Also you cant possibly be argueing that Recover is better the Rest+Hydration if your opponemt brings in Tyranitar Hippowdon or Ninetales they a still have to worry about Hydro Pump and if Vappy is asleep who cares! You can just switch in Poltoed then go back to Vaporeon. The reason why Gastrodon is noy "on anothe level" is because Vaporeon has higher special attack much better recovery and suprise factor. He may not be able to fully handle volt turn but that is more of a team building issue then anything if you have a pokemon weak to volt turn than thats ok if your team is weak to volt turn thsn thats a different story. Infact Gastrodon cant even deal with Volturn because a choice banded Scizor and +1 Genesects U-turn will be doing heaps to Gastrodon and dont rven get me started on Counter counter makes Gastrodon move last making it have to sponge a powerful U-turn it might not even live anyway. Secondly who even uses Counter anyway? It is a waste of a move slot as you either miss out on recovery or coverage options so Counter Gastrodon is definatly out classed by Vaporeon it also seeems you are arguing with me for no reason almost like you are doing it just for fun remember this is ou viability rankings not vappy vs gastrodon. It is also worthy to note that i am nominating Vaporeon for C rank for petes sake! Not S not A not B, C! I have said all that i need to say and i dont want to mess up this project with irrelevant babble.
This babble is only continuing because you continue to spew nonsense. The fact that your saying Counter is a waste of a move slot on Gastrodon shows you no absolutely nothing about it. Genesect is a common lead, so if you lead with Gastrodon, and they U-turn, firstly, Gastrodon always lives Scizor's Banded u-turn and +1 U-turn from Genesect (unless he's banded, which Vap won't live either) so Counter always nabs a free,
surprise kill with mentioned attack. Also, since both Vap and Gastro are usually tanks, they both retain the same surprise factor, so explain how Gastro is predictable and doesn't have surprise factor. It seems as if you're talking about what you don't know, and that's dangerous on Smogon. My point is that Gastrodon can play the same role as bulky attacking tank, with more or less the same power and bulk, but it can also fight Volt-Turn and Rain whereas Vap struggles more, making Gastro the superior choice in this light. Vap gets a niche as a hydration healer, but even if you get rain back up, Vap sleeps one additional turn before waking up, which means you can be 2HKO'ed (oh my God I used Vap too! Did you even try Gastro?) Which makes it's healing worse than Gastro's recover, since you can heal while Rotom-W switches and such. Vap is weaker to the common Metagame where Gastro isn't and that is where my point lies. try Gastro over Vap and see if you have any success or not. Seriously try it, the results may surprise you. Their power is more or less the same, but Gastro just does more than Vap. So their power IS the same, their surprise factor IS the same, and their healing is more or less the same since recover can be used on Rotom-W switch and although you heal more, you can also lose weather war and get screwed so each have their drawbacks, and finally their surprise factor is completely the same, making them on the same level in that light (which you denied and claimed Vap had over Gastro). So in those lights they are they are the same, but Gastro fights common rain and common Volt-Turn much better, meaning it has more to offer. Hence when I say Gastro plays this role better, it simply does. Oh and it also walls Gene better, since it can't TBolt on Gastro.
On the subject of the move counter, both Vappy and Gastro get crappy coverage. Gastro gets
Surf / Ice Beam / Earth Power while Vappy gets
Hydro / Ice Beam / Rest. Both have crappy coverage, so how can you say that Counter is a waste of a moveslot since you lose coverage WHEN THEY HAVE NO COVERAGE TO BEGIN WITH. Gastro also has Earth Power, so it has better coverage than Vappy (lol). The only drawback to counter (keep in mind banded Scizor and +1 Gene don't KO with U-turn) is that you lose recover. Recover is an okay option, but for the specs variant, it doesn't get around to recovering much anyway. The LO variant is too worn down by LO to really make use of slow recover anyway. Not that it isn't viable, but counter doesn't really make Gastrodon lose any coverage anyway.
tl;tr:
1. Gastro is equivalent to Vap in it's power, surprise factor, and both recoveries have draw backs (Gastro's limited recovery vs. Vap's sleep outside of rain, and then having to wait a turn to wake up when rain is put back on the field).
2. Gastro fights Volt-Turn and Rain, making it the Superior choice over Vap in the role of bulky attacker (since Wish passing outclasses Gastro in a sense for wall sets, but each wall has their own niche's and can't really be compared like the LO Tank sets can).
3. Counter is a useful move on Gastro and you do not lose out on any coverage, considering both Pokes have shitty coverage.
EDIT: @ Boondocker
What I meant was not the coverage between the moves, but their limited movepool (thus not losing out on a coverage move, HP Grass tends to be a bit redundant when +1 Surf does big damage to most rain threats (in rain) and Earth Power does lots to water types as well if +1, although it does help hit Gastro's / Jellicent's, EP can also hit for a 2hko anyway and counter tends to be more useful vs. volt-turn. Limited movepool makes it so they don't necessarily lose out on a coverage attack). I should have worded that better; my mistake.