the water. The primer cause small air bubbles to form between the bottom of the boat and the suface of the water increasing speed. Anybody that says they waxed the bottom of their boat and it increased the speed is wrong and totally clueless.
isnt that what waxing does?brings all the corrosion off the surface,the end result primered surface,what the.

[Jimboat]

bigbore - The results of waxing the bottoms of performance hulls do not usually improve speed or performance. Also, the results of "Go-Fast" applications seem to be somewhat inconsistent. Many of these do nothing more than remove the wax from surface (getting the wax off is good).

If it's top speed you're looking for, polishing or waxing the surfaces can make it slightly worse. The "slick" surface will maintain a "laminar" water flow for a little longer on the lifting surface, which generates slightly more drag than a separated, turbulent flow. This is the "stickiness" that can be experienced when running on very smooth water or with "polished" or waxed running surfaces of your boat bottoms.

Best results seem to be achieved by wet-sanding with fine emery cloth. This will take out all the scratches, but won't create the "stickyness" or "sheen" that causes the additional drag.

By far, however, the most efficient (least drag) lift for a planing performance boat is the achievement of a smooth (no bumps), flat (no curves) surface. So cleaning up or "blueprinting" your hull bottom can result in significant performance improvements.


Some experimenters have suggested that even "golf-ball dimpling" of planing surfaces is advantageous. I do not subscribe to this approach either. The 'golf-ball' dimpling is not effective at our speeds at all. Most important factor (by a long shot) is the 'flatness' of the surface. ABSOLUTELY, 100% DEAD FLAT is what is fastest. Once you have this, sanding the planing surface with a 600 grit sand can slightly improve the laminar flow boundary layer, particularly at the leading edge. (This will be better than mirror or waxed finish). But 'flatness' will still be most important!

The whole issue of laminar flow is a very difficult one on powerboats. In displacement hulls, the surfaces exposed to drag are very predictable - the leading edge (most important part for drag generation) is well defined. In a powerboat, as speed changes, so does the 'wetted' surface area, and so does the location of the 'leading edge'. Since the configuration and surface condition of the leading edge is the most important, it's tough on a powerboat, since the leading edge is a 'moving target'.

So even though you can improve the drag at the leading edge of your planing surface by 'slightly roughening', it only helps at that one location - and you don't know where this leading edge location will be at any given speed. That is why the benefit is quite limited.

That brings another point...the trailing edge condition (of your planing surface - ie: sponson or pad) is also very key to induced drag. Should make as clean and sharp at trailing edge as possible.

[Hottrucks]

If he doesn't know NO ONE DOES!!!!!!

Thanx again Jim

But will run the latest one by you!! someone told me RAINX on the bottom? it will last only a day or so but they said it made a difference? I questioned it but then got to thinking it was because it removed wax but I still can't explain why it runs off my windshield so well?? Do you think there is anything to this rumor??
Thanx Again

[bigbore]

thats a perfect explination if i ever saw one.well,wouldnt roughing the surface take off the clearcoat?risking the longevity of the paintjob,i have no question that you are directly right but this could become and issue that would leave the finished surface in jeapordy im thinking.also who does this kinda work,im willing to have it done but i live in rockford ill.also what im getting from this is i should'nt clean it with wax-obviously,so i should probably use miratic acid to clean the surface-hey?also i should say that the boat is 16yrs.old and its been repainted (before i bought it)and they used a laquer paint (same as automotive)to do the job,i know initially from the factory it was gelcoated but the laquer finish is what im up against right now.and i know it was a clearcoated finish (obviouslt that woulda been laquer based also)so where does that put the acceptance of miratic acid?

[SportJ-US-1]

400 to 600 grit sand paper and a long board and hours of back breaking work. I used a cheap can of black spray paint to find the low (or high) spots and sanded until everything was cas close to flat as I could get if and felt smooth, but had hundreds of tiny grooves from the sanding that broke surface tension of the water and made the boat faster along with the flatter surfaces.

[bigbore]

at that point im thinking s.o.s. pad or emory cloth.

[bigbore]

i got a friend that uses vinager + water to clean often i know this would obviously take any wax off but obviously thats what the goal is -hey,my other problem with that is its a vegasxt (modified tunnell)so getting to the whole bottom (under the bunks)is pretty much impossible unless i buy a truckload of vinager dump it in the river upstream and do a pass through it from downstream.:D

[NNT]

make sure to sand side to side and not end to end on the bottom

[Raceman]

so what is the answer raceman?

Sometimes bikini waxin' can make the bottom part slide off quicker unless it's a thong, then the wax don't help.:D

[bigbore]

im gonna haft to go find me a honney over at fattythumbs.com n have er rub it down to conserve on time i'll teach her how to do a dead mans float in the river here and run er over at w.o.t.oohh sh** what a minute she'll be bobin to high in the water that'll cause hull damage...never mind i'll keep er im the garadge.:cool:

[bigbore]

it'll be good till ya gotta be a fine american and take er out to eat,then a a$$ massage for the rubrailling she took from the river.

[bigbore]

now your gonna have to sand out the dark spots with a d.s. sander

[Racemore]

Hotboat did a test along time ago.On the hulls they tested 400grit on the pad was the fastest.A friend tried waxing a Hydrosteam 15-20 years ago an it took 3 mph off the topend.:cool:

[SportJ-US-1]

make sure to sand side to side and not end to end on the bottom

Always sand with the direction of the water flow. Cross sanding creates thousands of little dams to the water and air flow.

[bigbore]

yea in know that much,thanks guys,napples dont like me,i tell ya what napples i'll buy ya a beer if i ever run into ya,you know the threads on the lt1 did'nt get me to the point where i dislike you or big al.it looks like 400 grit it is.hey what do you guys think about the emery cloth idea?and obviously if it gets sanded it needs to be done in the direction of the flow of water,another thing though 400 seems to be a bit agressive maybe ha?and obviously that needs to be done wetsanding it.:cool:

[Hack02]

Sanding a primered pad is definately the way to go for the pad or for the at speed running surface but T-Rex over on the Byuboyz board posted about doing some testing with his little orange boat. He did some holeshot testing on the clock with an unwaxed bottom,(the sides and bottom of the hull that touchs the water at rest, not the pad,) then repeated with a waxed boat, again on the clock. The waxed boat was noticeably quicker. Maybe a search would reveal his old post, it was very interesting.

[Jimboat]

The sanding should be in the direction of the water flow over the running surface.

There is some research done on the optimization of surface finishes for drag reduction - but is gets very theoretical. (I will soon write an article that attempts to simplify the discussion, advantages and explanations).

...for anyone that's "really" interested....

"Riblets" were used on the bottom of the 12-Meter Stars & Stripes during the 1987 America's Cup. They are tiny v-shaped grooves that were applied to the hull on a vinyl tape (from 3M company). Soon after their debut, they were outlawed by the racing rules, as "specially textured" surfaces that alter "the character of the flow of water inside the boundary layer."

Experimental studies by Boeing Aircraft, NASA (US) and Airbus (Germany) in the 1970s showed that small grooves (riblets) aligned with the flow had the property of modifying the boundary layer. In flight tests, the film riblets (3M product), demonstrated a drag reduction of 8% on an A340-300 airliner.

The riblets (scratches) are barely perceptible to the touch, and appear like a matte finish on the aircraft skin. The "depth"of the "riblets" will also affect the result. If they are too "deep", it can actually make it worse. Or if they are "across" the water flow (rather than in the direction of the flow), it can make drag worse. The reason is that if the "scratching" of the surface (riblets) are too severe (depth or direction) they can trip laminar boundary layers into turbulence sooner than smooth surfaces.

This is why i recommend sanding with 400-600 grit paper, in the direction of flow on the running surface of pads and bottoms. Again, however, at our speeds, I emphasize that the smoothness and fairness of the running surfaces of high performance hulls is MUCH more important than the surface finish.

[bigbore]

thats good info.i will remenber that,definitly,im thinking that this marina i was talking about probably knows this but i need them either way cause they got the hoist for taking it off the trailer and exposing the bottom.

[specboatops]

thats good info.i will remenber that,definitly,im thinking that this marina i was talking about probably knows this but i need them either way cause they got the hoist for taking it off the trailer and exposing the bottom.

Don't bother........I'm still gunna beat cha:D :D you need to stop by some night..call me ..I lost your number 815-218-2820

Chris

[bigbore]

how ya doing?yea i know i got my work cut out for me with you,i'll p.m. ya with my number my e-mail aint up in running again just yet i'll probably get that done tonight even.my monmey situation has'nt changed yet though and its to the point where im irate about it (something gotta change soon)there's nothing i can do about it until my liscense gets reinstated though,im thinking i got a few options after that but until then THIS SUCKS.you know i don't like to brag at all but if there isn't work out there for me then im not seeing a bright future in this thing called life for any youngster without a medical degree,and thats even so far overun with population there pulling b.s. in the medical field to-trying to get to the up in coming point.(little pricks)there are definitly good ones though just gotta pick through them.people think that when there in the hands of medical phacillities that everyone is good,I CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH-YOU HAFT TO PICK THROUGH THEM find repital docks and surgeons that aint looking for an expieramental kick to prolong thier career.(faggots)

[INXS]

In some cases having a good wax or bottom treatment will help.

Now let me clarify before you get all up in arms.

If you put something on the bottom that will keep some of the growth from attaching then it will keep you speed up compared to having the bottom all furry.

Most of us keep our boats pretty clean so this really isn't an issue.

It depends on how clean you keep you boat.

I put a product called "Super Slick" on one of my boats that I keep in the lake for most of the summer. It keeps the bottom much cleaner that without it. I know this because I missed some spots once and they grew fur much faster. This type of product helps me when I clean it too. The stuff comes off much easier. So in this case, I use it because it helps me go faster for more of the summer without having to pull it and clean the bottom as much.

Have Fun, go fast!
I here "Poly-OX" use to to used on race boats until it was banned, that's the mfgs name. Anyway it's the slipperiest substance made by man.