Need a little help...

[dartman]

Thinking about going to one of the ranger tins. Rt118 or the rt 19. Comeing out of a 2003 521. Most of my time is spent on smaller lakes...... looking for opinions from those that have done big glass to a tin.saw a rt19 at my local tackle shop.talked with owner asked him if he had to pick between he would probably go with a glass boat. Has me confused. ..

[tharris811]

It's all in what you want.For me I have a 188 love it,but it might not be your cup of tea

[Ranger RT]

I went from Glass to tin,and it was the best thing I ever did.no hull blisters to worry about,and I was always worried about getting in shallow water and scratching the bottom of it ...no worries now,this boat will draft in spit so I can go anywhere I want.. Easier to trailer and hardly uses any gas.. And the bottom of it is silver so the bass are attracted to it cause they think it's a huge shad

[n2ratfishin]

After almost six years in a Cat Cougar and decades in various 18-19 foot glass boats with a couple of tins mixed in there I bought a RT188 with a 115 4-stroke Merc about 8 months ago. There are pros and cons to everything. I just wanted to go back to something simple and easy to maintain. So far the "little" RT has fit the bill nice. The only thing I'd do different is order one of those spit lock trolling motors. My digital 70 has proven to do the job but that spot lock would REALLY be nice.

[Basskisser]

I've never owned a glass boat because I've never wanted one. The advantages of tin out weighs the disadvantages IMO. The local lake I fish the most has a lot of rocks and quite a few are in shallow water. I go right in and catch the smallmouths while the glass boats stay out. They can out run me to a spot, but I can get where they can't or won't go.

The main disadvantage is in the wind. The tin will be pushed more, but it's not as bad as it was with the 80's and 90's tin boats. Todays boats are fairly heavy and if you put the Ultrex on it, you can let the motor fight the wind while you fish.

Looking like a huge shad is hilarious. I'll remember that.

[dartman]

Thanks it's a hard to decide..mostly because mine is paid for and l would back to some kind of payments.

[Bill Reynolds]

I owned Glass boats for over 30 years but downsized to the RT188 3 years ago. My reason for downsizing was to have a boat that my kids and Grand Kids could use without me driving while still being able to maintain my fishing style, which includes club tournaments. I am happy with the RT188 but if I was making the decision today, I would buy a RT198P with a 150 4 stroke with twin power poles (This boat was not available when I bought mine). This boat would enhance my current fishing and still meet my future objective.
Just a couple of observations:
1) The RT188 is a flat bottom and that is good and bad. It will float in about 8 inches of water allowing access to a lot of backwater areas that the pad boats can't reach. I like that since about 50% of my fishing time is on shallow backwater and river systems. However, the flat bottom also get's stuck on stumps that are just at the surface or slightly below that the pad boats just roll over. There are spots I used to fish in my BassCat's that I can no longer fish. The RT198 does have a pad hull so I think it would perform better in those instances.
2) This is not a big water boat. It is impressive handling chop and boat wakes but rollers are a different matter.
The RT188 meets my needs nicely but if anything happens to it, I would replace it with an RT198P.

[Panama]

Thinking about going to one of the ranger tins. Rt118 or the rt 19. Comeing out of a 2003 521. Most of my time is spent on smaller lakes...... looking for opinions from those that have done big glass to a tin.saw a rt19 at my local tackle shop.talked with owner asked him if he had to pick between he would probably go with a glass boat. Has me confused. ..

To quote you....you say that you fish "smaller lakes""....... I guess my opinion would be based on what your definition of smaller lakes is.

My first fiberglass bass boat was a 1972 model. I have owned several since then. I moved from a glass Ranger to the RT188. I usually owned two bass boats and one was always glass. I had two bouts with blisters on fiberglass hulls and moved to aluminum for my bigger boat. I have seen reports of blisters on glass boats that are supposed to have the new fix. The manufacturers still don't warranty for them so that tells me they are not so sure of their solution. I have had the RT for over 3 1/2 years and fish 12 months a year and many days a month so the RT has had quite a bit of use. I think I can give it a good evaluation.

Back to the smaller waters definition. I fish a lake a fair amount that is about 40,000 acres and semi open. The RT is not great there. It is not fast enough and in very bad wind, the ride is better with a pad. Other lakes I fish a whole lot are 6,000 acres and about 10,000 acres. The 6,000 acre lake is full of stumps where I fish. I fished it a lot this year. I was stuck exactly twice this whole year where I had trouble getting off the stump. I was stuck more but the trick is to get the guy in the back come to the front and usually the weight shift will let you get off easily. I see glass boats and pad aluminum boats having the same problem though. I saw many glass boats with pads having to crank the big motors to pull off them. I had to do it twice.

After the blisters, I am not a fan of glass. That's why I would stick with aluminum. I have never been in a RP198. If I was buying a bigger boat and did not go glass, I would also look hard at the Xpress X-19. The hull is thicker aluminum (.125") and I fished out of one in Florida a fair amount with a 200 Yamaha SHO on it. It was one of the best boats I have ever been in. If I fished big open water, that is the boat I would buy. If I fished smaller type water, I would buy the RT188 with the Yamaha 115. It is a great boat for smaller water situations.

Show me a warranty on blisters and I will look at glass again....it's one of those "fool me once" things. By the way, I believe in what Bill says too, some stump situations would maybe be better with a pad. It depends DS on how you hit it and how fast.

[dartman]

Most lakes around me are trolling motor only. I used to fish Erie alot but trips there are getting less and less. Back issues are making it harder to launch the big boat by my self. Just think downsizing may be best option.

[GeauxTide]

The difference between the 188 and 198 is $5,000, 5-8mph, 300#, and a longer deck. If you have to have a 150 class motor, the Xpress has a .125 hull. I'm not a fan of .100 hulls with 500# motors. The 115s get fantastic mileage, whatever the color or stroke.