Going to refurbish and re-paint my airglass wheel penetration skis soon.

Anyone have experience putting UHMW plastic on the bottoms?

Advantages/disadvantages?

How do you attach? Was thinking countersunk screws but really hate to make swiss cheese out of the skis.

Could glue them on, but then they are a bitch to remove.

Ross4289 wrote:Going to refurbish and re-paint my airglass wheel penetration skis soon.

Anyone have experience putting UHMW plastic on the bottoms?

Advantages/disadvantages?

How do you attach? Was thinking countersunk screws but really hate to make swiss cheese out of the skis.

Could glue them on, but then they are a bitch to remove.

Countersunk through bolts, with nuts on top.

MTV

I very much doubt you will get glue to stick to UHMW.

I very much doubt you will get glue to stick to UHMW.

Probably, though I have a Methacrylate Adhesive that permanently bonds to every other type of plastic/composite I’ve ever tried it on.

mtv wrote:

Ross4289 wrote:Going to refurbish and re-paint my airglass wheel penetration skis soon.

Anyone have experience putting UHMW plastic on the bottoms?

Advantages/disadvantages?

How do you attach? Was thinking countersunk screws but really hate to make swiss cheese out of the skis.

Could glue them on, but then they are a bitch to remove.

Countersunk through bolts, with nuts on top.

MTV

That’s what I was thinking, I’ll have to look at the skis again and see if it’s practical. The area where the wheel goes through isn’t exactly flat.

Do you know if it helps them from freezing down or more just for anti-wear?

Ross4289 wrote:

mtv wrote:

Ross4289 wrote:Going to refurbish and re-paint my airglass wheel penetration skis soon.

Anyone have experience putting UHMW plastic on the bottoms?

Advantages/disadvantages?

How do you attach? Was thinking countersunk screws but really hate to make swiss cheese out of the skis.

Could glue them on, but then they are a bitch to remove.

Countersunk through bolts, with nuts on top.

MTV

That’s what I was thinking, I’ll have to look at the skis again and see if it’s practical. The area where the wheel goes through isn’t exactly flat.

Do you know if it helps them from freezing down or more just for anti-wear?

Massive improvement in preventing freeze down and reducing sliding friction.

You might call Airglas and ask them what they recommend, though I’ve heard the new management isn’t as helpful as Gary was. I agree that figuring out how to secure the stuff around the wheel opening may be a challenge.

Is the original bottom material really torn up? Maybe there’s a way to rehab it?

Again, Airglas may have ideas.

MTV

The bottoms are fixable for sure.

Was just thinking it would be tougher and less prone to freeze down.

Ross4289 wrote:The bottoms are fixable for sure.

Was just thinking it would be tougher and less prone to freeze down.

All the Airglas skis I've seen have some sort of plastic embedded in the bottoms, with side steel rails.... Do yours not have plastic bottoms already?

MTV

This is what the bottoms of my skis look like. They were made in 1980

Those are gross. Is that masonite? Let's rebase those with some UHMW, add some structure with a wire brush, and hot wax them!

I’m going to start by sanding them down to raw fiberglass, then prime and paint them.

Then maybe figure out a way to put uhmw on the bottoms.

Before you do anything, give Airglas a call in the AM and ask to speak to Cliff Belleau.

I’m not sure he still works there, but worth a try. Ask him how he would suggest refurbishing those bottoms. I’m not sure what they use on the bottoms of those penetration skis, but doesn’t look anything like their earlier straight skis.

That almost has to be something painted on. If so, maybe Cliff can head you in the right direction. While you’re talking to them, ask the price on the newer style tail wheel.

You’re right, getting UHMW attached around those wheel openings could be tough…..screws??

My experience with Cliff is he can be a little “direct”, but hes a super good guy, and about as knowledgeable about this kind of stuff as anyone in the industry.

Tell him I sent you….just tell him some asshole his Dad used to have supervise and suffer through checkrides with sent you.

MTV

Sounds good. I’ll give him a call. Couldn’t find any published instructions on their website.

Seems there is some kind of black coating over the fiberglass on the bottoms. Doesn’t smell or sand like anything I’m familiar with on composite aircraft structures.

mtv wrote:… ask to speak to Cliff

Cliff left Airglas years ago. He worked at F atlee for a little bit, but left there as well.

Bigrenna wrote:

mtv wrote:… ask to speak to Cliff

Cliff left Airglas years ago. He worked at F atlee for a little bit, but left there as well.

Shoot, didn’t know that.

In that case I’d still call Airglas and see what they say. I’ve not heard good things recently, but if all you’re asking is what to put on the bottoms…..

Barring any success there, if
D call Atlee Dodges shop in ANC and ask if they know. They see all kinds of stuff, so I’ll bet someone there may know.

MTV

mtv wrote:I’d still call Airglas and see what they say...

Just talk to Jim Hammer. He's always really helpful and willing to point you in the right direction.

Ross4289 wrote:Going to refurbish and re-paint my airglass wheel penetration skis soon.

Anyone have experience putting UHMW plastic on the bottoms?

Advantages/disadvantages?

How do you attach? Was thinking countersunk screws but really hate to make swiss cheese out of the skis.

Could glue them on, but then they are a bitch to remove.

Be cool to see you post what you decide to do, pictures and the process! I have a set that looks like they were manufactured in 1971 according to the data plate that I’m planning on refurbishing, mine still have the steel rails on the rear edges.







Wes

UHMW has a large coefficient of thermal expansion. When we use it for undersea mounting fixtures we have to allow for significant thermal movement (The trade off is that is slightly positively buoyant).

I know nothing about Ski's but I would allow for some movement between the base material and the UHMW so the ski's survive the transition between summer storage and winter use.

I talked to Airglass, and they said the black material on the bottoms of these old skis is West Marine 105 epoxy, with black colorant added. I sanded one down so far. Will fix a few gouges in the fiberglass, and then re-do the resin. Top sides will get paint.