the damage is allready done...am i going to look like the titanic when or if it tears

i said that on mb forum and i had to say it again

Iv been watching this and now that Ol man River brought up the heat treat idea I'm jumping in.

My boat looked worse than that after 3 hours on her but i run 1800+ everyday and had about 2K in it when i noticed it. Do you think a heavy chop 1-2 would cause this with 2K in it? The day it happened it was 1-2 and it gets deeper every time I go out.

If anyone wants me to send there material to my lab for testing (tensile, grain, hardness, etc) send it to me. It will be going to JW Aluminum and Aleris Light Gauge Products. If you got a trim tab cut a 1x1 section so we can send it to both organisations. If you are after court litigation, you will probably want to contact a privet sector metalergist so they can testify on your behalf but if you just want to help a boat builder Learn new information send it on.

i dont want to do all that i want to know if im the one at fault here i dont think i am, i just think i got a bod peice of allum. and when i get it tested i will tell Kent at Gator trax the results if im in the wrong or if it was a bad piece but i aslo think the boat hull it self should have held up in the long run...

buisness is buisness and some times stuff does go wrong and in my case i think it is ....not workman ship just material

brink----what kind of boat do you have???


where are you sending it to???

thanks

Yes, like tempering

Ive only read half way through this and jumped ahead......

If that was from trailering with a load, Your floor would look like mess too. I would think.

Stumps, I didnt see any impact marks at all?

I got a 2054 Aucoin. Before i looked at you pics i though i had the only washboard bottom, but it looks like many people do.

The more i think about it the more i am leaning on the side of overestimating 1/8 bottoms. This is aluminum and it flexes a lot so im not sure i could get a standard built boat to hold a somewhat smooth bottom. I think i have 5 or 6 runners are 2 cross braces so it give allot of space for the bottom to give.

Like i said before i will go 1/4 bottom on my next rig with 8 2x2 braces on a 60 wide hull.

That's my peso for he day.

later

I'd be willing to bet you won't find a boat with a 3/16 bottom that did what yours did.

My boat is an '04 model with 1/8" bottom. It doesn't look anything like this. I'm not easy on it either. You boys got some bad material plain and simple, but it's going to be next to impossilbe to prove it. It would be interesting to know if the material used in Brinks and marsh's boats came from the same supplier.

mud thats a good idea and simple way to do so.....since it is all the same piece it should be the same ...i wounder how big a piece they would need??

No but they all gonna dent to different degrees, especially the faster you go. Maybe thats why Stanco stays in the boat lanes.

That makes me feel better about having a local builder make my boat and not getting a gatortrax.

im not that kind of person to take someone to court over this and there are to many vairables in this circomstance

if it is the metal when i get it tested then i have know doubt that kent will do the right thing for his customers

and if it is my fault then so be it

i am going to call a metalologist tomorrow to see what i need to do

the dude is like warren CoCo.. to an extent. he can be your best friend, or your worst enemy.. ive done NUMEROUIS transactions with the guy, some good, some bad, as many of the commerical guys aroun here has..

but kent took it one step furhter and publicly bashed sum1 callin them morons. they dont even build all of there boats. kent used to hire a friend of mine out of greenwell springs to build a *custom* boat for a client.

what Kent should have done was call the customer, and toldl him to bring the boat by to let them take a closer look at, not argue with the guy over the internet. Maybe offer to try to fix it or have the metal tested for correct properties, thickness, etc.. He may regret saying what he did.

For the record ~ I'm still sayin' that the metal ain't the problem !!!!

For the record ~ I still say the problem is ....... way too much load ...... or ....... the BoatHull is not built rite !!!!!!

You make the call !!!!

So are you saying that my boat and james' boats were built with 5052???

I guess a better question would be, did he ever switch grades?

You boys are giving me a head ache.

I think that it is a alloy issue 5052 is way softer material than 5086. The way gatortrax builds thier boats in a jig I bet they used 5052.

i think it stinks they won't replace your hull or offer some sort of free repair. adding in filler has to add weight though. it just looks like a bad design or you possibly got a rare bad one. the best thing to do i think is just spread the word/story until they fix or replace it. gator trax charges the most from what i've seen/looked into & they should damn well offer better customer service, in my opinion.

I had one of the gatortrax boats and enjoyed it thoroughly. Gatortrax did everything they could for me and I cant say one bad thing about them or their boats. I cant see the pics and I am no expert but those boats can take a good beating. Unless yours was some custom job, there are plenty of other boats just like it out there. If it was a design problem, they would all have issues. That leaves quality control or the user at fault. All we run is stumps and I have hit my share wide open hundreds of times in a gatortrax. The motor always failed before the boat did. My experience is that making an issue publicly known is going to get better results than anything. I would get your facts straight first before making any accusations. Then if they are at fault, give them the option of making it right and let them know the consequences of doing otherwise. The internet is a powerful marketing tool for these specialty boat builders. If the manufacturer is at fault and does not do the right thing, hit all the websites. lasportsman, here, the fuge, all the duck hunter sites. From my experience with those guys, if they are at fault and it is proven, they will do the right thing. Good luck getting everything resolved. Wish i could see the pictures to know what you guys are talking about.

from looking at the pictures, something is definitely wrong there. There would have have had to been a lot of weight in the boat, and even then you would think it would have had to affect the flooring also. either you know how to smack stuff just right or there is a metal issue there. I could hit something right at the start of the rake in mine and it would only put a dimple on it. Best of luck getting it worked out. Has it affected the performance a lot?