Just got a used boat that came with a Stiffy Hybrid push pole. Took it out today and my first couple pushes left my hands filled with fiberglass shards! Any ideas on how to smooth out this pole to be used?? Thinking maybe cloth with acetone or something along those lines? Anybody seen that?
Fiberglass shards on push pole
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Stiffy outlines how to refinish the Hybrid on their website. I took the advice of many on this forum, and others, and used a black appliance epoxy to refinish mine. After many coats and sanding it turned out nice with no exposed glass fibers, but it left marks on my skiffs gelcoat anytime the pole touched it. I then tried Krylon Fusion clear to try to protect it but, it didn't prevent the marks. What finally worked was heatshrinking it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071XF7NZQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It adds some weight, but not terrible. Girth is hardly noticeable and it feels stiffer than before. My recommendation would to be to follow the Stiffy instructions exactly with the expensive 2-part polyurethane paint, or just shrink-it and be done with it.
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For everyone with pushpoles (I've got four of them...)... You're dealing with a very basic implement - with no gel coat on it at all... That's why you should always keep it out of the sun when it's not on the water getting used... The sun causes the fiberglass, composite, or carbon fiber to begin to de-laminate (break down chemically... ). The first sign are those whiskers. They're a lot easier to prevent than to cure.... Once it starts you're going to need to follow the routine that Stiffy recommends for good results. Those of us that work with pushpoles will simply sand smooth (nothing more aggressive than 220....) then spray down the pole with Krylon Fusion. No it's not the really first rate job you'd get by doing what Stiffy recommends - but it will cure the whiskers problem...
Revisiting this.... What size heat shrink did you use for your hybrid? I'm interested in going that route. How's the grip?
rattle can, the paint burns the fibers off.
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a you'll have to measure the outside dimension of your PP
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I like the idea of this. Would make my old GLomis PP look like a graphite pole but it already weighs 9 lbs. So it may not be a good idea
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I had the same issue. I'm a complete dumbass and just poled for a couple of trips with Mechanix gloves on until I worked all the loose glass off.
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Try just sanding with 220 and see how it feels. Epoxy paint will leave it extremely slippery when it gets wet. Mine was doing this and after using it in flamingo two days in a row and rubbing the left over mud down it, it smoothed out and was fine again. Keep it out of the sun.
i've sanded it down and used mud to smooth it down, but getting tired of having to redo it every month. It's an old Stiffy Hybrid so i'm afraid that's just where she's at in life... all whiskery. Bought 1.5" shrink tubing, diameter was around 1.25" off the top of my head. I'll let you know how it goes
Just spray paint it. Trust me, it will take all of 5 minutes.
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You won't lose any grip on a hybrid. Hit it with appliance epoxy paint, and you're all set.
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