They used TarJack in 2000 and it was far less than a desirable finish. Colorworks has done the dipping since 2001.

All the 2001-2003's that I own and I have for demo's are in great shape but I have seen a few that had some problems... It's industry wide for the most part.

The 2004 models are being dipped in house now but the risers are being prepped a little different than before. Now they're being powder coated before tha base coat and film dip are being applied.. It should wear like iron...

Bowtech Dually, your not alone. The soft case I carry my bow in (when riding to and from the stand on my fourwheeler) is rubbing the paint off my 2002 Mighty mite at all the points that make a corner and rub the soft case (limb pockets etc.)

My OLD mathews Z-light was carried this way for two years prior to my purchase of the bowtech and it shows none of the sanded wear characteristics as the bowtech does.
Something is different between the finish of the two.

Of the three or four Bowtech's I have owned, only the '03 Pat is showing any signs of wear...and only because I shot alot of 3D with it as well as abused it a bit when taking it out in the hunting woods this fall. The wear is showing in areas around the grip and on any sharp edges or corners...ie, limb pocket edges, sight window edges, etc... I plan on doing some "touch up" work myself on it before 3D season starts. The 2004 Mighty Mite has stood up well to two weeks of daily hunting. I have not noticed any chipping or flaking on it so far though the small white dots that everyone has commented on are there in a few places. Nothing to write home about in my opinion.

I saw no paint problems on the Pat DC or the Pro 38 though a customer did bring in a 2000 or 2001 Mighty Mite last summer that looked dreadful. There were half dollar sized and larger areas of paint missing from various portions of the bow. He sent it back to Bowtech in August or September and they redipped it in their own factory if I remember correctly. I have not heard anything from him since.

If there was a way to make the aluminum riser a dark color before film dipping, people wouldn't notice or care as much, when some of the film dip wore off. That bright shiny aluminum looks terrible.

I've been touching up my bows with enamel paints that are then coated with a clearcoat finish. I mix my own camo colors and with a little artistry (a little is all I have), I get them looking pretty good. The enamal with clearcoat finish, wears much better then the film dip in my experience.

Or, you could be like my brother, who will take his $600 bow and wrap any offending part with camo tape. It looks terrible, but is very functional. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why he uses the camo tape. He also puts a notch on his riser for every deer he shoots (and he shoots a lot of them). The thing looks like somebody took a dull hacksaw to it, and tried to cut it in half.

Well unfortunately for some reason my post from last night got deleted along w/ one or two others it seems after talking w Frank (glitch, not because I used the F -word or something )

When I have time later this evening, I'll answer your questions BD if you did not see my post from last night.

All I have a friend here in TX that does the film dipping for a living. Instead of going through big machines all of his product is done by hand and will hold up better than anything from a manufaturer. He can dip your riser, limbs, cams, sigth mounts, etc.. and in any pattern you like.

PM me if you want a new coat on your bow or gun, heck almost anything.

JeffB I did see the post you entered last night.
Thank you
BD

I dont think there are any bows currently that will hold up as far as finishes go. All of the bows I've had in the past couple years eventually showed signs of wear at major wear areas. I will have to say that my Hoyt Vipertec straight from the box is the best finished bow I've seen as I didn't see any areas where the paint had dirt or other imperfections in it. But like I said, I'm sure that it too will show wear at some point.

I dont know about others, but has anyone tried to paint aluminum before? Bare aluminum, or bare metal for that matter doesn't take paint too well. Thats what primer was invented for. But that would add more weight to the bow and cost. Most manufacturers arent willing to do that yet.
I don't know what kind of prep goes into the risers before dipping, but even a very light roughing of the metal would make it stick better.

Coud someone enlighten me. How do they "dip" the bow? I never really thought about how a riser is actually camoed.

I recently went to the Maitland archery site the link is ( www.maitlandsarchery.com )and they claim to have a new process that is not a film dip that they say is indestructable. You cant see the finish that well in their photo but it appears to be a high definition pattern that they say is in the Realtree pattern.
BD

My dealer got in 4 new 04 Bowtechs yesterday and I noticed the camo dip had white specks or small chips around the indents in the handle part. New camo looked cool but film dip quality did look very good!