Duck Wrangler/Duck Water boats
- Thread starter Dennis M
- Start date
DeWayne Knight
Active member
If you read back through the thread, Dennis said in his original post he bought the boat new, and it is a 2004. If a company going to offer a 15 year hull warranty, they ought to stand behind it, regardless of design, material, or company name changes...
An excellent pictorial providing even more proof that foam flotation should NEVER EVER be under the floor. A mistake destined to be repeated time and time again.........
Eric Patterson
Eric Patterson
I am the original owner. It has never had hull damage. I f you read my post & look at the pics. This is a fiberglas boat with scrap aluminum under the floor. We never cut this aluminum this is what we found. My complaint is the workmanship. I do not understand how a company can sell this as new when they are using scrap to build it.
Dennis
I took your statement that the tractor had trouble lifting it to mean it was saturated with water. Isn't that what you were implying?
Eric Patterson
I took your statement that the tractor had trouble lifting it to mean it was saturated with water. Isn't that what you were implying?
Eric Patterson
Todd Duncan Tennyson
Well-known member
I bought the second boat from steve Hoover that was called a 17' "stealth fighter"
with its pods it is more like 20' 6".
That was about 5 yrs back.
It has been a good boat.
I'd buy it again.
with its pods it is more like 20' 6".
That was about 5 yrs back.
It has been a good boat.
I'd buy it again.
But Todd you got the mad bomber hat too.
Completes the visage and keeps your ears warm to boot
Completes the visage and keeps your ears warm to boot
Todd Duncan Tennyson
Well-known member
the bomber hat was outfitted to me by the old Andy and Bax army surplus, I did at one time have a set of kickass looking goggles,
but the cold weather froze them at the bridge of my nose
I ended up with a rt hand and left handed goggle.
The boat has been good though, I mean, nothing is ever going to be perfect.
it hasn't sunk yet, and the birds don't seem to notice it.
I've never yanked up the floor to see what is under it all.
Don't reckon I care to either, I mean, what is supposed to be there?
If it was mud, it'd be ballast.
If it was a bladder of air, she'd flip over if swamped.
I pull the plug and let her drain when I am not using her each day.
Steve was approachable and listened to what I wanted in a boat, He delivered it as promised to my backyard.
nothing in life is ever going to be absolute "dead on" perfect, and if you expect that from someone else.....
but the cold weather froze them at the bridge of my nose
I ended up with a rt hand and left handed goggle.
The boat has been good though, I mean, nothing is ever going to be perfect.
it hasn't sunk yet, and the birds don't seem to notice it.
I've never yanked up the floor to see what is under it all.
Don't reckon I care to either, I mean, what is supposed to be there?
If it was mud, it'd be ballast.
If it was a bladder of air, she'd flip over if swamped.
I pull the plug and let her drain when I am not using her each day.
Steve was approachable and listened to what I wanted in a boat, He delivered it as promised to my backyard.
nothing in life is ever going to be absolute "dead on" perfect, and if you expect that from someone else.....
Scott Farris
Well-known member
Dennis,
Not to defend anyone but simply looking at the design, you got sheet aluminum to stiffen the floor. Most builders use wood. Personally I'd choose aluminum every day. Wood rots, softens, absorbs water, and can have a limited life. If your foam is saturated imagine how wet an environment the wood would be living in. The aluminum does look like scrap, drops from his aluminum boat builds or from another manufacturer, but it looks new, not salvaged reclaimed random scrap yard junk aluminum.
What we need is someone to work out a effective way to dry out saturated flotation foam.
Scott
Not to defend anyone but simply looking at the design, you got sheet aluminum to stiffen the floor. Most builders use wood. Personally I'd choose aluminum every day. Wood rots, softens, absorbs water, and can have a limited life. If your foam is saturated imagine how wet an environment the wood would be living in. The aluminum does look like scrap, drops from his aluminum boat builds or from another manufacturer, but it looks new, not salvaged reclaimed random scrap yard junk aluminum.
What we need is someone to work out a effective way to dry out saturated flotation foam.
Scott
DeWayne Knight
Active member
Looking at the pictures, it looks to me like random scraps of aluminum were just laid in on top of the foam before the fiberglass floor was done. Nothing appears to me to have been purposefully cut and placed.
Chris DeRonde
Member
Dennis,
When you start a thread like this, you should give all the infomation you have.
What the boat is, what is the problem is, what you have done so far, and a clear history of the boat.
In the first picture, what is the square in the foam with the circle hole in the floor. It looks like a seat post.
Did you add anything to the boat, do any drilling of any type? If so, it would need to be sealed properly to prevent the foam from getting water-logged.
Just for some boat history, I had a 15ft Boston Whaler. They are known as one of the best boat manufactures in the marine industry. I had a crack in the floor that I did not know about. The foam in the hull got water-logged and the four year old boat was garbage. The boat was sent back to Boston Whaler and the hull was fixed.
SO, This does happen even with the best boat manufactures.
The problem you have is something that needs to be fixed and good luck with that. When it is all fixed you will still have an awesome duck boat.
Chris D.
When you start a thread like this, you should give all the infomation you have.
What the boat is, what is the problem is, what you have done so far, and a clear history of the boat.
In the first picture, what is the square in the foam with the circle hole in the floor. It looks like a seat post.
Did you add anything to the boat, do any drilling of any type? If so, it would need to be sealed properly to prevent the foam from getting water-logged.
Just for some boat history, I had a 15ft Boston Whaler. They are known as one of the best boat manufactures in the marine industry. I had a crack in the floor that I did not know about. The foam in the hull got water-logged and the four year old boat was garbage. The boat was sent back to Boston Whaler and the hull was fixed.
SO, This does happen even with the best boat manufactures.
The problem you have is something that needs to be fixed and good luck with that. When it is all fixed you will still have an awesome duck boat.
Chris D.
DeWayne Knight
Active member
Chris, I don't know if you read the whole thread, but it is clear to me from reading that Dennis has put all the pertinent information in the thread. He is the original owner, he bought the boat new, it is only 6 years old, (2004), and the manufacturer has told him he will not stand behind his product. All pretty clear to me...
Sounds to me like Boston Whaler is a stand up company who stood behind their product in your case.
IT does look like a seat base and post hole. The question is did the owner add the seats or did it come that way when it was new????? I owned a dw15 and the floor was sealed up like a turtles @#$. never had and issues. If you have the smallest weep hole in the floor, the boat will get water logged. thats why i never put seats in my boats. Its going to be real hard to prove why the water got under the floor. Good luck and buy aluminum
Capt. Brian Rhodes
Well-known member
Yeah, not sure if you put the seats in or the builder. I have a 21' TDB and would never think of drilling down into the floor to mount seats of brackets of any kind.
Good luck with your boat man.
Good luck with your boat man.
Chris DeRonde
Member
DeWayne, Thanks for the Play by Play you have been giving.
And, you clearly missed my point, these things can happen to any boat.
Chris D
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DeWayne Knight
Active member
Chris, I didn't miss your point. But you might have missed mine. Dennis is showing people about his personal experience with his boat. And essentially, mostly he is getting berated for it. I find it interesting that people are so quick to condemn the owner of the boat and question him in what I view as a somewhat accusatory manner as if it must somehow be his fault the foam is saturated. Not one single person has said anything about the junk haphazardly placed on top of the foam to "strengthen" the floor. That, in and of itself, speaks volumes to me.
I think we understand that the boat has some sort of metal product under the floor. its very clear. However i seriously doubt that is what caused the foam to be saturated with water. Maybe thats how hoover gets strengh the floors..lol.. very suprised that hoover hasant visted this post yet. With any luck maybe he will build you a Duckwater for free..........