Took my dad on a guided trip for salmon on the Umpqua on Saturday. We had a great time and have some beautiful filets vacuum sealed in the freezer. I took the opportunity to ask the guide all my drift boat questions. We got on the topic of diamond plate aluminum. I thought it might be tougher, or to reinforce certain areas. Nope. Purely for looks. It's actually a softer aluminum that dents and scratches easier. And it's heavier too. Yet so popular on aluminum DB these days. Maybe there will be a day when the fad is over and people won't want to buy your used DB because it has diamond plate sides. Great material for floors though, better traction and doesn't need to be as tough as the sides. Thoughts?
(Secretly I think this is a sweet looking ride, but pretty overkill. Probably scare away a lot of fish!)
******* chicks dig it. looks cool behind your jacked up ford. Bjorn, you're going to attract a more liberal, NPR type of chick with your wood boat. Or maybe chicks with Ron Swanson fantasies.
Diamond plate is heavy and terrible on glare from the sun. We wound up coating it with Line X, which added more cost and weight. However, despite losing out on the "cool" factor, we are phasing it out and going with a high-tech poly floor. Much lighter in weight (but with a great strength to weight ratio) and easier to work with.
But it does look cool on drift boats, despite the disadvantages of standard aluminum, as stated by the OP.
Definitely designed to catch the fisherman. I never said I didn't think it looked nice. Was just surprised to find out that appearance was the only purpose. Although some claim it hides scratches better, others will say it scratches easier. Agree with the painted diamond plate, looks good in dark colors.
Seriously. These boats look like they're designed for the guys that were boycotting the NFS a couple of years ago...
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