I live near Reelfoot Lake and I purchased an Excel Boat back in september of 2010. Nothing went right from the day I ordered it, had many problems. I ordered it several months before. I got the 18ft F4 Loaded out with pretty much everything, and a 35hp CDI MudBuddy Hyperdrive (stock). I am a firm believer in getting what you pay for, and I was in need of a good boat to hunt out of. At the time that I ordered it, I was told I would it take about 6 weeks. Well 6 weeks came and went, I called the dealer at least 3 times a weeks. Everytime I called he would tell me it would be a few more weeks. I believe it was approaching the 3 month mark when they finally got it. It was the day before Early Wooduck/Teal season to be exact, I made It clear that I needed it by that day, and That day was the day I got it. That season only last 5 days. At first, I loved it, very comfortable, Handled pretty good in deep water, not so well in shallow, Loved all my little gadgets I had added on. I thought it was a start to a good relationship, but I was soon rather disturbed by what I noticed under the boat. The few days I spent on the lake had left its mark on my hull, major denting, and one crack about 3in long. Anybody that knows anything about Reelfoot, knows that it has its share of stumps. After you learn the lake, you have a good Idea where they are. I personally know a good bit, but still manage to find a few more every now and then. Having said that, the bottom of my boat looked pretty much ruined. I instantly took pictures and contacted the dealer. He made some calls and sent the pictures to the company. A day or so later I was contacted, and the company said that the damage was from abuse. I was in disbelief to say the least. I stayed calm about it, tried to explain that in no way did I abuse the boat. That still got me nothing. I pretty much give up after hearing that. I did not turn it in on insurance cause I do not think that they should have to pay for a defect of a boat like that. I futher pursued it a little more, still came up with nothing, and eventually gave up hope. I have had other boat dealers look at it, and they all agree that the boat should not have done that. One of them owns a GatorTrax, he said he is hell on his and had it for 2yrs and he has not had anything near that major. My dad also owns a War Eagle, It has been on that lake hundreds of times, no damage at all. I am one of the Very Few in this area that has an Excel, so I had nobodys' opinion to go by when I bought it. I sure regret the day I ordered it. IF ANYBODY KNOWS ANYTHING THAT COULD HELP ME WITH THIS SITUATION, I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT IT ????? I would post the lovely pictures if I could figure out how? I have also had a few problems over time with the Motor. Trim unit seems to be very weak. Cant trim up to the right spot while running full throttle with no load at all. You forget it working with 3 or more people in the boat, It will trim up a little, still the entire prop will be under the water. I have talked to Mud Buddy about this, and they sent me a shim/spacer that goes between the motor and transom. I have not put it on because it has NOTHING to do with the trim being Weak. If you are wondering if anything has not give me trouble, There is one thing. The trolling motor. I got one of the fancy Minn Kotta I-Pilot Terrova to put on my fancy boat. Love the trolling motor, You can push a button and stay withing 4ft of your location no matter the wind or current, all by GPS. Now thats what every mud boat needs. Thanks, Hope You found this Informative, I sure wish I couldve seen this before I bought it. I wouldve made my decision much easier...

Sorry to hear that --- the F4 is a good looking hull --- I'd sure call
my insurance man as underwater obstacles are a covered item --- even
though a MM should be able to take a few hits....

My Rig-- 2010 Excel F4 1854 with built in Winch,and 12gal gas tank, LED spotlights"nice", Spray lined, extra seat pedistals, Minn Kota Terova I-Pilot 80lb thrust, 35hp Briggs CDI Mud Buddy motor, all stock. All this put together makes for one nice looking rig, A beefed up motor would make it even better.

Performance from the damage is noticeble. Best DESIGNED Boat in my opinion, in and out, mostly in, NOT the best built.

Deep Water Speed- 23mph was around 25, 1 person, about the same with 2. Shallow Water Speed-- N/A Very good though
Turns sharp in deep water, slides forever in shallow, got to slow way down to turn in shallow.
Carrys a load well. It performs in mud great. The only thing It wont do is run on hard dry ground. I have had it places our longtails wont go. As long as the prop can bite, the boat will move. I am sorry to all you PD fans for saying this, but not saying the MB will go more places, but in our mud, it will go there and back much easier. I love my MB, but dont care for the customer support from the company. I think they need some people that care about other people and their products, Nobody has made a perfect one I am sure. Things go wrong.
THE GOOD-- (boat)-Great design, awsome features and options, love the huntdeck and the grab bar up front (motor)- runs good, fast for the weight it is pushing, like the stainless exhaust that is coming on them stock now.
THE BAD-- (boat)- fragile, needs more bracing "ribs" to support the bottom, (motor)- need reverse, but that is what pushpoles are for. (BOTH)-- Since MudBuddy is over the Excel and the motors, They sure could learn to be more understanding tht things happen, even to their products.

All this is MY opinion, agree or disagree this is what I think and what I know.

file it on your insurance. That is why you pay for it.

Since the company will do nothing, I have considered trying to fix it myself. I am a welder, so I know I can get the TIG at work and fix the crack, but I am worried about the foam inside below the floor catching on fire. I just turn on the bildge pump ever so often and pump out the water that it takes on, but that is hard to do in the winter during duck season when it wants to freeze. Cant do much with the dents cause the floor and everything is welded in. So I have found it best to do nothing at all. ALSO---- insurance will not cover it since I did not file it when it happened. Even though I was tied up with the company about it for weeks. Cant catch a break with this thing.

Posted the pics you emailed me....

Thought MMT'ers might wanna see...

4rth pic

Oh man, that looks Bad!
I owned 2 excels, a .125 (5054) 1854 MidWest and a .100 (5054)1851 Flat nose...... I found both boats would just look at something in the water and get a dent. Hated the foam in the floor, I think it held water and would expand when freezing temps came around. Sold both and had a .125 (5086) Geaux Customs hull built- Commercial Hull (no foam) and have had better luck.....

The excels were nice boats I just don't think they would have lasted for very long the way I run my rigs....my .02

WOW idon't want to be a azz hat here but from a manufacters stand point it does look like abuse. i did call my brother in law about the insurance stand point. told him you bought it new.not used that kind of clears up the previous damage isssue. he basicaly couldn't understand why they turned down your claim. he also said if the local agent can't resolve it call corprate office.and from my stand point if that don't work i'd go sink the sob.

X2 --- on the insurance issue --- unless they want to say that damage
occurred on more than one occasion and want you to pay the deductable
three or four times --- they should honor the policy...

From a design point of view --- it appears that there is an irregular
object in a high stress area near the transom and not just closely
spaced structural runners like other MM hulls use.... The crack or
tear in the bottom is along the edge of that "thing" which should
not even be there, it should be on top of closely spaced runners....

Bad design / poor bracing --- IMO


So much for their claims of a "specially designed transom - able to
take a dry dockin like no other boat"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3em2qUzfk&NR=1


I have run my GDSD hull like they show in those videos for 2 years and
intentionally jumped all kind of stuff and overloaded it with materials while
buildin blinds and only have very slight indentions along the longitudinal
support runners....

I understand some may look at it and think I give it hell. Call it Abuse, I call it used, It is a Mud boat, designed to go where others wont, unfortunately in my case there was a few underwater stumps between me and them places. The Excel website shows a guy jumping a dang tree, I sure though that must be a well built boat. It may be for jumping trees, buts its not for stumps. If I intentionally wanted to tear up a $18,000 rig, I wouldve made sure there was not a stump I did not hit. I work hard for my money, and in no way am I rich, I have no reason to intentionally cause damage like this. The boat probably dont have but maybe 3hrs run time when I took these pictures, about an hour of that was on a small lake with no stumps when I was breaking the motor in. I can have pictures posted of the bottom of our War Eagle, It has seen many many more stumps, there aint a dent nowhere on the bottom. Sorry If this might rub someone the wrong way, I just wanted the best and thought I had it, this boat just aint built good enough IMO. I would sell and buy something better, but there is not anybody out there that would want it the way it is. If there is, I sure could hook them up.

That is what the bottom of 1980's riveted jon boat with a MM should look like...

There is a time a place to freak the fu(k out and you sir are in it.

PM MTT's favorite lawyer, DGuidry. He may be able to help you in the legal department. It's clear you've hit some stumps like you've said but the boat should handle them much better than it did. My hull is 7 yrs old and gets abused and isn't much worse than that.

Is that a weld along the bottom??
Who the phuck uses multiple pieces on the bottom of a mud boat??

If they won't honor your hull, I would join on every duck forum I could find and put up these pictures.

I am trying to get on the MudBuddy/Excel forum and post them. I will be trying that this evening.

I want to thank everybody so far for the help and support so far, I should've done this sooner. It is nice to know everybody is not against me. This boat has caused more problems than its worth. Thanks again..

Bet if you post those on the Mudbuddy forum they won't last long. I guarentee you that.

Its .100 gauge aluminum. It has no business running stumps, or having a mud motor on the back of it for that matter.

Go to a deep lake and sink that son of a bitch, and by a real boat with a 3/16ths bottom. I'm not kidding.u

speedy i was told at gator trax that they use one sheet alum .125 thick for the reason of no welds. problem there is u sacrifice side height.he told me he could only get alum. in sheets so wide. now owen said go with a 3'16 bottom. but it i if i'am thinking right will have weld. on both sides of the bottom when they bring the sides up to the gunnel. i would diff.go that route than having a seam down the middle. gator trax can also build a boat that way if u think u need a thick bottom. it will add weight but it will be a hell for stout boat.

You make a 3 piece hull with 1/8th sides and 3/16ths bottom and it will only weight about 60lbs more than a all 1/8th hull. You don't have to worry about welding the sides to the bottom, it's strong. Here's a pic of my boat after a really bad impact with a stump in just the wrong spot. The welds are unaffected.

I agree. 3/16 bottom with 1/8 sides would make for a good combination. Definitely need stronger thinker ribs too, and more of them. If Excel would do this, it would make their product much better.

WOW hopefully u were sitting down if not u might have been laying down.

Do they 2 piece all their hulls? Because I could swear my buddies excel boat is a one piece. Looks to me like you beat the hell out of it, my friend jumps all kinds of stuff in his and barely has a dent. Only time I seen dents like that is running 30 and hitting a stump. What gauge aluminum did you get? I've never seen .125 bend like that in 3 hours. They are mud boats but none of em is designed to hit stumps at 25 mph and not bend. Imo I don't think any manufacture would warranty that. To me it looks like abuse but that just me

We run stump fields here just about every time I get on the water. The last 2 GatorTrax with 1/8" hulls I looked at running around this area had what looked like a tunnel right down the middle from the rake to the transom. They are not properly braced for stump running IMO. Both were 16' with huntdecks. Haven't seen any brand yet that was impervious to stumps but some are alot better than others. And the better hulls have at least 3/16" bottoms and heavier bracing.

I have seen gatortrax boats with the same tunnel like longitudinal dent. Most of the boats had some age and been USED NOT ABUSED for several years. I would be much happier with that than what I have got. The Excel boats just do not have good enough bracing, and has unbrased areas where it makes a good spot for some nice dents.

I guess; unless a person runs a lake with lots of stumps, they just can't comprehend what havoc it can cause on a weak boat.
I would like someone to explain why the gatortrax, PD, GD, War Eagle, and Triton boats do not and have not ended up this way? Those are the most common in these parts up here.

I do know the Flowers group, Randle has hunted with us before. We all use the same ramp. Great people. I am wanting to say they run PD boat and motor this year. I'm not 100% sure about the boat, can't really remember.

I do realize that Triton and War Eagle ain't mud boats, but that is 2 brands that are out there a bunch. Most of which are .100 aluminum. Some say that's too thin, but our present and past War Eagles have taken it well.

Why would Excel use such soft Aluminum, seems like they would wanna be better than the competition, not worse?

I would look into getting a custom boat made after you get your situation taken care of, however you choose to do so. I bet phowler could make you a 3 piece hull with a 3/16ths bottom so you wouldnt have to drive to s. la to pick one up from one of the custom builders.

Getting my situation taken care of has proved to be the difficult part. I will be making an attempt to contact the company again to see if they have had a change of heart. If the boat got fixed, it will get sold and I will for sure check into a better built brand.

I will say forget all the BS boxes and crap that adds weight and kills perfomance.

Just wondering if anyone else with Excels is having the same problem. For your benifet it would be nice to know if their are others that way you could make a stronger case to Excel that their boats are overpriced alluminum cans.

Somebody posted above that had 2 of them, and both were easily damaged.

The issue is not a two piece hull, we have been building our wider higher sided models in two pieces for years now and have had zero warranty issues. It is the base materials, the stringer system and how you back the joint that matter. We back our two piece hulls with a 1/4 X 2.5 piece of solid bar stock and weld it solid. The issue is two fold, one to light and soft a grade of aluminum for a mud hull, second they use all "hat channel" they bend themselves I would assume. It is cheaper then buying extruded tube. They also can't weld the inside of the hat channel, thus when it does give at a dent it tends to crack from pulling the weld up. This design is fine for a fishing boat or utility jon, not a mud boat that will take direct impacts with stuff just under the water. Any boat can dent if you hit hard enough, even better built mud boats, but to have it crack and dent on just the first couple runs ?????????? I have run our boats, GT and PD boats at Reelfoot, hitting and jumping stuff on purpose to demo and for fun runs, none of them ended up looking like that.

I would keep the pressure on to have them take it back, fix it or replace it.

PW