New Gator Hull by Lake Fork Fiberglass

Went to check out my new gator hull today before Mike put my boat back on the trailer. Looks awesome! Mike did a great job and really fast turnaround! Gives me a little more piece of mind when bouncing off those Lake Fork stumps! Can't wait to get her on the water! Will report back after a few weeks if anyone's interested.

Mike put one on my Gambler just a few months ago. You'll probably have to adjust how deep you put the trailer in the water as the boat slides right on and off the trailer. No loss of speed or handling.

Sweet! Love the gator hull.

Yeah for sure let us know what you think, pro's and con's. Everybody who fishes Fork has met many of those stumps and/or a rebar.

Looks good

Looks great!

They pull the motor to spray the hull?

Yes sir remove engine then flip.

There's a lot more to it than just spraying the hull.

What's the charge and how long do they have your boat ?

There goes your top end spee....never mind it's a ranger.

Charge depends on damage if not much a 20-21 ft boat 3k. On my Triton no speed loss and took 1 week during the holidays.

I know you're ribbing him about Rangers speed, but...
You can actually blueprint the bottom of the hull(pad) easier with this applied to get a higher top end speed, even tho you have added a little extra weight. Not saying you can't blueprint a fiberglass hull(pad), just easier to do with this.

looks nice and seems to be a good addition to the hull ----but what exactly do they do and why is it worth $3K ?

Grind fiberglass matt down, repair if needed add three layers of glass then the coating. Much less than traditional fiberglass repair and gel coating.

Ive often wondered this. Isn't it basically like a LineX substance?

No. Call Mike at Lake Fork Fiberglass for details. 903-473-4161

Why is your keel guard still on? Did they put a new one on or just spray around the old one? I've just always heard you don't need one once you get that stuff sprayed on

You can plow stumps with gator hulls. It's not simply line x.

Is this the same "Kevlar" BS that guys put on their jeeps so when they go offroading and rockcrawling it wont mess up the paint?

It really works, you should get your canoe done.

It's like concrete when you knock on it.I had an old beater boat I had done after I cratered a stump.solid as a rock

Ah....I see!

Awesome. I guess that would be the best way to do it. For some reason, I pictured an employee sitting under the boat with some kind of spray gun, like LineX, shooting the stuff up towards the boat.

The pictures don't do the thing justice. I'd like to see it in person. I bet it's really nice.

I hit a rock pile at Hubbard last summer, not terrible damage, but it did expose the fiberglass weave. Mike had me in and out in a week for right at $3500, my insurance covered everything minus my $250 deductible.

It's still nice to have my keel guard for beaching etc, just because I have the gator hull doesn't mean I'll abuse it anymore than I did before, he removed it for the process.

It's pretty cool, has a semi rough texture, and just feels harder when you knock on it. I'm taking it out tomorrow and Saturday to test it out. I did a few other things over the past month, so goinggyo hive them a rundown too.

I wonder what that would cost on a 17' boat with no damage?

Sounds like a good deal

Sounds kinda like the Gorilla Hull that Toledo Fiberglass has been doing for a couple of decades.

http://toledofiberglass.com/gorilla-hull

I would be afraid it would hide structural damage. The coating may not crack but what about the glass under it. Impact damage could still be present and you wouldn�t know?

Adding weight with a rough surface and not slowing it down? Hmm...

Man, I owned that same exact boat he has in the pic, and surprisingly that boat was pretty fast.

When you're on pad and 98% of the boat is out of the water, you are running on a golf ball like dimpled surface which reduces friction. I've heard of some guys only having the pad area coated for increased speed. On the other hand, if you don't know how to drive a boat on pad (high plane is not the same) then you will probably experience a decrease in speed.

My Gorilla hull only added 34 lbs of weight on my boat. I did have to lower my motor a 1/2 inch to get the same performance like it was before. Same top speed. I have pulled up on boat ramps and idled over stumps here at Rayburn and not a scratch on it. I don`t baby my stuff either, it gets used and abused.

Mike has been doing great work like that for a lot of years.

Basically this ^^^^
When you get on pad, and are only on the last 6" of it at high speeds on slick water, it loses contact with the surface numerous times in short distances, getting complete air slows boats down, coming back down causes heavier friction(not really noticeable in slow boats)and this slows boats down too. This is when you see a lot of boats start to chine walk, older Stratos boats above 70mph were really bad because of their design at the chines and pad, some people would say the design of their strakes contributed too, on pad not any part of any of your strakes should be touching water.

On water with chop, you usually have the prop under just a little more for drive ability at high speeds which causes friction from more boat being in the water, because when you were higher you'd lose contact in chop, with a blueprinted hull you can run higher and the water channels against the pad still.


We use to blueprint hulls on the cheap, and I was taught this by a friend that owned a fiberglass and tackle shop. He had a Bullet back then that would've given Ken A. and Greg Hodges Bullets a run back in the early 90s. I'm talking 100mph bass boats. They didn't blueprint on the cheap tho!

This is how we did it on the cheap back in the early 90s when bass boats started to get stupid fast.
Sand down the last 8-10" inches of the pad to make it rough. Get a textured roller and apply some Marine Tex, you can add paint to match hull. Once it dries and hardens you can apply a little more color paint to match better. What this has done is caused channels in the pad that keeps a thin film of water contact flowing against the pad which can increase speed with a little extra weight.

I hit a stump on Welsh this past Friday. Hull now leaking pretty bad. Going to check out Lake Fork Fiberglass today.

Sorry to hear. Mike will take care of it. Only difference I can tell after Mike applied the Gator Hull to my Gambler is it comes off and goes on the trailer much easier...A LOT EASIER!

If I ever get any hull damage I will get toledo to put their stuff on mine. Lifetime warranty and no more worries.

Lifetime warranty with Gator Hull also. Mike will repair any damage to the Gator Hull, free of charge, no questions asked.

Blahahahahaha

Mike did a Gator hull on my old Champion. Did a great job at a fair price. Good guy to boot.

I seen a Triton like that, wondered what that was on the pad


So what is it, I might put one of these on my boat, are the gator, gorilla, comparable in price?

The reason it is stronger is they add 3 layers of fiberglass then they spray the gel coat like material while the fiberglass is still hot/curing so it all melts into one layer.

Our boats are usually fiberglass. Then gel coat. So you hit something and crack the gel coat and if you keep running it w the cracks or chips below the water line they spread and chip away etc.

I have Gorilla hull mines got gouges out of it from rocks but it doesn’t leak because it doesn’t continue to chip away like regular gel coat.

I wish I had Used lake fork fiberglass.

My experience at Toledo fiberglass was terrible. They were supposed to repair every chip and scratch on my whole boat and my hull was supposed to be blue. They did black and did not do a single other repair. They had my boat about 2 months. They also could not be bothered to put my cover back on when they put it outside, it was sitting in my boat in a garbage bag.

I had Gorilla hull put on the Toledo Fiberglass a few years ago. They did a great job on the hull! They did not do a great job of putting my batteries back in. They were hooked up wrong. I have four batteries (36 volt TM). The main starting battery was fine but they hooked up the other batteries wrong. They sent me a check for $125 (labor cost) to rewire the batteries but not more then a few months later my charger went out. No idea if them hooking up the batteries wrong caused this but makes me wonder.

Mike has done 2 of my boats. The first kinda needed it and when I sold it the guy bought it at full price because of the gator hull.
On the second one I had torn a hole in the bottom getting up on a T-post. He said the repair would cost the same as a gator hull and the insurance (Progressive) company saw it that way too. And once again the buyer of that boat saw the gator hull as one of the good selling point.

Even though the hull seems sound in my current boat if needed I will pay to have it done a third time. Mike is the best.

Mike has done 2 for me. Really nice work.

Ran over some rebar during the Berkely tourney then after another spot almost in boat lane thought I was clear almost on plane and hit stump slightly bent my prop shaft. My stomach is still in knots bout it the at amend of tournament got stung by yellow jacket 🐝!

Marine Clean in Nacogdoches also installs this process on hulls. It's well worth it if you are on stumpy/rocky lakes

Mike is a great guy and treated me well, but I would in no way recommend this hull on a skeeter because of speed lost. I would go with the gorilla hull from toledo since its smooth mikes is rough and will hurt your top end speed for sure on a skeeter.

I have had Mike do three for me.
If I ever buy another boat he will probably do it too !

Mike knows his stuff. Good product.

Does anyone have a good phone number for the shop? The one on the internet has an automated message “this number is not in service”

Thanks

I made a few phone calls and found it. I knew Mike had retired. I did not know they moved the shop and changed the name.

What's the new info

Beware!! The bottom is slick. My father had to lock up the brakes on the highway and the boat slide forward breaking both straps and the metal piece that holds the winch. Boat stopped against the tail gate. And that was without any impact!

Just be careful guys. Great product but it’s slick.

I would say your definition of a fast boat is a little skewed cuz you've run Skeeters for so long. LOL

They coat the bottom of the Gator Hull so that the resin will dry faster so you can get the boat on the lake quicker. You need to keep it tied down good transporting it to and from. Backing down the ramp, keep it attached until you get to the water. Do this until you feel the boat start to grab putting it on the trailer.

I don't know that they have moved places. May have changed the name. When I called this number, I got the person that bought it from Mike. Not sure what his name was.972-473-4161 or 4547. I called about a month ago or so. Not sure if the numbers have changed or not.

Yeah big red that doesn’t work any longer.

I called service marine and they are the ones that informed me of the change of name and venue. I left a voicemail and have not heard anything back. Starting to feel like I’ll be at Toledo fiberglass instead. Uggg

Got a call back. Guy said he’s having trouble with his phone.

It’s east Texas Fiberglass off hwy 80 in Mineola. Said he tried to sign a long term lease where the original shop was but the owner of the building (not Mike) and he couldn’t make it work.

(903) 570-3645

You only passed me once..... in a Bullet! That doesnt count!

That ole bug boat of yours ran pretty good. The look on your face when I came around you was priceless!!

I was running about 74 mph. You passed me and slowed down to wave!

But you did get to see a good fish catching clinic that day!

Yes we did. You guys were On Em Good!

Do they pull the motor or do you have to take it off before dropping it off?

I had mine done a few months ago. Guys name is Robert, good guy and good work. No complaints here.

YUP!!! Had mine done about a year ago. Mike told me to hook up winch strap the first 3 or 4 times I pulled out, but after that I could pull up on trailer and pull out without worrying about it. The "slick" will wear off. Great product and great people!

Do you still need the Hamby's???... Dan

Yandeltex-they pull the motor and empty the gas tank.

They left mine on.

Yes, they do. So, try to run ad much of the gas out that you can.
Now Mike would compensate you that. I don't know about the new people.

I had one put on my Falcon after the first use. It is a tremendous product and Mike was a pleasure to work with but I did lose 4mph top end speed but the security of the hull was well worth it as I hit a stump on pad at Rayburn last year and you couldn't tell i even hit it.