Recently purchased a used Necky Zoar 14, that is approx 8 years old. I was wondering if there is a way to refinish the bottom to remove scratches in the plastic hull. Just seems like normal wear and tear, but I’m sure that the scratches must cause some amount of drag on the bottom of the boat. Is there any way to improve the condition, or is it just something I need to live with? Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
scratches are stories
Leave them there. Not much you could do, and it wouldn’t really impact speed in any noticeable way even if you could do something. So just think of the fun the boat had and the fun you will have. And look forward to the added scratches you will provide from all that added fun.
Go paddle. Pick the right gravelly
streams, and you can gradually sand your bottom flatter, just enjoying yourself. Smoothing would make too little difference to be worth the work.
Later, you can get a “glass” boat. They tend to wear smooth rather than to get deep scratches and gouges.
hot spoon
If you have deep scratches in a polyethylene hull that have “fuzzy” edges, you can sometimes improve the appearance a bit by heating an old spoon with a heat gun or propane torch, then using the rounded surface of the spoon to melt and smooth down the fuzzed up poly.
This can tend to darken the heated plastic, however, so if you want to try it experiment on a small area first and judge if the trade off is worth it.
Won’t have one iota’s effect on performance, I’m sure.