Gatorbak scratching boat

[mikesxpress]

My coworker bought a new BassCat last year. He got a call from BCB last week recalling his boat due to the Gatorbaks on his trailer. BCB told him they had a truck in the area and wanted to go on and pick up his boat. He asked how long before it would be returned and was told they will have his boat 2-3 months due to the factor being covered up at this time rigging boats for the Classic. OUCH

BCB issue is in pictures on page 3 of this thread. OUCH
Please share with your coworker.

[Badfish.rb]

Thanks for sharing and saving me from trying gator backs. Never will now

[Capw]

I put these on my last boat which had a white bottom. I used the white bunk material but they still discolored my hull and the covers wore down quickly even though I don't powerload. If I didn't have the trailer perfectly level when loading, the boat would sit cockeyed on it. I liked that my hull would dry fast but these covers just seemed too high maintenance. The new boat's hull is black. I think I'll pass on these.

[BOW4UM]

Interesting read.

[Don C]

I put Gatorbak on my trailer last year and use boat every week end all summer and my bottom is gray and I don't see any scratching best thing I did

[creekchub]

So the official deal with the older boats is the gel cote formula is ok up until 2003 does that sound right?

[mikesxpress]

I put these on my last boat which had a white bottom. I used the white bunk material but they still discolored my hull and the covers wore down quickly even though I don't powerload. If I didn't have the trailer perfectly level when loading, the boat would sit cockeyed on it. I liked that my hull would dry fast but these covers just seemed too high maintenance. The new boat's hull is black. I think I'll pass on these.

William do you have some pictures of "discolored" and worn down? Did you add the 3/8" spacer to all 4 outside bunk stand off's so the bunks would make even contact with the hull? All Z boats need the spacers.

I've helped allot of folks install these the past few years and haven't seen any worn down bunks?

[mikesxpress]

It's very strange we have only few pictures anywhere on BBC of hull damage from folks that have the Gatorbak bunks but many of us have them installed and have for years? Hummm? As with most social media posts we will always have uninformed commentary from those that don't have the material and just want to participate. Most of us are smart enough to sift thru those.

I can only comment on my personal experience. The Gatorbak bunks have been on my Ranger Z21 Intracoastal since blister repairs were completed in Feb 2014. The wet hull weight is about 3500lbs. In Virginia I can fish all year and being retired that frequency is 3-4 times a week when it's not deer season. I travel from Erie, PA to Okeechobee throughout the year and fish fresh/salt water. Hence my load/unload cycles are far greater than most folks. When I encounter ramp conditions that don't allow me to float load the boat such as low tide levels at saltwater locations or a very steep ramp, I know that me winching the boat up onto the forward section of bunks that are out of the water is going to result in the pencil eraser effect of rubbing the material off onto the hull. I keep this activity to a minimum and also keep the front section of my hull waxed a little more than normal to facilitate the removal of the rub marks. The Shore A hardness of the Gatorbak is much less than the Barcol hardness of the gelcoat and friction is going to sacrifice the bunk material. Pretty simple. *Contrary to popular belief getting the bunks wet then pulling them out of the water (exposed) does nothing to lubricate the Gatorbak. The water sheds right off the ribs where as submerged you have the water lubrication to prevent marring.

Proof is in the pictures:

My bunks before/after a scrubbing at the ramp.

[rocket man]

For what they cost they should wash themselves.

[Capw]

William do you have some pictures of "discolored" and worn down? Did you add the 3/8" spacer to all 4 outside bunk stand off's so the bunks would make even contact with the hull? All Z boats need the spacers.

I've helped allot of folks install these the past few years and haven't seen any worn down bunks?

I don't have any pics. I just traded the boat in. I never knew or even heard about spacers. None of the bunks sat solid against the hull. Maybe that's why the ribs wore down on the edges.

[mikesxpress]

I don't have any pics. I just traded the boat in. I never knew or even heard about spacers. None of the bunks sat solid against the hull. Maybe that's why the ribs wore down on the edges.

Hummm? You didn't contact Gatorbak when you noticed this? They could have walked you thru the proper installation process and it's on the website too. This includes shimming the bunks up to the hull properly so they all bear weight. Carpeted bunks are deceiving and they look like there is full contact but the "fluff" from the carpet nap blocks the gaps. Boat trailers are notorious for not being fitted to the hull properly. Most likely your 2017 is the same as every other Ranger I have dealt with and the two outside bunks fluff just rest against the hull surface with no load bearing. Easy to check.

[wisranger188]

I have had blisters twice on a 2009 Ranger. They fixed it both times. I installed Gatorbak after I got it back. They had the boat a total of 12 months for these repairs. At the end of last year I went swimming under the boat and have no blisters. I will always have Gatorbak. I do notice slight scuffing at front of boat I will live that.

[llsdjv]

Paid $96 to send my gatorbak bunk covers back. Gatorbak received them 11 days ago. Thought the company would at least call me and discuss this matter more once they showed up on their doorstep (Nope). Anyways CC has reversed the charge for the time being.

I will give you there are two sides to any story, but when gatorbak comes out and inspects my trailer bunks and boat and tells me sand is getting in between the bunks and boat and scratching my boat and I agree then there's really not two sides to that part. The part where the two sides of the story comes into play is I believe their in violation of their warranty since the bunks are causing/accelerating any scratching and most of all they claim on their FAQ section the bunks will not hold sand and not scratch a boat.

Ive never dealt with a company who will not honor a warranty or make things right.

[Maine-Basser]

Yup; always two sides. I have had my Gatorbaks on my Triton 19XS for about a month with half a dozen launches. No scratches, no blister worries, and no complaints.

[jayg4]

Ironic to see this thread as I am experiencing the same issue after installing mine about a month or so ago (Ranger Boat with Black Bottom).... Little background I keep my boat in a metal building so of course its hard for the bunks to dry out and so it started to develop some blistering. Decided to keep the boat for a while longer so took it up to have all the fiberglass repaired and also have 10 years worth of dinks and scratches here and there taken out so the bottom was pristien. Figured it was a good time to go the GatorBak route but after launching my boat 8-10 times the attached photo is showing some quick scratching. BTW No power loading I was very keen on the comments about that and have backed down and winched my boat on. No dirt road for me to the ramp other than 50 yards of driveway. Puts me in an interesting position given they do work well for prevention of blistering compared to carpet, but I can see some heavy scratching for me with continued use.

[Zpilot]

It looks to me that there is a rough sharp edge that could be causing the scratching. Next time you launch bring some sand paper with you and ease that edge, it might help.

[Triton03Vance]

Yup; always two sides. I have had my Gatorbaks on my Triton 19XS for about a month with half a dozen launches. No scratches, no blister worries, and no complaints.

Get ready..you will be given all kinds of reasons on here thats causing the scratching other than the Gatorbaks..they will do the same thing on a white hull boat but the difference is that you cant see it on white hull like you can on black hull..my opinion on Gatorbak is that if you have a white hull then go for it and if you have a black hull you wont like what you will soon start to see..

[Triton03Vance]

sorry Maine-Basser..reply was meant for jayg4..my bad..

[1bluemcm]

Seems to me the big difference between gatorbaks and carpet is all about that forward end of the bunk. On the gators all the grooves are exposed at the front. Just look at the picture above. With carpet, it's flush to the hull all the way across the front end of the bunk where it contacts the hull. If those grooves are open, they can and eventually will catch the right sized pebble, sand, mud, you name it. Eventually something will get in there. If you drive a road with a lot of debris coming up, it's going to happen more often than folks that drive paved roads only. But even then, sometime something will probably get caught in there.

This whole saga for the OP makes complete sense to me - driving down a dirt road, debris getting caught up there in water droplets, solidifying and then causing scratches. Makes me wonder if they redesigned the end cap so that it was flush to the hull, if that would prevent crap from getting into the leading end of the grooves and prevent the problem?

[Maine-Basser]

It does look like scratching. Are the bunks under the water when retrieving your boat? Looks like the front bunks are not submerged and those are friction scratches (even though they say they aren't supposed to be strong enough to scratch gel coats). I keep my front bunks just under the water when I load. I can say, my hull looks similar after I load; however, it washes right off (with a little elbow grease). The rub-wear I get there is much less though, about 2 to 4 inches long, and it is from the final winching on to the trailer.

If they are scratches; talk to Gatorbak and see what they can do for you. In my experiences so far, they are great folks to deal with.