There are 2 major players in keel protection out the Keelguard, and
Keelshield. From what I can tell, they are both pretty much the same in both
quality, and protection. My experience is with Keelguard.

I beach my boat a lot. The kids like to get out on the shore and goof off,
or swim off the back, we eat lunch, I'm too lazy to anchor... whatever. The
keelguard has taken the brunt of all of these beachings for the last 2
years... just what it's supposed to do. On our last outing, I came in to
beach, and there must've been a sharp rock right at the wrong spot as we
settled in. I knew it felt different when we stopped, and honestly, I was
coming in a bit too fast for the steep shore condition.

This rock took a chunk of the KG and peeled it back toward stern... the tear
was about 3" long. I didn't even notice it until, we pulled out. Absolutely
NO damage to the hull... I was amazed (and lucky). So when we got home, I
wrote to KG and sent them a pic of the damage. They claim a lifetime
warranty, so I was putting it to the test. A nice gal wrote back asking the
color and length I needed for my replacement. It arrived today, 5 days after
the mis-hap.

There you have it, a company standing behind their product, even when the
damage was admittedly, my fault. If I had to buy again, it would be from
them. Luckily, I won't as long as I own this boat.

Just an FYI.

--Mike

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:07:51 -0700, "Mike" wrote:

There you have it, a company standing behind their product, even when the
damage was admittedly, my fault. If I had to buy again, it would be from
them. Luckily, I won't as long as I own this boat.

Last winter when I had my Ranger hull bottom blasted, repaired and
recoated, part of the Keelguard was damaged accidentally. I called
Keelguard and asked if they still had the offwhite that I had
installed when I bought the boat - sure did and they sent me a
complete replacement length for shipping costs only - something like
$8 as I remember it.

I concur - great company to do business with.

Did you have to take the original off, or did the company doing your bottom
work do it? They sent me instructions as to how to get it off... and it
wasn't easy. A couple of hours, a LOT of elbow grease, and it's ready to
install the new one. I do know that it's a *good* thing that it doesn't come
off easily, but... :)

--Mike

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:07:51 -0700, "Mike" wrote:

There you have it, a company standing behind their product, even when the
damage was admittedly, my fault. If I had to buy again, it would be from
them. Luckily, I won't as long as I own this boat.

Last winter when I had my Ranger hull bottom blasted, repaired and
recoated, part of the Keelguard was damaged accidentally. I called
Keelguard and asked if they still had the offwhite that I had
installed when I bought the boat - sure did and they sent me a
complete replacement length for shipping costs only - something like
$8 as I remember it.

I concur - great company to do business with.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:27:57 -0700, "Mike" wrote:

Did you have to take the original off, or did the company doing your bottom
work do it? They sent me instructions as to how to get it off... and it
wasn't easy. A couple of hours, a LOT of elbow grease, and it's ready to
install the new one. I do know that it's a *good* thing that it doesn't come
off easily, but... :)

No - I had it done when they redid the hull.

Back before I bought this boat, I had a 520 Ranger bass boat with
Keelguard and I replaced it with a color closer to the bottom color-
it was a pain to get off - had to use a solvent and heat and as you
said - a lot of elbow grease.

Wasn't going to do that again. :)