I have two OT Saranac 146 that haven’t been out since buying the OT Trippers. Has anyone ever re-shaped flat bottomed poly hulls? My idea was to remove the factory seats and gunnels and bend some ribs to re-shape into a semi-arched bottom. Can you apply enough heat to re-shape that much?
I would be concerned that the pooched
down result would not have the desired fore and aft contour. Or that, in forcing the contour, you would end up with so many new thwarts that the boat would weigh too much.
Poly has a memory, and it might take quite a bit of heat and control to change the old memory into a new, effective one.
into the unknown…
http://goo.gl/Is5Gwm
All my tries at doing something you’re suggesting required a male and female die, bracing, or cushion blocks accepting pressures onto subject material into the new form…as a complete surface where the acceptable success rate moves to 100% as dies used represent 100% of the finished product.
Asking the material for continued flexibility while you’re pressuring it is probably asking too much of something designed as rigid.
Tho the subject is discussed, sheet thicknesses are thin compared to a hull thickness, flexibility was designed in from the beginning then continued.