After two years of use, I decided to flip my jon boat over and take a look at my Wetlander Slick Bottom Coating.

I made a YouTube video to give the JTgatoring audience an update on how it has held up.

A few days after the video went live, Scott @ Wetlander reached out to me and offered to send out a half-gallon kit of Wetlander Topcoat.

I gladly accepted, and said I would make a video on how I re-surfaced my jon boat and here we are.

• Protect the bottom of your boat hull
• Make the bottom of your boat slippery slidey

Additional features

• Sealed up the bottom of my riveted jon boat (no more leaks)
• Easy boat launching at the ramp (almost too easy if you aren’t cognizant of it)
• Very, very easy to clean pond scum off (no staining either)

Wetlander is a two-part mixture. Part A and Part B. You mix the two together and it forms a strong, slippery epoxy/paint when cured.

This coating is stronger than paint and resists knocks and scratches better than the paint that comes on a standard boat hull.

Fewer scratches and imperfection can lead to increased speed and less drag in the water or above the water when going over and/or through heavy vegetation like saw grass and mud tussocks.

Another great thing is that its easy to touch up if you do happen to really mess up. It’s not like a clear coat on a car or fancy bass boat. It’s a solid color that will take another layer and blend beautifully.

Most people use Wetlander to get a slippery coating on the bottom of their hull. Airboats and mud boats were the main hull types using Wetlander.

It has become pretty popular among jon boat to bass boat users because it adds that slippery effect to the bottom of the hull making it easier to launch the boat, but mainly because it seals up all the rivets.

The people who convert a jon boat to a bass boat normally try and save as much as possible. That can mean buying a used riveted jon boat that may leak. Most take a look at the rivets, tighten a few of them up or replace bad ones, and then slap the Wetlander on there, and it’s all sealed up. Bone dry.

So the Wetlander Slick Bottom Coating has multiple benefits.

I first started off by washing the boat down. Water, a little soap, and a rag; that’s all that was needed to remove 99% of the pond scum that was baked onto the hull.

As I hand washed it with the rag, it allowed me to get familiar with what needed attention. My high traffic wear spots were on the bow where I beach the boat and where the roller sits on the bow.

I had one spot in the center of the boat on a rib that had bad adhesion. It wanted to flake off, so I kept scraping at it with a flat-headed screwdriver till it stopped chipping off. I checked a few more spots for chipping and then moved on to sanding.

The next step was to sand down the old Wetlander on the hull with 220 grit so the new Wetlander would adhere to it. I used an orbital sander and made quick work of it. All you want to do is roughen the surface up so the new Wetlander has something to grab. I also gave the bare metal extra attention and made sure to sand down the edges where I had been chipping off the old Wetlander. That way it would blend better.

After all the sanding was done, the boat was wiped down with a wet cloth to remove all the dust.

It didn’t take long for it dry. It was 80 to 85 degrees (Fahrenheit) with moderate humidity (South-west Florida).

As the water dried off the hull, I read up on the instructions and started to shake the Wetlander containers while reading.

Double-checking the instruction, I violently shook the two different Wetlander containers and made sure they were ready to be mixed.

Now for taping off the boat. FYI: Tape does not stick to the Wetlander coating (even after two years of use and sanding it) so I had to use my old paint lines on my boat. I used blue painters tape and only did one layer of tape. [side note – if you do the primer and the topcoat you will need multiple layers of tape]

The boat is taped off and it’s almost time to start painting. Supplies I used:

• Paint Roller with Head – the 4″ is a perfect size
• Extra foam rollers/heads – extra absorbent so you don’t need to keep revisiting your paint tray.
• Paint Tray
• Liner for Tray
• Mixing stick to mix Part A and Part B with
• Wet cloth to clean up any uncured Wetlander

I decided to mix the whole half-gallon. I put the entire contents of Part B into the Part A container and mixed it thoroughly.

Pour it into the paint tray and start rolling!

1. Work from the center of the boat towards the outside of the boat. This way you are not reaching over wet paint.
2. Start from the bow and work towards the transom.
3. Once the first side is done, move onto the other side. Once the second side is complete, normally the first side is cured enough and ready for the second coat.
4. Do not pour it along the boat unless you are in cooler temperatures than me. Mine would tach up and cure too quickly before I could spread it evenly.

After doing the whole batch at one time I would HIGHLY recommend mixing only half of the batch at first, apply that to the boat, then mix the last half.

My last coat was very thick and made the final coat look sloppy because it was so thick and ready to cure. It was at the point where it didn’t want to spread easily.

So even if you have a friend to help or if you are by your self like me, do two different batches. This will give you enough time to apply it.

Wetlander has done it again. I let it cure a full week before touching the boat. It cured up hard and slick and is ready for the water.

The boat was taken off the trailer, flipped right side up, and then put on the trailer. The trailer is going to be adjusted, a new mud motor kit will be assembled on the boat, and then JTG will be back out on the water!

Wetlander kit for a 1436 jon boat – here

Wetlander Top Coat Only – here