Ditto.
I could not have said it better. Well Done.

Here's a little hope for us.

After discussions a couple of times with some nailpolishing blonde secretary, I finally got connected on the phone to some technichian from 3M Denmark.
He had heard that a "sharkskin" product had been used earlier in Americas Cup, but could not tell much more. Only thing he knew was that the technology now is used in some very expensive lines for flyfishing (!)
Anyway he promised to investigate in this and report back to me. He thougt that the concept could have been sold to some other company, and promised to inform me.
I hope he will.
OR ELSE: I will keep searching. Thats my promise to you guys!

Cheers!

Woodie.

Woodie, I think in marine use, it's a paint that is used. A lot of hydro's use a matt type finish paint, which is all you probably need. i.e. from a rattle can.

Re the truck bed liner (urethane). There is a self do product, can't remember it's name, possibly Gorilla, and it can be rolled on. You could experiment with different finishes by using different paint rollers. From my experience it will give a dimple like finish much like hammertone metal cabinet finishes. I did the ski plank on my 23' powerboat (250 Merc) to see if we could get more speed, wasn't keen to do the whole underside. Didn't notice any difference though. David.

Hi Kiwiboater.

I am not sure that a "dimple" surface can do the same as a shark skin.
The reason for a shark to be so fast and also economic with its power in the water has is caused by the very sharp rippled scales, which create lots of tiny bubbles in the water.
I know this works on (slower) sailing boats, but the question is if it also has effect on (very fast) modelgasboats.
Maybe the dimple surface can prove to be the best for a fast boat?
But who knows for sure?
When you google "shark skin for boats" you get a lot of scientific results, but none telling where to purchase the stuff.

Cheers!

Woodie.

I thought about this a few years back also but could never find anything on it. I always ended up at a wall. The only thing i could think of is go to a sticker shop and have them cut it in a very small scale like pattern and layer it in strips crosswise from back to front. I've never tried it as I have no way to tell a speed difference, (Tack, GPS etc...)
Ken

You could always skin a few hundred golf balls

Hi Guys,
Woodie, try patting a shark and see what grit his skin is. That should solve everything - as long as you escape haha.

Assume that you do survive, glue on the appropriate grit sandpaper.

Plan B, use some really matt paint.

Cheers
David

Actually, a dimple finish may do it on high speed boats. Remember this 'Shark Skin' stuff is for sail boats. Golf balls use dimples to upset the air around them - similar thinking to what you're looking at.
David

You can in essence do almost the same thing cheaply. Sand the bottom of the hull in front-to-back strokes with 400-100 grit sandpaper. The will help to aerate the hull and reduce stiction. Yup, that's a real word now. A coarser sanpaper will work on harder finishes.
I've also got some stuff that I haven't tried yet, Teflon tape. It's in a 2" wide roll and resists high temps plus water rolls right off it. This isn't cheap, in the neighborhood of $60.00 a roll.

Ronald.

Actually I am considering sanding the bottom of the boat to a matte finish. Not from front to end but with crossing diagonals in order to get a better replica of sharks skin.
I will also consider the tape. Price is OK if a roll can cover the bottom of a 56" mono.

Last solution must be to dive deep with a long knife and kill some shark and skin it.

Cheers!

Woodie.