Can you tell us what a gate driver does and how and why one would use one?

 

Not sure of your meaning, is to just use the bottom driver only?
Any time you use a high side driver, there has to be a path to power common.

You could use the low-side driver to switch current through an inductor, thereby making a boost converter, then use the boosted voltage to drive a high-side FET gate.

What I was thinking is that the standard boot strap supplies the extra voltage needed to keep the high side turned on, driver #1. So by eliminating the bootstrap and using the second gate driver low side, driver #2, to supply the needed voltage for the high side on driver #1. High side on driver #2 would not be used.

If this would work driver and mosfet #1 could be turned on for longer than the time a bootstrap would allow. I know there is a way to do this with a 555 as an oscillator but just a second gate driver would save components. Like I said don't know if it would work just thinking out loud.