My son had a Marlon Explore II for a few years, deck worked well but did not care for the foot pads and having to add spacers under the feet to get it the right height. His leaked quite a bit of water too between the slats of the deck floor. His was only ever turn-buckled to the fixed corner tie downs in an aluminum bed ford and after one extremely bumpy trip two of his tie downs were bent pretty good. A few weeks ago my brother son and I all bought Marlon explorer III’s. I looked at all of the brands at Hay days and was close to buying a dura deck or truck boss but waiting to long and didn’t want to drive to ND to get one and our klim Kodiak bags wouldn’t fit under the ramp and missed the sale on the truck boss. I will say that the new Marlon explorer III is significantly improved in several areas from the II my son had. Non of us have had any water in the bed in the month they’ve been on including going through multiple high pressure touchless car washes and a few snowy days, it is rock solid when bolted to the bed, the adjustable drop legs made getting perfect height easy, the new slide design is much better than previous and lastly I’m guessing that they must mostly drive newer super duties as the front leg feet are spaced within a 1/16” of the width of the bed so you only have to center the rear side to side. The only negative was figuring out the wiring but we eventually got that sorted, if I come across any other negatives after our 2600 mile trip next week I’ll add them.
Marlon or DuraDeck - Which would you choose?
- Thread starter KhaosRipcord
- Start date
A little over 4000 miles with the new deck with about 1000 of that in rain/ice/snow with little to no water in the bed. Pretty sure the little bit I do get is from the sides of the tailgate, so far very happy with it.
K
KhaosRipcord
Well-known member
I have the latest model duradeck now. They are built solid. 10/10 would do again.
Have had a Truck boss and a Marlon Explorer II. Both are decent products but definitely some pros and cons.
The Truck Boss is well made but the fact that it attaches to the box made it a pain for someone like me that pulls their deck out every spring. I got good at it but still a nuisance. Also there are a lot of nuts and bolts used on the deck. I live in Canada and we spray our roads with the most corrosive crap in the winter. The standard hardware you get is galvanized or plated and after 1 season I replaced every nut and bolts with stainless. For the price of this deck why not start with stainless? Liked the ramp and everything else.
New truck this year and had the opportunity to buy a basically unused Explorer II with seal kit. Easy install so that was good. Electrical not so good. Besides the above mentioned new Ford fun, I had to basically pull apart the wiring to figure out the LED bar. Wiring was done as cheap as possible with crappy connectors. Why not take the time to use proper weatherproof connectors and some solder? Had a few issues trying to figure out the wiring scheme. Have to give kudos to Marlon as I received a call back and texts from them to walk me through questions. Great support. Wiring upgraded now and no issues. Love the ramp. Wish the deck was a little more waterproof but so far no big deal.
I make 10-ish trips a year to ride in the Backcountry. Round trip is 2000 km so my decks have been well tested. I think they are both good products but like anything price, function and support are important when you are spending this much $.
My 2 cents for what it's worth.
The Truck Boss is well made but the fact that it attaches to the box made it a pain for someone like me that pulls their deck out every spring. I got good at it but still a nuisance. Also there are a lot of nuts and bolts used on the deck. I live in Canada and we spray our roads with the most corrosive crap in the winter. The standard hardware you get is galvanized or plated and after 1 season I replaced every nut and bolts with stainless. For the price of this deck why not start with stainless? Liked the ramp and everything else.
New truck this year and had the opportunity to buy a basically unused Explorer II with seal kit. Easy install so that was good. Electrical not so good. Besides the above mentioned new Ford fun, I had to basically pull apart the wiring to figure out the LED bar. Wiring was done as cheap as possible with crappy connectors. Why not take the time to use proper weatherproof connectors and some solder? Had a few issues trying to figure out the wiring scheme. Have to give kudos to Marlon as I received a call back and texts from them to walk me through questions. Great support. Wiring upgraded now and no issues. Love the ramp. Wish the deck was a little more waterproof but so far no big deal.
I make 10-ish trips a year to ride in the Backcountry. Round trip is 2000 km so my decks have been well tested. I think they are both good products but like anything price, function and support are important when you are spending this much $.
My 2 cents for what it's worth.
