I was at a family party with my boats, and a lady asked me how they run on the grass. I told her that they run great when its dry, but when it gets wet its a little tricky. Then I got the idea that maybe waxing the bottoms would help. WOULD IT? the bottoms are 1/8 plywood and would take the wax well. They've been sealed with epoxy and it should take the wax too.
Is this a crazy idea, or am I wasting my time with it?
Thanks

I've wondered that with my Air force, but it's fiberglass not wood. I know that when we took my dad's tobogan (sp.) out we put like 6 coats of wax on the bottom and it's a finished wood.

I heard of wax, also Westles Tire Magic is supposed to work wonders on the bottoms of these boats

I don't know the facts for sure but, I've read that the fastest or slickest surface on water IS water. Wierd I know. You can actually witness it if you go down to the lake and drop something in the water. You will see tiny water droplets really scooting on the top of the water held up by the water tension until they drop back in. So, they say that waxing the bottom actually creates more drag than if you put something on that water will actually bond or wet to. If you have that skim coat of water wetted to the bottom of your hull, you will have the water on water contact that is supposed to help with decreasing the friction. Seems to be real and true but, I myself was just introduced to this concept and have not read or seen much on the subject. We always wax our full-sized boats but that may be just to keep dirty water from sticking to the boat making dirty water spots. Anyone else heard of this concept.

We use a 2" wide Teflon tape at work, the stuff is really expensive but I'd like to do some testing with the little that we toss at the ends. Water does not stick to it. Waxes, especially the Carnauba's will roll up under friction into little balls.
Some testing was done a few years back using graphite mixed with epoxy then sanded with the length of the hulls with 400 grit. This was to create tiny air bubbles on the surface to break the tension. Graphite uses water as a lubricant so you can see the benefits there.

Using wax should work. The water cohesion is based on hydrogen bonding, so anything that 'wets' will have drag from this hydrogen bonding. Wax is hydrophobic, meaning it repels water, and has no hydrogen bonding, hence less drag. think of snow skiing. they wax th bottom of the skis, so they slide over the snow easier ( andy we also know that the weight of you compresses the snow, making it wet) As stated, the problem arises when extreme speed or heat is applied to the wax, and it rolls or beads, causing flow disruption and drag. The teflon should also work, provided is is applied lenghtwise(or possibly cross wise layered like a sharkskin could give extra benefits) to avoid flow problems.
Some of the guys, either here or at rcairboats.net talk about using spray-on cooking oil (pam) or even I think Wd-40, and spray on furnature wax ( pledge), which can also give your boat that outdoorsy, fresh scent. LOL seriously, give it a try, the only way to be sure is to try it. Good luck! Sean

No wax on the boat bottom! On snow skis that may be fine on hard snow and if you have a wooden bottom that may be fine as well for running dry ground or anything other than pure water. Have been in all facets of boat racing for over forty years with the latest being drag racing. The best finish you can have on a fiberglass bottom is a 400-600 grit fiinish! Thats right....sand it! What happens is that this will build up a micro boundary layer of water with the turbulence. One of the guys above me was right on with his comments. The fastest thing against water...is water! Sharpen all the edges as well.

If you guys are using a roughed surface to gain speed it is not water on water, rather is is air on water. The ridges act like the dimples on a golf ball, forming air pockets on the surface of the hull between the hull and the water. Other examples are sharkskin, step hull( talk to Chris Selph about those!) WIG craft(which leave the water completely), and outright dimpling, as done on some waterskis, wakeboards, and kneeboards. Heck, if you really want to go fast on the water, use wheels. Yes, wheels. Speed record on water ( close to the speed of sound) was set on wheels. after a certain speed, the water is as hard as any road, so use wheels. Keeps the hull from being ripped to shreds ( again, water is pretty hard at those speeds). This is why the drops of water bounce on the surface - very hard water(speed) and the air pocket between the drop and the water surface ( a WIG effect )

I asked my old science teacher many years ago how i could make my boat go the fastest... he told me similar to what you guys are saying, he said build it with shark skin, obviously i thought he was a lunatic at the time but he was right i suppose, he told me to soak some wet and dry paper 600 grit he told me i remember exactly, with WD40 and rub the bottom of the hull "cross ways" not along the hull from bow to stern. the cross ridges will make the hull slide with less drag, if you sand along the length you will create more drag, as the water particles have to drag along the full length of the "valleys" ? he also explained that water and air are the exact same thing, air particals are actually water particles, its just the water is 800 times the density of air. thinking it through i had to agree with his views since it does make sense. he use to swing a golf club in conversations at the same time with swaping back and forth to each one and, i still think hes a lunatic but is it genius or madman maybe hes da vinci's twin brother. 600 grit with wd40 on glass fibre or thick clearcoat should work pretty good i reckon, iv no idea about measuring the difference (if any) but its worth a try ?

sorry, I am really not into airboats, but this could answer your question(s), if it works for sailboats, it should aslo work with other boats:

http://www.geocities.jp/schocklm/wax_or_not_wax.htm

have fun reading!

Btw, I wet sand with #800

Yes, it might apply, however, we deal with planing hulls, not displacement hulls. even at 35-40 kph, (is what. 20-25 mph) the hydrodymamics are certain to change when some of these guys are twice that speed, with a different type of hull.
Personal eperience: Anyone else water ski? Notice how riding on the bubbles ( the exhaust of the engine, between the wake) requires less strength to hold on to the rope? The bubbles break the surface tension, also make the water less dense, so it is easier to drag through it. It also makes the ski less stable.
also don't underestimate hydro tension-cohesion. Water sticks to itslef, and other things that 'wet', so well, that this sole property, waters ability to climb a straw, allows trees to get water to the tops of the leaves (trees don't have pumps) - hundreds of feet straight up, just because water sticks to the side of a straw. If water can pull itself hundreds of feet straight up, it will definately stick to your hull enough to slow it down.

yea, i dont think wax would help, especially on dry ground and grass. even if theres dew, i think it would just make it grip the grass.....

Think everyone got a little of course here ... the question was NOT for on water ... but on WET grass .
You have MORE than water to combat .
The wet grass blades act as a suction when they meet the hull which causes it to slow down . Now , if you were to achieve a speed fast enough to overcome this , then the next to battle is the actual grass itself . And the roughened bottome surface with then act like little pieces of sandpaper and again , slow it down .
The best thing I found is too change props for using from dry ground to wet grass .
You need to over come the "suction" of the wet grass when it meets the hull .
Think of sticking your foot in a mud pile . The suction is STRONG to overcome IF you are slow , but , IF your fast enough , the suction gets reduced as you increase speed .
Your best bet for a glassed hull , is leave it alone and change props for faster acceleration . If wood , then resin over the bottom .
The same prop that you use on water is NOT going to work best on wet grass .
( try it and you'll see - )