Looking for anyone who has real world experience rowing a Willie with, and without the UHMW Shoe. I've owned/rowed a few Willies with Gluv-it/Coat it bottoms. Looking at their UHMW Shoe bottoms, it appears there is a large alumuinum rib/lip holding the shoe in place. If you've rowed one of these, can you feel a difference in tracking? Pulling plugs etc? Looks like a big water catcher to me. Thank you.

I had a guide friend of mine buy one and hated the shoe.

fp

I’ve owned both.

I think Willie Boats row better without a UHWM bottom. I think it creates some bouyancy but that is offset by additional drag. I don’t think they track any differently though. Originally I thought not having to replace the Coat-it every year would be great.

Ive rowed the 14’, 16 x48, 16 x 54 and the 17 and my preference is Coat-it on a 16 x 54. All day long.


.02

If by "shoe" you mean the UHMW sheet glued on to the bottom as an option, I have one on mine. I've also owned Willies without the shoe; both were/are 16 x 54 and frankly, I find the effects of the shoe on rowing performance minimal.

I ordered the UHMW option with this boat because I absolutely phucking hated the yearly sand/grind/application of Coat-it. To me, whatever hinderance the UHMW ads is more than offset by not having to do the Coat-it thing anymore so......money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

The boat tracks fine-as good as ever, really. What I am a little disappointed in is I thought the UHMW would be more slippery over contact with rocks. It works but I've had a few close calls in boulder gardens where I almost got spun around because the boat bottom wouldn't release off a rock fast enough.

All that said, not having to do the yearly bottom treatment still trumps any other concerns. I'll probably put it on my next boat too.

Sold my 17*54 that had it. Added weight, had to have several of the tabs replaced which meant somebody to weld aluminum, and was not as slippery as I was told when I bought it. Actually because it was well worn it had the opposite effect and was very sticky.
Bought a new 17*60 in 02 without it.

For all of you that have had it, was it 1/4"?

I believe so. My guess is that it added 40/50 pounds. Boat rowed about the same as without but the weights an issue.

No!

I think the early versions that came out were 1/4" and riveted. Those were horrible and not what I have on mine. The most recent offering from Willies uses, I'm guessing, 1/8" stock and it's glued to the bottom. It ain't coming off!

I knew a guy that had an early, early Wooldridge DB that had a plastic laminate (Formica) shoe.
It worked.

I've never seen anything stick to UHMW.
I wonder if this glue on product is pure UHMW ?

I asked the same question when I picked my boat up from the factory. The boys at Willieboats said, as I recall, that 3M had come up with a compound that the bottom material would adhere to. In the 4 years I've had my current boat I've had no issues with the bottom material coming "apart-at-the-seams" and it's been put through it's paces. Glue failure is definitely not an issue.