saw this on another forum! wtf?
Hooked?
http://www.duckhuntingchat.com/viewtopic.php?t=88862

Creased!

that is my boat i tryd to post it on here and i couldnt find out how to post pics but yea it preaty bad

it was on MD web sight and it got deleted after 2300 views in three weeks and a guy just got kicked off for wanting it reposted (he was pushing it)

so what am i supposed to think??

Wecolme to the real world. You cannot post anything that could be perceived to be negative about the MB/GT products over there even if you own them.

Sorry it looks like my 1978 rivited eldocraft, and mine is suposed to have ribs!
Didnt know you were here or I wouldn't linked it!

damn it that looks like my gator trax hull but mine has more hrs ....

yea i know i stated that on there forum before it was deleted ...i said if i wanted a boat with ribs i would have gotton a john boat but i bought a true flat boat(mud boat) and know it looks like that ...not flat!

Think 3/16 bottom for your next 1. Can still dent it if you hit hard enough but not as easy.

marsh my hull is around 2 years old maybe a little older .. i'll get some pics this weekend sometime. and i've put that thing threw hell so maybe thats the way my hull should look but yours that ain't right . that thing is beat to hell and not many hrs at all on it...........

i hear ya i would like to compare pics though just to see the differnce..

if i knew how to post pics on here i would!!!

Just click on the link in the first post. I seen some bad hooks but that takes the cake. Looks like you been riding over some serious stumps with a really heavy load. If not then something aint right.

Even with my old 100ga hull the hooks were pretty round (point of impact) with a couple hard hits that were maybe 12" long. But none ran for several feet like that.

I've got a 1648 tapered chine G-Trax. I had some hooks at the transom so I flipped it over to put some of that fascoe epoxies filler and steel flex on it. Mine looked similar to yours. Maybe not as severe, but pretty close. I just thought it was pretty good evidence that the longitudinal braces do what they are supposed to do. It looks like just a bunch of stumps that slid down the boat without making hooks since there were no cross braces to make a hook.

Good luck, I hope you find a solution that works for you. If nothing else get some of that filler and smooth it out. It's worked for about 50 hours on mine. So far so good.

Phil

I have a buddy of mines GT out here in the yard right now.. I Bet it is as bad or worse than yours.. What created these tunnells ( i think ) is sliding over stumps with a HEAVY load in the boat. We are gonna flip it soon and fill the tunnels then apply some steel flex.

May just fill the tunnel/hooks at the transom forward bout 5 to 6 foot. He has lost quite a bit performace.

swamp i'll take some pics tonight and post 'em man.....

thanks man

as far as the steal flex how mucch weight does it ad?? because im going to need a bunch

and it sounds like this is a comon thing with every ones GT is this a good thing??? i would think not

and i said before on there forum that when ever i come to stump riddled areas i took it easy ...yes i would hit stuff but not on step.... most of the time i hunt with 1 guy (2 Guys total) some times three guysdogs,deeks,and all of our hunting crap....so i dont think that is a bad load for a 1844 with hunt deck

and if it was sumps you would see defined impacts or where the boat slide off or a crimp of some sort


thanks for your help guys

I have read with interest this thread on both MM Talk and MB Forum. This boat bottom situation has me worried about what MANUFACTOR to use for my boat building. Many factors have been clouded by the warranty/guarantee issues that you have had to deal with. Lots of $$ spent for no satisfactory results. I am somewhat amazed as to what damage has been done to this hull without many hours of Normal? use. Could there be other factors such as poor trailer fit or poor trailer tiedowns or even weight in the boat while trailering? Just wondering.

It looks to me like the distance between the longitudinal stringers is abnormally wide and caused this from torsional flexing and pounding in rough water. JMHO though. If you are gonna have a beat up bottom this is the kind to have with the dents running lengthwise.

I followed the saga on the MB site and you were mistreated. I honestly think Gatortrax makes a great boat and I hear from others that their customer service is great but Kman kinda danced around your problems like a squirming worm. I am really disappointed in the responses you received from him and the Gatortrax faithful on the MB site.

Bottom line: you are going to spend an arm and leg if you try to litigate and you may not get anywhere even if money is no problem. Just do what every red blooded American has the right to do-----when you have someone ask you about your rig, be sure to show them the bottom and tell them about your customer service experience and tell them how you feel. In my experience with dealing with customers, negative experiences are the ones people talk about and remember when deciding on products to purchase. Good luck.

I am sure Kent and the other guys at Gatortrax are good folks. They have to be to sell so many boats and their boats are great products. I just think that yours happened to be one of the bad ones. It happens to everyone in every business. I just wish ya'll could have gotten together on a solution--maybe meet in the middle somehow. These issues can break a companies back nowadays with the power of the internet. Just look at what went down with Geaux and how they went from a hot product on these MM sites to not being mentioned at all.

it has been almost a month since i first posted it on there and i figured im goint to wait a little longer and give him a call and see what he sais might be good might be bad but what do i have to loose???



and i have said on there sight that my boat might be the 1 defective out of say 3000 boats .....

etquackster

swamp wader

if you guys cant post pics for some reason you can email them to me

FullSizeRST@chater.net


i tryd to post pics on here and i couldnt get them to work

thanks

I disagree with the way Gatortrax designs a boat, like round chines, a double tapered transom, and exorbitant pricing... but from what I've seen they brace them pretty good, and they hold up atleast as well as most others. It sucks that you got the run around, but sadly enough you really don't have much defense, because that theoretically could have been done if you had a really, really heavy load and you were sliding over stumps at slow speeds.

On the other hand... that boat should not have done that if you were using it the way you said. I smack shit every time I go out on the water, and my hull doesn't look anything like that.


My guess would be an aluminum supplier sold Gatortrax a much softer grade of aluminum than what they thought they were buying. You should ask Gatortrax if they got the certs on that plate when they bought it. I used to sell sheet and plate metal, and our manufacturers required certifications with every truckload of steel that rolled into the plant.

i was thinkging when i get a knew boat i would cut a piece off the bottom and send it off to get tested to see if it has a default in structure and the correct grade and i think that will tell all if it was me or the boat it self

those gatortools banned me from their sandbox over your thread. I am glad to see it getting some play elsewhere on the web. I agree that you probably got some defective aluminum and I thought it was big of you to bring it straight to the manufacturer first. I don't really agree with their handling of your situation.

Not claiming to have the answer - but - Gator Trax for an extra fee will warranty their hull with an outboard... When I talked to them about this option - I thought it was to beef up the transom - but NO - they explained that it was to stiffen the bottom to withstand higher speeds....

With modded motors pushing the 40 mph mark these days....

Could it have been purely a "speed" damage issue ???

Just thinking out loud.... Something to consider with such uniform deflection between the ribs...

Ok - what about compromise ???

Did you ask them to replace the hull for a reasonable fee ???

Because you "must" need some extra option to prevent this from happening again....

I haven't read this whole thread, so maybe this has been addressed. If you are going to seek litigation, have you had the material on the bottom of the boat tested? I'm willing to bet it's a softer grade AL than what they currently spec in their boats. They may or may not have know this when they built the boat. Also, how far are the braces spaced apart? Have you compared this spacing to other GT boats???

That doesn't look like stump damage to me from my experience and the hooks I've created in my boats.

i hear ya,, i dont have trim tabs and i dont want to just cut a piece off the bottom and not beable to get a knew boat that is why i have to wait to do so ....i cant go with out a boat all year and money is tight to get a knew one at this time ...but i will deff. cut a piece out when time comes probly in a couple months

im just waiting to see what this economy is going to do


do you know where i could send it to when i do cut a piece off???

I would be willing to bet one of Sandmans Paychecks(they are big btw) that the alloy is correct. I would also be willing to be that the heat treat is not.


That is going to be next to impossible to prove.


signed

River
Solver of Problems big and SMALL

I remember when Gater-Trax BoatHulls first came 'round our area. Thay always looked to be built like a tank ..... but I never did like the looks of 'em for reasons that I don't know !!!! Just didn't like the looks of 'em !!!

It really don't matter how much time is on a piece of equipment ...... I'll destroy a up a pick-up truck in 50,000 miles !!!!

It really looks like a East-Texas BoatHull that has been loaded heavy and slow rolled over our hardwood resevoirs (lakes) to me.

Mabe the Gater-Trax BoatHull ain't built like a tank afterall ??? Mabe thay can't put the warrenty on yores 'cause you be runnin' in the type of water that thays don't hold up very well !!!! and a replacement hull would just do it again !!!!!!

Good News Tho !!!!!! I cain't imagine it to git any worse .... looks like all the damage that can be done is done !!!! Like someone has already posted ..... long hooks are mobetter than cross hooks and all yore's seem to be very uniformed. I would run it like mines father-in-laws gave it to me and not to worry ...... next BoatHull I bought tho ........ I would give some serious querstons on this wealth of knowledge that comes with bein' a member of MMT !!!!!!