Professional BoatBuilder - February-March 2018

14 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

ROVINGS

skid resistance, I can say that it’s

not easy to achieve a professional-

looking job. One de nitely ought to

practice on a piece of plywood

before jumping into a big project on

an actual boat deck. If using addi-

tives, spraying most often will

deliver a more uniform distribution

of granules than rolling and brush-

ing, where the granules can load up

if one is not careful. Overworking an

area, while tempting, o en yields

disappointing results. Common

additives employed over the years

include clean sand, polymeric

spheres, crushed walnut shells, and

rubber particles.

Recently, Dave Exley, a small-boat builder in Florida,

called to recommend a relatively new product called

Don’t Drain the Swamp

Louisianan Clint Angelle knows something about shal-

low water. Indeed, hunting and  shing in the state o en

require extreme shoal dra to move through vegetation,

stumps, and all sorts of muck. In some places, one might

have to, as country music legend Hank Williams sings, “pole

a pirogue down the bayou.” Angelle was thinking of recre-

ation in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin when he set out to

invent a drive system that could not be stopped by physical

obstruction or overheating.  e result of his investigations

of other systems led him to a surface-piercing drive and “full

self-contained, patent-pending, onboard keel cooling sys-

tem.” It’s called the Swamp Shark Drive.

Watching Clint Angelle was Jimmy Gravois, founder and

chairman of Louisiana boatbuilder Metal Shark, who saw

opportunities to adapt the technology to ful ll require-

ments of his military customers.

According to a Metal Shark press release, “ e Swamp

Shark propulsion system consists of several key compo-

nents: a CNC-cut, machined-steel surface drive, internal/

external stabilizing hydraulics, and a specialized internal

cooling system, all of completely original design.”

Swamp Shark drives are currently available in con gura-

tions capable of handling up to 550 hp (413 kW) and 1,

 -lb (1,695 Nm) of torque, all while operating in extreme

conditions.

 e specially designed outdrive with custom cavitation

plate features hydraulic-power trim and steering. Its stain-

less steel surface-piercing propeller powers through mats of

vegetation, bushes, and branches, while o ering outstand-

ing control on open water, even at high speed.

▶

SoftSand rubber non-

skid particles are either

mixed with paint prior

to application, or distrib-

uted from this shaker

onto wet paint.

SOFTSAND INDUSTRIES

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