and im a homeboy speaking from experience. got a brand new sabre in 2002. added a bassproshop-purchased keelguard (and had it installed by a fiberglass shop for $100) late that same year. everything was fine for about five years, until, on a wavy toledo bend, i came down on a stump and a chunk the size of a quarter was torn from the keelguard. my fiberglass is still fine, but the keelguard has a hole in it clear to the glass right about the same place that the keel hits when beaching the boat. ive made due with some silicone for the past several years, but finally bought a hamby on ebay at a good price. its gonna cost me another $225 to install the new hamby at a reputable glass shop thats familiar with installing them (the boat is actually hung over night in straps to set the glue on the keel protector). however, its gonna cost me another $100 to REMOVE the old keelguard (and from the few ive grumbled to about it, theyve since convinced me its actually a bargain at that price, as it apparently is a bugger of a task.)to keelguards (and my original installers) credit, the rest of the guard is working like a champ, and the glue has held very nicely. that said, i dont think the stump would have torn the hamby, had it been installed instead. holding an uninstalled hamby in my hand was all it took to convince me of that fact. its just a much more solid piece of rubber/plastic/orwhateveritismadeof. i briefly considered replacing with another keelguard because i thought the “lifetime” warranty would replace the now-defective one; but the “lifetime” is apparently the lifetime of a mayfly, and the 100% guarantee only covers about half the replacement cost. since it was going to cost me more money, anyway, i decided to do it right this time around. long story short, i would have actually saved money if i had just gotten the hamby installed at the factory for the $600 they wanted back then, and avoided any later installation headaches and warranty frustrations. ( ironically, either way i would have ended up with a hamby on my sabres keel nearly ten years later, if i had just gotten the thing put on at the factory in the first place.)….doh that what seems less expensive, may sometimes merely be cheaper. good luck either way…we may need some wheels installed on the keels if our lakes keep disappearing. the bend has boat lanes with less than a foot of water in them now…and thats IF you can even launch.Last edited by cajun catter on October 7th, 2011, 11:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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