deck plates?

[riverharlot]

Good? Bad? Too heavy?
I've got an outrage. Unfortunately I am not a very good paddler yet and tend to run into rocks.
I was on an easy creek this past weekend and after making it down my first run a friend looked at my bow and suggested a front deck plate. I counted the new dents on the bow and decided he may be right.
I'm concerned about how much heavier its going to make the boat. I'm 5' I weigh less than 120 and even a couple of pounds is going to make a difference.
Is there a choice in the kind of material you use?
Once you put it on can I take it off later?
If I put a front deck plate on do I have to put a deck plate on the back?
sar

[Shep]

I think of deckplates as covering the airbags, and skid plates as being mostly under, not in front of, the bow and stern sections of the hull. Would it be accurate that you are thinking about a "bow guard"?

You certainly don't have to put a matching piece on the stern, all though you might still want to add a skid plate. Several companies sell skid-plate kits with precut kevlar pads and the right kind of glue. If you are only going to do one, it's more economical to use the kit. If you are going to do several, it's more economical to buy the kevlar and epoxy from a shop such as Sweet Composites. My Skidplates don't look all that great, and are definitely heavier than they need to be, but they don't need to add too much weight to the boat. The other thing is, why not do skid plates, but just bring them up higher on the box to protect it from rocks above water as well as below?

Hope this helps,
Shep

[Wendy]

I used spray on bedlliner. Works great. Clean area and mask a wide areas spray hours wide. On Royalex it really did great

[Smurfwarrior]

I'd suggest picking up a pint can of roll on bedliner from Walmart (Rustoleum brand) and tape off the area around where you want to create your skid plate and lay down one coat, wait a day and put down a second layer. It ends up being much thicker than the spray on type, which is really thin. I'd suggest at least four layers of spray on if you go that route.

[ezwater]

I suggest checking your trim. Is it possible that you're positioned too much toward the bow, so that you can't yank the bow to one side or the other when you see you're approaching a rock? A strong backward lean will also loft the bow a bit.

If I thought I had to add bow protection, I would prefer to get some Kydex, heat form it over the bow, and then glue it on with epoxy. Kevlar felt skid plate material doesn't have much of a record (after several decades!) of absorbing point blows, because Kevlar has mediocre compression strength.

But maybe you should post a picture of the "damage" here on BT, or give us a link. Your "friend" may be giving unnecessary advice. I have a 13 year old Mad River Synergy, big brother to the Outrage, and I've never sustained enough damage to either end to require a repair or a boat bra.

[Paddle Power]

search for skid plates (not deck plates).

At your weight, I'd beat up the bow without skid plates for a bit. In the future, you can always add a skid plate.

[DougB]

Glass skid plates are best at protecting against abrasion rather than protecting against hard impacts. A good impact can crack or break off a skid plate. Abrasion at the bow and stern is not an issue on my playboats. I think they are a better application for WW tripping boats with less rocker. I wouldn't worry about small dents.

[riverharlot]

Thanks for the input. The dent I made this weekend was smalll - about size of a quarter maybe a little larger. I'm at that point in my learning curve where i'm making eddies consistently. Bringing the bow in just under or scraping the rock without actually hitting it is my next challenge.
Its one of the older mad river outrages and when I got it - it was pristine. It now looks like it has been used by a beginner for a year. It is truly my perfect boat and I'm always looking for ways to to minimize any more damage to it until I improve.
sar

[Bill M]

Rh, If you're talking about the near verticle part of the bow where the dent is, don't be to concerned about it. That is probably the strongest part of you hull and should be able to take a lot of abuse. If the nylon has been scraped off you could paint over that part and go from there. Also as you get more experienced you'll find that you still bump the bow occasionally coming in to tight eddys.
Bill