Bow weld CRACK - RT188

[BigDozer66]

Regarding the warranty - technically the warranty could apply to the 2nd owner if you jump through a couple hoops... But the warranty doesn't at all apply to the 3rd owner, which I am.

I did speak with someone at Ranger - called me back in a matter of a couple hours. Really impressed so far with the understanding and patience he had chatting with me. He said he's only seen this once or twice before and he didn't recall the underlying issue or what caused it. He also said he understands it doesn't fall under the warranty, but get a quote to fix it and send it to them to review... There's no guarantee at all they will pay for the repair, but WOW - didn't expect much more than "Sorry - good luck". Right now - i'm hopeful.

I don't work for Ranger and have only owned one for a couple weeks and I have seen more than a couple of these!

I had not seen any of them before I bought mine.

[King_Fish]

I don't work for Ranger and have only owned one for a couple weeks and I have seen more than a couple of these!

I had not seen any of them before I bought mine.

Considering how many of these boats are out there, the ones you are seeing w/ damage is a very low percentage. From what I have seen, Ranger stands behind the product and I certainly hope they will help MattFish as well.

Anxious to hear the outcome, and hoping for the best...

[Grizzly]

Looks like the weld was used to bridge the gap in the two pieces instead of them butting up against each other. If this is the way they are all built (which I doubt) there will be more. A trolling motor is not going to cause this. The stress from a TM is minimal.

[PolarKraft195]

Looks like the weld was used to bridge the gap in the two pieces instead of them butting up against each other. If this is the way they are all built (which I doubt) there will be more. A trolling motor is not going to cause this. The stress from a TM is minimal.

Strange how that looks. Here's a pic of front of my PK 195, doesn't seem to be welded there, seems formed from one piece??? Maybe they all should do it this way
IMG_20180523_21303.jpg

[TDobb]

Strange how that looks. Here's a pic of front of my PK 195, doesn't seem to be welded there, seems formed from one piece??? Maybe they all should do it this way

I just took a look at the photos on their website. I can almost assure you that the bow cover is made from one piece of pattern cut aluminum and then formed, after it is formed it is welded at the point and ground smooth before finishing. They did a nice job at it too. Working in architectural aluminum for the last 15 years, I can assure you that was not formed as a single piece without being welded. You can do some incredible things with hydroforming, but that geometry is not attainable by forming alone. PolarKraft makes a lot of boats, but not enough to justify the cost of a hydroforming setup. Hell Lund doesn't even make enough to justify the cost of hydroforming. You could just about make an aluminum hull shaped like a glass hull if you could muster the funds for tooling setup. Mainly used for automakers.

As for the OP's boat, it does look like the aluminum was a little short of where it was supposed to be and they tried to fill the gap with weld. Not the right way to do it.

[BigDozer66]

Considering how many of these boats are out there, the ones you are seeing w/ damage is a very low percentage. From what I have seen, Ranger stands behind the product and I certainly hope they will help MattFish as well.

Anxious to hear the outcome, and hoping for the best...

I'll agree.

I see hundreds of nice RT's in these pages and only a handful have had problems.

[mattfish11]

Looking at the thread below, the crack looks eerily similar... Looks like he had some issues with the initial repair re-splitting. I sent him a message, but haven't heard anything back on how it went...

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread....834&highlight=

[tcesni]

Looking at the thread below, the crack looks eerily similar... Looks like he had some issues with the initial repair re-splitting. I sent him a message, but haven't heard anything back on how it went...

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread....834&highlight=

Interesting how this earlier thread also had a Minn Kota hanging out front of the bow. I've had a previous boat crack up, it's not a good feeling.

[CastingCall]

Looks like the weld was used to bridge the gap in the two pieces instead of them butting up against each other. If this is the way they are all built (which I doubt) there will be more. A trolling motor is not going to cause this. The stress from a TM is minimal.

My first thought was there was likely a gap in assembly when parts were set-up unstressed, but whatever jig may be used to hold them, forced them together under stress, then welded under stress. Perhaps combo of water pounding (even small waves put enormous stresses on a hull), trolling motor mounting plate flexing and trolling motor arm moment caused enough pressure to pop the pieces apart.
It's a good theory anyway.

[texoma]

I have seen this same thing on other brands through the years.

[GOTTA BIG SACK]

Does it seem like it’s mostly the 188 and not the 178 or 198 that it’s happening to?

[richg99]

Hmmm, on a number of my earlier boats, I didn't have a good place on which to mount the screw/bolt fittings for various trolling motors. Some of those boats were Carolina Skiffs, with rolled gunnels.

I then used a piece of painted Exterior plywood, longer and wider than the base of the trolling motors. I mounted the TM onto the plywood using Stainless Steel -T- nuts. I ground the protruding bolts off on the bottom of the board. I then had plenty of areas on which to properly mount the board/TM combination.

Now, I did that procedure just to give me a good mounting.

I wonder if extended trolling motors on tin boats wouldn't be well served to have the extra length, width and the ability to add extra bolts that such a "transition board" provides. It just might take some pressure off of the bow.

rich

[joebone1]

it's poor fit up in the initial weld. they probably come out of the weld at the nose creating a hot crack(they should start at the nose and work back in). the weld filler is a lot more brittle than the base metal, so filling it when there is poor fitup is not a good idea. if this is ground clean and then at least a 1/4 back filler piece is welded in it should hold.

[stratos284]

If I had no warranty on it I would grind it out, weld it up, spray some paint on it and go fishing.

[gatorglenn]

If I had no warranty on it I would grind it out, weld it up, spray some paint on it and go fishing.

yep

[slonezp]

Interesting how this earlier thread also had a Minn Kota hanging out front of the bow. I've had a previous boat crack up, it's not a good feeling.

Nothing interesting about that at all. A bass boat should be designed to accommodate a trolling motor. The motor has nothing to do with the failure, it was either designed or manufactured with a defect.

[Panama]

yep

Double yep.....
I said back on post 5 to get a good welder and get it fixed and go fishing. If it was my boat in your position and in the area of the country where you are, that is exactly what I would do. This is fishing season. Don't miss it over that. Find a good welder and have him fix it with a little bracing and go to the lake. It sucks, but it is what it is and actually is a small thing in the scheme of life and family. Get a good welder and put it behind you. Hopefully Ranger might chip in some on the cost.....

[Gsmith223]

Double yep.....
I said back on post 5 to get a good welder and get it fixed and go fishing. If it was my boat in your position and in the area of the country where you are, that is exactly what I would do. This is fishing season. Don't miss it over that. Find a good welder and have him fix it with a little bracing and go to the lake. It sucks, but it is what it is and actually is a small thing in the scheme of life and family. Get a good welder and put it behind you. Hopefully Ranger might chip in some on the cost.....

Thats all good and fine but it could crack again. Unfortunately you need to let Ranger determine the best course of action to take. I went through this with a G3 a few years ago. G3 said to take it to the dealer, dealer took it to a welder welder did a horrible job but I wanted to fish so I took it. The next week the boat cracked on the other side in the same spot. Then later that day the repaired weld broke as well.

G3 was a horrible company to deal with and I will never ever have another.

[mattfish11]

Double yep.....
I said back on post 5 to get a good welder and get it fixed and go fishing. If it was my boat in your position and in the area of the country where you are, that is exactly what I would do. This is fishing season. Don't miss it over that. Find a good welder and have him fix it with a little bracing and go to the lake. It sucks, but it is what it is and actually is a small thing in the scheme of life and family. Get a good welder and put it behind you. Hopefully Ranger might chip in some on the cost.....

Yea - i could get it welded back together by the weekend HOWEVER, I'm very confident it would crack again - and I'm more interested in getting it fixed once the right way than to go through patching it every time it cracks.

I'm working with Ranger and my welding shop to figure the best way to reinforce, weld it back together to reduce the chance it will happen again. I'll jump on my buddy's boat for the time-being until I get this repaired.

[Tommy O.]

Sure doesn't seem like a small little insignificant thing like some of you are implying. The boat shouldn't have cracked. The owner shouldn't have to consider getting it welded and braced to make it functional. It shouldn't have happened in the first place but since it did, Ranger should fix it.