Anybody had a keelguard installed at a Bass Pro Service Center lately? Need to have one installed on my 2018 Z20. Looking for an estimate on what the going rate is including the price of the keelguard and labor.
Thanks for any input,
Willie
Anybody had a keelguard installed at a Bass Pro Service Center lately? Need to have one installed on my 2018 Z20. Looking for an estimate on what the going rate is including the price of the keelguard and labor.
Thanks for any input,
Willie
I guess the other question is (I know this has probably been asked a thousand times), is it worth the money you can save to do it yourself...?
Do it yourself. Follow the instructions and it pretty easy. You may need to take out your spare tire to get more room when sticking it on. It’s about a 1 hour job.
If your wanting a heavy duty Hamby's then it will have to be dealer installed because of the process in which they are installed. In 1999 it was around $500. As a pure guess I would say 21 years later they are around $800 or possibly even higher. I really have no idea what they cost now days. I do know you get what you pay for. My 21 year old heavy duty Hamby's is hanging on strong and still looks good. The difference between a heavy duty and do it yourself install is a heavy duty Hamby's is thicker and its attached with an epoxy. Once on the hull it will not come off because the epoxy they use makes a permanent bond. There was someone in the restoration pages here at BBC that wanted to resurface the bottom of their hull. It had a heavy duty Hamby's on it. The only way they could remove it was by using an air chisel. As I said the heavy duty model is expensive but its a keel guard you never have to worry about.
The do it yourself installs are thinner and have a sticky surface that sticks to the hull. You peel back the paper to expose the sticky surface and attach it to the hull. I help a friend install a do it your self install keel-guard and it was not that hard. The worst part is lying on your back on the concrete. Cleaning and prepping the hull takes about 30 minutes. Getting it aligned and temporarily in place and then the final install only takes a few minutes. 1 hour job if I had to guess. TIP...only do this on a warm or hot day. The keel guard will come rolled up. You will want to lay it out in the sun for a few hours so it can lose its memory before you install it. I have no idea but I bet there is multiple videos on youtube that show how to do a do it yourself install model.
What's the pros/cons for a keelguard vs keelshield vs hambys light for a DIY guy, and the product itself....?
For the Z20 guys, anybody have a measurement for how far down the keel I need to be for correct placement above the water line? What length are Z20 guys using as well: the 7 Ft Keelguard for boats up to 20 ft, or the 8 ft Keelguard for boats 21 ft - 22 ft.
Thxs
Last edited by Willie 2.0; 04-05-2020 at 07:24 AM.
Hamby's Light Duty, Keelshield and Megawear are very similiar in price and quality. As far a s length and placement I have no idea but I bet the manufacturers website will have a recommendation.
The 8’ keel guard fits perfect on a Z20.
Perfect, Thxs!Originally Posted by Dogfish_Jones
the plant puts 8 fters on Z20's. A 7 is plenty as Rangers only have 6ft Hamby's. I usually put 7 fters on all the bass boats I do. If you do it yourself, once you get it scuffed down, do it again. Most failures are because of poor prep work. Once you get it on and want to make sure it's permanent, you can lay a bead of 3m 5200 along the edges and it'll stay put.
It's an easy DIY project as long as you are physically able to lay down under the boat. I've done several over the years with no issues. Pretty easy install
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