Sled deck???

[chelle]

And now for a little rant . . .


I'm all for good 'ol fashioned competition with STF, Bulldog, Jet Craft, Crostrax plus a few others but when someone takes a product that you've spent 10 years developing, copies it directly and then tries to sell it in your backyard it's hard not to feel ripped. We employ welders here in Alberta, pay taxes here in Alberta and service the local community here. We could have our decks made there too but then I'd be out of a job along with 20 of our people. If you buy one of those knock offs your supporting who? Please think about it. Buy Canadian made!!!

Thanks

Chelle

[Mike270412]

I own an STF but I agree with CHELLE

[Summiteer]

Originally Posted by chelle

And now for a little rant . . .


I'm all for good 'ol fashioned competition with STF, Bulldog, Jet Craft, Crostrax plus a few others but when someone takes a product that you've spent 10 years developing, copies it directly and then tries to sell it in your backyard it's hard not to feel ripped. We employ welders here in Alberta, pay taxes here in Alberta and service the local community here. We could have our decks made there too but then I'd be out of a job along with 20 of our people. If you buy one of those knock offs your supporting who? Please think about it. Buy Canadian made!!!

Thanks

Chelle

free trade and the global economy and all that.....Same thing every time you go into the Wal-Mart......

[BIGFOOT]

Got mine from Jet Craft in GP in '98'. Most of the time it stays on the truck yr round except when I need to pull 5th wheel. It gets alot of use hauling more than just bikes & sleds... It has stood up very well & gots more years yet !

[Caper11]

Originally Posted by chelle

And now for a little rant . . .


I'm all for good 'ol fashioned competition with STF, Bulldog, Jet Craft, Crostrax plus a few others but when someone takes a product that you've spent 10 years developing, copies it directly and then tries to sell it in your backyard it's hard not to feel ripped. We employ welders here in Alberta, pay taxes here in Alberta and service the local community here. We could have our decks made there too but then I'd be out of a job along with 20 of our people. If you buy one of those knock offs your supporting who? Please think about it. Buy Canadian made!!!

Thanks

Chelle

I'm a little confused here maybe you can enlighten somewhat, I've compared STF, marathan and bulldog decks, and they are built totally different, so they are not copied. Are you refering to the idea of the sleddeck being ripped off?

STF is built here in alberta and bulldog is built in BC, Each manufacture has is pro and cons built into their deck, and the consumer buys a product to suit his or her needs, Marathan makes a fantastic deck, but I didn't feel like crawling under my truck to get at the bolts everytime I wanted to remove it, As for crosstraxx and jet craft I've never seen one, i don't even know where there built.
I drove all the way to Sylvan lake to pick up my STF deck and was very impressed with the fabshop and they make a strong product.

[imdoo'n]

Sorry Chelle, I have a marathon, older yes, For Survey work I have 2 STF decks, love the welds, hold up well and strong, no bolts very bad design on your part. Competion makes for better product or your out of business, Sylvan lake Trailers and Fabrication , in Sylvan Lake are local and make a good product, For the work surveyors do your product must stand up to rough roads, as in bounced around alot
I for one would not buy a bolted deck again, as they do not stand up, Also welds must be strong, a cheap product at a premium price just won't fly with the abuse we put on a sled deck.
Sounds like spilled milk on your part, marathon ramp system I like, You are trying to make one design fit all.

[ratatatat]

Take a look at hi-risemfg.com nice decks, good value.

[chelle]

There's no spilled milk here and like I said in my rant, I'm all for competition. Stf makes a good deck as do several others. We disagree on how a deck should be safely mounted into a truck but that's ok. It's the consumers choice. If someone chooses to purchase a STF over us that's ok in the bigger picture as it's made in Canada!!! And when the welds crack you can take it back to them for repair.

What makes our deck different is that our deck is designed around aluminum extrusions that we created and is not made of off the shelf material that anyone can go buy from an aluminum supplier. The chinese deck is a direct copy of our extrusions. They did no design and engineneering work. They did no testing. All they did is take one of our old decks, sent it over to China, copied the extrusion profiles and sent the finnished decks back here. That's ripping off our hard work. Even BMW is suing a car company in China for copying their X5 suv. By the time it goes to court the company has changed names and is now history. This is not a new situation, look at all the knock off quads and dirtbikes.

End of round two.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun sled season.

Cheers

Chelle

[caddy]

ive got a Jet Craft deck from the boys in GP check out the pics on Kijiji Grande Prairie if your interested $1500obo

[bcboy]

aluminum sled decks r to much 3000 dollars plus. shoot me in the foot do u guys get the payment plans lol . i wish i could get one but it's never going happen. if i was able to afford it i would get the black marathon deck there sweet.

the other problem i run into is i have a exhaust stack in my box.

[pirate01]

Originally Posted by cumminsummit

I've run the cross-trax deck for 3 years now and had nothing but good things to say. Extremely good customer service. Good craftsmanship.
A good buddy of mine just bought one and he paid around $3000 for retractable sides, superglides on the ramp, and 2 super clamps, LED lights, 2 cargo lights underneath.... There are plenty of extras you can ad on to them too.
Check out the website if your interested.

Unless you want to keep going to a welder, you best stick with a marathon i have owned 3 stf decks and all 3 broke , they are built with a smaller gauge aluminum, and they also have no safety latch on the ramp , those little cheesy hooks break off and down you go, they have no engineers that work for them .

[pirate01]

Originally Posted by chelle

There's no spilled milk here and like I said in my rant, I'm all for competition. Stf makes a good deck as do several others. We disagree on how a deck should be safely mounted into a truck but that's ok. It's the consumers choice. If someone chooses to purchase a STF over us that's ok in the bigger picture as it's made in Canada!!! And when the welds crack you can take it back to them for repair.

What makes our deck different is that our deck is designed around aluminum extrusions that we created and is not made of off the shelf material that anyone can go buy from an aluminum supplier. The chinese deck is a direct copy of our extrusions. They did no design and engineneering work. They did no testing. All they did is take one of our old decks, sent it over to China, copied the extrusion profiles and sent the finnished decks back here. That's ripping off our hard work. Even BMW is suing a car company in China for copying their X5 suv. By the time it goes to court the company has changed names and is now history. This is not a new situation, look at all the knock off quads and dirtbikes.

End of round two.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun sled season.

Cheers

Chelle

STF has no engineering they took a Marathon deck pulled it apart and copied it, i have owned 3 stf decks they all break in the same place , just wait and see, and the whole ramp with no safety latch thats a law suit waiting to happen they know that they come un hooked but its just a rich guy cutting costs. beware.