Ranger Aluminum Boats

[TritonTRXV8]

No story. Never hit anything. Never been on a large impoundment. Never left the states of Kansas or Missouri. Never been in a tournament. Hell, never made a 30 mile run.

No abrasions on the bottom. Uniformed deformity across the entire width of the boat. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Ranger did call and they are replacing the boat. They said it will be another 8 weeks until delivery due to backups in production.

Those assumptions don’t look good on yall.

Glad you finally got an answer. About their only option was to replace it with all that damage. There was another rt188 on here that just ou mt of the blue split the tip of the bow not impacts or damge outside something just let loose inside. Sounds like they took their sweet time getting you an answer but it got resolved in the end.

On a side note Unless you praise the Ranger brand my friend you are automatically a troublemaker and stirring the pot. Nothing bad can happen to them plain and simple and the off chance that they do they swoop in and save the day instantly with the best customer service in the business which you experienced and dont you forget that. Welcome to the Tin Forum.

[8theB8]

Assuming ANY brand is going to be 100% perfect is a huge mistake. All manufacturers will have issues at some point, plenty and I mean plenty of threads on here about "Bass Crack-ers" having weld and hull issues, heck I know a couple Lund's that didn't come out just right and I would bet my eye teeth that there has been an Express somewhere along the way that wasn't perfect.

I don't wish your ordeal on anyone and I am glad it is being made right. The wait time being a direct result of the overwhelming demand you think they would jump to take care of an existing customer and make a newbie wait a little longer for their boat. Hang in there....

[SUPERCHUGBUG]

i think his biggest frustration was that he's writing a check each month for his dream boat, and no one was keeping him in the loop. he has every right to voice a negative opinion. as we all know in life....shit happens. his "bashing" was the fact that after 2 months nothing seemed to be getting done. good customer service would have provided updates every few days at the very least. i'm glad that things are working out, but when you have that much money in a boat and you're not getting updates or details, seems kind of shitty to me. I would not be that patient! hope the new boat serves you well, my friend!

[AlumRanger]

So, within one hour of OP original post, Shooter sent a text to a friend at Ranger. And two days later OP finds out he's getting a new hull.
Good job Shooter and BBC.

[Hez]

So, within one hour of OP original post, Shooter sent a text to a friend at Ranger. And two days later OP finds out he's getting a new hull.
Good job Shooter and BBC.

and you're welcome OP

In all seriousness, glad they contacted you and it's heading in a positive direction

[Capt Ray]

Glad you finally got an answer. About their only option was to replace it with all that damage. There was another rt188 on here that just ou mt of the blue split the tip of the bow not impacts or damge outside something just let loose inside. Sounds like they took their sweet time getting you an answer but it got resolved in the end.

On a side note Unless you praise the Ranger brand my friend you are automatically a troublemaker and stirring the pot. Nothing bad can happen to them plain and simple and the off chance that they do they swoop in and save the day instantly with the best customer service in the business which you experienced and dont you forget that. Welcome to the Tin Forum.

You hit that one on the head. Some of these folks are completely blind and couldn't' fathom a world where their beloved Ranger could be anything but perfect. From grown men no less....Sad.

[GeauxTide]

On a side note Unless you praise the Ranger brand my friend you are automatically a troublemaker and stirring the pot. Nothing bad can happen to them plain and simple and the off chance that they do they swoop in and save the day instantly with the best customer service in the business which you experienced and dont you forget that.

40 years of owning boats has not clouded my vision - I've owned a bunch of different boats. My opinion on Ranger is based on personal experience and two fantastic dealers that have the highest rated service ratings for boats and motors. I would never buy from Cabela's or BassPro because you don't get the personalized service. You know my Lowe story. I put my complaint in written form to the manufacturer and kept everyone on this board informed. One of the things that I've always liked about this forum has been the positive environment. When a new member remarks to this group of folks that "assumptions don't look good on yall" because we asked legitimate questions is laughable.

[Ranger RT]

Glad you finally got an answer. About their only option was to replace it with all that damage. There was another rt188 on here that just ou mt of the blue split the tip of the bow not impacts or damge outside something just let loose inside. Sounds like Johnny Morris took his sweet time getting you an answer but it got resolved in the end.

On a side note Unless you praise the Ranger brand my friend you are automatically a troublemaker and stirring the pot. Nothing bad can happen to them plain and simple and the off chance that Johnny Morris swoops in and saves the day instantly with the best customer service in the business which you experienced and dont you forget that. Welcome to the Tin Forum.

right on

[gshellems]

I also recently found the same deformation on my strakes on the port side. I too have NEVER hit anything but wakes. It has been in some rough water but nothing that should cause that. I also found a cross piece under the deck where the hull is pushed in that the weld has broke. I have not gotten it to the dealer yet. CNR, did Ranger say if they've seen this before or if it's a know problem? Looks like I need to get it in ASAP.

[TritonTRXV8]

I also recently found the same deformation on my strakes on the port side. I too have NEVER hit anything but wakes. It has been in some rough water but nothing that should cause that. I also found a cross piece under the deck where the hull is pushed in that the weld has broke. I have not gotten it to the dealer yet. CNR, did Ranger say if they've seen this before or if it's a know problem? Looks like I need to get it in ASAP.

Sorry to hear that. Man not good hopefully this isnt a chronic problem..... hopefully your dealer takes care of it. But if it were me i would be contacting Ranger myself and not relying on a middle man and want updates every step of the way. Dont bother them constantly but having to wait 8 weeks like CNR did is a joke too no way should that be happening. Internal bracing must not be holding up or something causing the strakes to buckle in. Hope you get it worked out.

[slonezp]

Sorry to hear that. Man not good hopefully this isnt a chronic problem.....

A buddy texted me this pic awhile ago

[Ranger RT]

A buddy texted me this pic awhile ago

That's the 2nd one I've seen cracked that way... Wonder if it nosed into the winch stand to hard?
And I think the other one had a terrova on it to

[TritonTRXV8]

A buddy texted me this pic awhile ago

4th i have seen. Dang thats ugly. Internal parts are letting loose and it cant hold back the pressure on the bow tip so it splits apart. More to that then just a reweld unfortunatly.

[gshellems]

Sorry to hear that. Man not good hopefully this isnt a chronic problem..... hopefully your dealer takes care of it. But if it were me i would be contacting Ranger myself and not relying on a middle man and want updates every step of the way. Dont bother them constantly but having to wait 8 weeks like CNR did is a joke too no way should that be happening. Internal bracing must not be holding up or something causing the strakes to buckle in. Hope you get it worked out.

I will try to keep you updated. I'll also try and get some pics up. When I saw it I got sick to my stomach at the thought of having to get a new hull after everything I've done to this one. Gonna be a nightmare...

[Bosh]

A buddy texted me this pic awhile ago

Mine did the exact same thing. I have a Minn Kota Powerdrive (Same mounting as the Terrova) on mine.
I don't know what caused the crack for sure but I ended up putting a quick disconnect plate under my trolling motor to distribute the torque from both the trolling motor and the shaft bouncing in rough water.
Also I installed a RAM mount to support the trolling motor head in rough water so it doesn't bounce.

[gatorglenn]

Do y'all really think the TM is cracking open the bow. If so ranger would like to know that the cases seen on here. Have that same TM.

[Tommy O.]

Ranger has a serious problem with that hull if the trolling motor is cracking it...

[Ranger RT]

I think they should have put some pultrusion under there or aluminum .. Not just under the trolling motor but across the whole top cap of the bow

[Skeeterbait]

I do believe it is the trolling motor due to the very short base and the cantilever of that model hanging the motor housing so far off the boat. I have seen a few of this exact thing on the internet and it has always been the short mount electric stow motors. I have yet to see a fortrex or other long base motor that stows the motor housing more inboard do this. I think the short base motors are creating too much flex on too short an area of aluminum. The longer base motors stabilize and support this. Is it a flaw in the Ranger that allows this to happen with this specific combination, sure it is. They never anticipated this. But with this having been said, they do not offer such a motor from the factory now, not sure if they ever did, and likely haven't tested for this.

As for the OP problem, I can only venture a guess. My guess from the stress fractures and bent hull is that the boat has been operated under extreme pounding wave and porpoising action. That would to me seem logical because the area of the hull where it is bent is where the hull would take the full weight of porpoising down on waves and the remainder of the bow would flex down on that point. This same action would cause a tremendous amount of torsion on the transom precisely where the cracks are as the engine lost and recaught prop bite. Should the boat fare better in such operation, I cant say, I am not an engineer. Ranger is replacing the hull and I am glad for the OP. And as I said this is just the guess I would make based solely on the appearance of the boat. If the OP says this isn't what happened, I can't argue that, I wasn't there.

[GOTTA BIG SACK]