2017 RT 198 P Hull Failure

[raisinrat]

Heading to the dealer today to drop off my boat. On July 1st I noticed I was taking on water. Got home filled the hull and found a tear. Took a bunch of pictures yesterday and some video. I sent them the letter with the images and video of the issue. Even tapped around under the boat and found an area where a weld is that sounds like an internal failure may also be a foot. Here hoping Ranger Warranty is as good as I hear. I never hit anything to my knowledge there are no signs of impact.

The tear is about 18 to 24 inches long right along the weld.

IMG_3610.jpg

[raisinrat]

Quick question for those that had their boats sent back to Ranger did you have to pay to have it shipped to them?

[gtfd455]

Mine is being sent back also for a cracked hull. Shipping should be covered by Ranger.

[raisinrat]

Mine is being sent back also for a cracked hull. Shipping should be covered by Ranger.

Okay my dealer was trying to tell me it was going to $1500 to send it down. I was like if that's the case I am driving it down myself. heading to him now to inspect everything.

[javjoe]

There's a lot of scratches near the break, sure you didn't scrape a rock or something? That's the only scratches i see on the hull.

Hope you get it fixed to your satisfaction. I would be sick if it was me.

[King_Fish]

Good Luck!

Keep us posted.

Fortunately I haven't had any hull issues and I run mine pretty hard and in shallows...

[raisinrat]

There's a lot of scratches near the break, sure you didn't scrape a rock or something? That's the only scratches i see on the hull.

Hope you get it fixed to your satisfaction. I would be sick if it was me.

I have had some issues with paint on this boat and I was given touch up paint. Which I Highlighted in my review of this boat YT. We don’t always have docks in here in Michigan so I have had to pull it up by hand to shore. Which I’ve always scoped out before launching the boat to make sure there’s nothing in a way to cause any damage or dents or dings to the hull in fact the hull is pristine besides some surface scratching from that and the new tear.

[raisinrat]

Good Luck!

Keep us posted.

Fortunately I haven't had any hull issues and I run mine pretty hard and in shallows...

I know my followers on YT are wanting to see how they handle things.

[King_Fish]

I know my followers on YT are wanting to see how they handle things.

I don't follow anybody...
Please keep us posted here.

"Followers" make no tracks of their own, Brother.

[Bill Reynolds]

Quick question for those that had their boats sent back to Ranger did you have to pay to have it shipped to them?

I was close enough that I dropped it off and picked it up, but the original plan was to have the dealer load it on a Ranger truck the next time they got a delivery. There was never a mention of delivery charges and the Warranty manager gave me a discount on some upgrades I added to the new hull to help compensate for my gas cost.

[Alumicraft145]

You would have to have a pretty good impact to have tear like that. Only other thing I can think of is bouncing on the trailer. I welded aluminum for 4 years. You gotta be really on. Especially sheet aluminum. Looks like a bad weld job. You should get a new hull. Period. Sucks you gotta wait... And your motor is travelling with it. Yuck!! You should get extended warranty for the time ranger has it!!

[PolarKraft195]

You would have to have a pretty good impact to have tear like that. Only other thing I can think of is bouncing on the trailer. I welded aluminum for 4 years. You gotta be really on. Especially sheet aluminum. Looks like a bad weld job. You should get a new hull. Period. Sucks you gotta wait... And your motor is travelling with it. Yuck!! You should get extended warranty for the time ranger has it!!

still waiting for you to correct your user name!

[Alumicraft145]

Not gonna happen. I actually tried the right spelling on my kawasaki ninja board and it auto corrected to the I. Now it just does it by myself. It's like welding aluminum... Computers make my eyes hurt...

[texoma]

OP and the others with problems. I would not be to discouraged right now. Things in this business is changing very rapidly for the worse. I not just talking Ranger the whole damned industry. From boat manufacturing to parts suppliers etc. I have in 25 plus years never seen it like this. Covid is not an excuse as many are claiming. Hang in their could be a long ride. My best advice "be cool with the warranty folks" talk to them as its part of boating. Give them a big ole I love this boat and what it has meant to my family. A little kiss but will get you alot further than being a pain in their azz. Trust me

[Alumicraft145]

After thinking about that tear, gotta say that's a design flaw. Should be some type of backing there to seal the weld. This is a cost /weight saving measure you are paying the price for. possibility life threatening if you never noticed. That tear could have got bigger and you coulda sunk and died. A very simple cheap extrusion could be used to back up all these welds. poorly engineered. Shame on you ranger... it you get the same hull back, (jeez I hope not), you will find a whole bunch of backing welded on the inside. your boat will be quite a bit heavier. on my phone right now I have some of the best aluminum welders in the world (GE,Taylor made custom bike shops, stock cars and even space x), got aluminum supplier 10 miles down the road. Got nice machine shop to use, cnc, throw me a marine engineer geek and I could build aluminum boats next month. Guys do it all the time. Welding jet boats with motorcycle engines in them. Problem is all the different models and sizes. Bass boat guys( this is bass boat central) want carpet and storage and such... That's the fluff you pay for... My Alumacraft is put together like junk. Rivets. I cringe looking at it. Price you pay for tin.

[alli ss]

I thought people bought aluminum boats so they could scratch them up. A boat cracking from impact with waves, etc is not acceptable but has became a valid excuse from a few companies as of late.

[civiltiger07]

That tear could have got bigger and you coulda sunk and died.

whoa that escalated quickly. Most bass boats wont sink from a leak in the hull alone. They have enough foam filling compartments inside the boat to displace water that the boat would only fill to certain level with water then it would reach equilibrium.

Now if a boat fills with water and the operator doesn't realize it the boat can be sunk by coming off plane to fast and swamping the boat. That should be something that every boat owner knows how to recognize so they can avoid that situation.

[Grizzly]

If my boat starts taking on water while on plane I'm heading to the nearest shore, soft sand of course, no rocks

[alli ss]

If my boat starts taking on water while on plane I'm heading to the nearest shore, soft sand of course, no rocks

Dang sure dont scratch it or youll be accused of hitting something and causing the crack. Some of these aluminum boats are more fragile than a kayak and damn sure any fiberglass boat

[Highcentered]

Hope my hull holds up. Hopefully if it had any bad welds they woulda failed by now because I've put some miles on it. Always check under it every few trips. Under normal use without being abused and beat to hell in big swells a newer aluminum hull should NEVER have a crack in it. Hopefully Ranger owns up to shoddy workmanship and replaces the OP's hull with a new one. If they refuse to make things right a good welder would be able to fix it better than new but getting Ranger to reimburse you would be next to impossible without a really good lawyer.