My polycraft has sustained damage!

[Million]

"Wow" was I shocked! My wife and two friends and myself tied up for the first time at our local wharf where the pylons are protected with rubber bumper pads. Sure the wind was around and the water had some chop but we never gave it a thought that these conditions would cause damage to our new boat. After returning around twenty minutes later the boat had sustained damage around the gunnel in two separate area's. Because the boat was rubbing up against the pylon the two raised profile's that run around the gunnel had been mashed back flat (view photo). I would be interested in hearing from any other folks who have had a similar experiance.

[CQ_Fisher]

What a bummer!!

[mackmauler]

yeah had a gaff make a hole in my plastic fuel tank once, nothing serious, write it off to experience, looks good gives it some character.

[Hutcho]

I love the polycraft, but I guess at the end of the day, it is still a plastic boat ain't it??! It will take cuts and nicks more easily than an aluminium or alloy boat i guess.

Damn shame tho.....I can only imagine how you would have reacted up on seeing the damage. #:o #>:(

[Zeeke]

Lucky its a plastic boat.. not like these alloy boats ;) bang the crap out of them, lick of paint.. good as new hehehe..

Tim

[Brett_Finger]

i find it VERY hard to belive that rubber bumper pads have thick groves in it to start with let alone do that damage.VERY HARD !!!! >:(...
looks a whole lot like barnical scrapes to me!!
Hookin,Brett :-/

[mackmauler]

well said brett, most likely imo a tinnie has given it a touchup ;D

[bay_firey]

20 mins bumping up and don on "rubber bumper pads" ??

Was heat an issue ??

[aido]

not a good look mate.
plastic, like any material has good and bad
properties. i think you found a situation where
plastic can't cut the mustard.

bay_firey might be onto something with friction
heat buildup. flex some plastic around a bit and
things get hot real quick in a very localised area.
poor conductivity of heat???

[cheno]

Bummer if it was unexpected.

Abrasion resistance is not a strong point of polyethylene unlike its impact resistance for example.

Thus you do have to watch for it with polys. I had a similar although minor issue with a bolt on the trailer turned the wrong way around when I picked up my boat, it ate a small pit in the hull but it was no big deal just a lesson to watch it in the future.

Not a massive hassle to repair though and when I compare the image to the gunwales my polycraft that photo is on super zoom so that damage is not as bad as it looks IMHO

[Thunderbird]

Bet ya won't forget the fenders next time :)

[ba229]

when I compare the image to the gunwales my polycraft that photo is on super zoom so that damage is not as bad as it looks IMHO


Thats a good point. At first i though jeezypeeps (thanks Render). but after looking again it was obvious to be a close up thus making it look worst than it is.

What is the length of damage in the photo you posted?

[Racegun]

mine lost a piece of those ribs too when i was pulling it out of the garage it scraped the edge of the tilt a door arms, wasnt happy but it was only about 2 inches , doesnt look as bad as yours . Yours does looked mashed or melted doesnt it, Sometimes that rubber stuff goes hard in the sun , might of helped do the damage . Show us a photo after you smooth it out a bit.(hey Bay i tried to pm you but i cant because i have to have more than 5 posts , no permatrim yet )

[piscator]

Million,

As Brett says, pretty hard to see rubber doing that sort of gouginging but lucky the poly is white ALL the way through isnt mate ;D - I know the feeling, did much the same thing at the Sydney Fish Markets recently but the rub was on the bloody custom rego numbers! - the hull is fine :D

Cheers
Brett

[Brett_Finger]

how wide is the "scrap" it must be a square pylon, ::)
as the hull would rub on a point if it was a round one like all pylons are. ::) ;).
i see the scrapes are about the same distance apart with the same raised riges between them,a new style of pylon pad?
finding this all very hard to swallow,i'm sorry.
hookin,Brett

[Kerry]

Regardless of being hard to swallow or not it's not a perfect world and obviously needs to be addressed, somehow.

All pylons, piles, wharfs aren't the same as there's quite a variety of material used ranging from steel to concrete to poly to timber with all sorts of rubbing type strips. Not all pylons are round, some are octagonal with raised/folded joins and even with round pylons most fenders/buffers are usually provide a larger face area and are replaceable as boats do wear them out. When something continuosly rubs one of the surfaces (and generally the less resistent of the 2) has to wear, in this case it was the boat. There does appear a need to provide more protection for the boat.

So is there a need for a (repalceable) gunwhale rubber/strip on the boat proper as one usually can't be selective where one wants to tie up.

Cheers, Kerry.

[Million]

;D Reply #5 Brett, Barnicles? you must be getting old! the gunnel sticks so far out of the water your barnicles must jump (ha ha ha) :D :D :D

[lordy]

can you get us some photos of the damage to scale (ie compared to a 50c coin?)

a post of the place where it did it?

cheers

[Mr__Bean]

Ouch,

To me it looks as though the boat has been going down with the chop and hitting up against something with a sharp square edge.

If you have a close look at the damage at the left and right hand extremeties, you will see where this has happened but not cut all the way down the side of the boat.

It looks as though is has been pounding up and down past a square bolt head or similar.

What held the rubber onto the pylon? Was there a square head bolt at the botton (or similar)?

With the growth in popularity in the poly boats, it looks as though a hot melt repair kit is needed, shouldn't be too difficult to set up and market.

- Bean

[bidkev]

yeah had a gaff make a hole in my plastic fuel tank once, nothing serious, write it off to experience, looks good gives it some character.

Might give the deckie a smack in the gob then. ;-)