Anti-friction coating

Has anyone tried spraying an anti-friction (= speed enhancing) agent onto the bottom of a kayak. I have to race with my Revo, and little extra would be good!

I believe the serious sail boat racers do the opposite and lightly scratch the bottom so a coating of water sticks to the bottom and acts as water on water lubricant.

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2011 Oasis with Sail and AMA's
2011 Necky Looksha 14

I haven't found any coatings that make a significant improvement over a clean hull. Hobie Protectant probably works as well as anything (after cleaning). I don't know if it actually benefits speed, but it doesn't hurt. Streamlining helps at least as much and you should do both.

Your Drive is the most significant component in speed by far. Seating and leg position are also very important.

Here are a couple of links with more specific details:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11072
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=28305&p=115423

Additionally, I suggest you experiment with some small weights in the bow. Dumbbells work well. Surprisingly weight doesn't slow you down much on the water, but the boat's attitude in the water is very important. Many of the Hobies have a tendency for the bow to raise with speed. This shortens your waterline length and increases your wake drag. The weights counteract this tendency. How much to use depends on your speed, weight and boat model. I'm at about 185 lbs and can pick up about .1 MPH with 5 lb in the bow of the Adventure or about .15 MPH with 10 lb. in the nose of the new Revo 11. I would suggest you experiment in that range with your Revo 13. Have a friend or acquaintance take several pictures of your bow position while at your expected racing speed (maybe about 5 MPH with the Revo depending on distance?). I don't know how this concept applies in the ocean or in rough water, but it works great in relative smooth water and light to medium chop.

You'll find that you can out-perform stronger competitors by paying attention to these details -- most people overlook them.

Finally, know your race course, tides, currents and weather. Running a smart race pays off. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Yes there are some very good spray on or brush on coatings available we used alot of them when I was more involved in motor boating but proceed slowly some use very bad chemicals in them that may be harmful to the plastic your boat is made of.

An old trick from years gone by was to drag our pwc's over the sand behind a quad it really loosened the boat up getting all those channels across the bottom of the boat.

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Fastfish/Geoff
Kayaks Owned>Outback/Mine & Revolution/Wife

Thanks for all the excellent advice. I wish I'd known about this forum 3 years ago. My drive has now improved from F to A-, I'll try the pitot tube for the first time, will streamline the hull and test out some weight in the front (I weigh 205#). Also what about the padded seat? The standard gets very hard on my relatively bony rear end!
Greetings to all.

The self inflating hobie seat is definatly a good option,
especialy when you deflate it slightly, hours of comfort.

I never had a problem with the standard seat besides popping out of the insert holes, and that was taken care of by using the attachments that expand to hold better.

My wife had a real problem with standard seat. I bought and put on the after market inflatable/padded seat, and she has been on/in it for hours with no problems.

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2009 Oasis
2012 Freedom Hawk Pathfinder