SharkHide or not??

DD2075GL

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Little Ossipee Lake, East Waterboro, Maine
Hi all,


I am getting my pontoons polished for free as reparation for a bad acid wash by my dealer. I've read pros and cons about applying SharkHide. I'm wondering if I should pay for it as an additional treatment or not. The pros seem to say it will delay some of the discoloration from being in the water. The cons seem to imply there is maintenance that needs to be done to the SharkHide itself and/or that it doesn't buy you much time anyway.


We keep our boat in the water in a spring fed lake in Maine. The water quality is very good, but certainly discoloration happens. It is in the water from mid-June to late-September.


Is it worth the $300? And what maintenance does it need? My husband usually rubs down the pontoons every couple of weeks anyway.


I appreciate any feedback!
 
I use it and  just had mine reapplied last spring for aprox $450 ,3 tubes .


I ( try ) to wipe mine down once a week at the sand bad .


I am in  a slip all season 
 
It will help keep the toons looking good above the water line. I didn't want the maintenance and associated costs of reapplying etc. I have a hard enough time making sure no one dents a panel, I don't want to fret about shark hide getting rubbed off as well. That's just me though.
 
If it makes my toons look good for 2-3 years before reapplication, I'm happy. I look at it like polishing/waxing a car. There's people that will do it religiously and there's people that say why bother, birds just gonna crap on it anyhow. Same reason I wash the INSIDES of my wheels on my car. It just keeps it looking newer longer. If I was having polish done, I'd definitely get it done. Just make sure your fenders are set high enough to not sway back and forth and rub the Sharkhide off. After 4 months, my toons look new (above water). Below has a slight discoloration, but I'm not concerned under the water line. 
 
 I don't have shark hide on my tunes but if I did I might not be in the situation I am today with a bad acid wash. For $300, I'd do it.  If you don't like the results I am fairly certain it can be easily removed without damage. Seems like you have nothing to lose. 
 
I think I'm going to hold off. I talked to another Bennington Dealer today. She said she always orders Sharkhide on her new boats...but mostly for transporting them to her. She says it is great for trailered boats for road debris, etc. but doesn't see much difference for docked/moored boats in water discoloration. We have a lot of kids that play around the boat, I think I'd be more upset about the application getting dinged. At this point, since I don't know the company who is doing my polishing (long story, see my "Bad Acid Wash" post), I think I'll play it safe and avoid it. I also don't want to be out $3-400 for the SharkHide if we aren't happy with the 'clean up' of the damage, not keep the boat, and sue the dealer! Thanks for your opinions though!!
 
It didn't work for me.


My tubes look bad after 1 season. My boat sat in the water only 2 months before our lift that we ordered was installed.
 
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I had my boat in the water for one season with sharkhide. It did as you said, BUT, it was easier to clean. Then year two came and I got a lift... I was SO happy that I had sharkhide. My toons looked awesome!!!
 
Have sharkhide, on my 3rd season, has a few rubs but the boat still looks good. Have people ask all the time what I do to keep my toons that nice. Wouldn't order another boat without it! Just my 2 cents!
 
I would purchase it, from the factory.  My dealer outsourced ours and it looks like crap from a piss poor application.  Pics in gallery.
 
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