'92 Ranger 354v Restoration/conversion

[brcampbe]

I've been shopping for a project for a while here in N. Florida and finally found exactly what I was a looking for, this 1992 Ranger 354v. These older Ranger are very hard to find around here in good shape for some reason, and they sell fast! I had to jump on this one almost immediately after it was posted. The fast-strike has good numbers and I should get life out of it for a while if I'm not too rough on it.

Anyways, I fish the northern St. Johns mostly and I will be converting this into kind of an intercoastal boat like some of the newer Rangers. I've taken the last of the carpet out, and the deck and lids will be coated with a non-slip coating called Durabak-18. Half the work is already been done, the prior owner basically "primed" the lids with truck bed liner. I also plan to rewire the entire boat with marine grade wiring. I've experimented on a spot on the gel-coat with some finesse II and this boat will look like new when I am done with it.

Aside, anyone know which Tempress seat covers should fit this boat? These are the original ones still on the seats. Also, does anyone know the exact color for the Fast-Strike engine color? I will be repainting the engine in my shop and would like to get the original color right. already have a set of OEM decals on the way...

This thing should really get me on some fish.

Here's some pics:

[twitch]

nice project boat congrats keep us posted of updates and pics gonna look good , same color as my 90 374V and she's shines nice with a little tlc….

[crank68]

Gonna be nice !!

[brcampbe]

Got all the rest of the carpet out, stripped all the glue. Ended up stripping the front deck of the bed liner so I could better repair some old screw holes in the deck. Found out the prior owner has redone the lower floor and did a decent job, it's very sturdy and I could not tell until I pulled up the old carpet. Will be sanding a prepping for the Durabak-18 after work next couple of days. Will also be Pro-Tecing the hull this weekend so she'll be purdy again. Boat should be looking pretty sweet come Monday. Trashed the old rope cleats and am putting on new Ranger stainless cleats from the dealer. Buddy quoted me $800 to fully rewire to marine grade so I think that'll be the way to go, I hate doing electrical work.

What do yall think, go I-pilot only on the trolling motor or keep foot control?

[brcampbe]

Ended up going foot control, found a really good deal on a 70lb Edge. Going to recess in the foot pedal.

Major hats off to Pro-Tec, I tested out a part of the top gelcoat this afternoon... it looks like new. Will post pics on Saturday after I do the whole boat. It's going to look awesome. I honestly can't believe the difference it makes.

Those of you that have not worked with Durabak before, highly advise you wear gloves when painting! I've never worked with a paint this hard to get off bare skin ever.

[SOONER*REDNECK]

[Ranger354]

That's my boat...lol

[brcampbe]

Weather depending I'll get some more pics up this afternoon! Got through the whole top cap restoration process,wet sanded up to 2500 grit then power buffed with the Pro-Tec Nu-Paint. Looks really good. Got the Durabak-18 in as well. Should've bought enough to do 3 coats instead of 2, but can handle that later. The lids are perfect but, the upper and lower decks need one more coat a piece to be as right as they could be. Word of wisdom on this stuff, do not use the 4" rollers, they fall apart.

Only thing left to do now will be to Pro-Tec the lower hull, electronics, and repaint the motor cowling. I replaced the cheapass original Taiwan made alloy cleats with solid stainless cleats, not sure what Ranger was thinking with that junk. Bought these new ones from Ranger.

I swear I've lost 10lbs working on this boat in the past week lol.

[brcampbe]

Kind of hard to tell in the pics but the boat is a lot shinier and actually smooth now. It was rough before.

[Hydrasports205]

Looking good!

[brcampbe]

Got the trolling motor and Humminbird in today, going to fish it in the morning for the first time. Been fun playing gremlin with the the wiring but I got it all sorted out. May put it in on Kingsley Lake and go after some deepwater bass still debating. Tides looking bad this weekend in the St. Johns.

[CastingCall]

Nice work! I'm liking the "no carpet" look the more I see it.

[reelmin5]

That's a sweet one! Keep it out of that hot florida sun. Use some 303 protectant

[brcampbe]

Broke 'er in this weekend. Bite was off as expected but caught some good food at Whitey's fish camp on Doctor's Lake. On the way back to Black Creek Marina as the tide was coming in we decided to jig the bridge pilings and the bite turned on in a much unexpected way with some striped bass. I'll be honest, I've never even caught these things before today and we landed about 10 this size. Pretty cool! Not something you really expect to catch around here.



My FIL with his first striper ever:

[tav]

why white.......?

[brcampbe]

why white.......?

It's actually "light grey." Looks white in the photos...

My dad's convinced me I can't have a pretty boat on an ugly trailer so now I'll be shining it up too. Tested one of the fenders and sure enough, the faded paint wet sanded out just fine. The big rust spots will be sanded out and blocked out with POR-15. Should look fairly decent, or, at least 10 years newer

Before:



10 min later:

[eliteangler]

I used to own a 1994 354V... one awesome hull right there!!

[brcampbe]

This project is coming along well and is really teaching me a lot. I did the install of the recessed foot pedal tray Friday afternoon and that was interesting. It was not at all like the videos on the internet... lots of foam, fiberglass panel. But its in now and looks great. I also wet sanded, buffed, and rust remediated the entire trailer. It literally looks 20 years newer. I can't believe the difference that made. Still have some work to do fixing a couple things on the trailer. This boat is catching lots of fish!

[90bumblebee]

Nice rig!

[cat19]

Looks great!