Issue with Rod Tubes

[rosuallu]

For those with newer hulls (2017-2019) and in particular 519's, do you have to physically bend the your rods in the rod locker in order to hang them on the rod rack? I do. When I put a rod in the tube, particularly the tubes closest to the center of the boat, that's what I have to do and the rod is bent quite a bit to the point it would probably snap when hitting a wave. The tubes are pointed to the outside wall of the hull, not straight in the locker. My 2018 was sent back to Ranger for this and a plethora of other poor quality issues. They are telling me the rod tubes are fine. I say baloney. We looked at moving the rod rack to see if that was the issue; it isnt. This is my 5th Ranger and have never seen anything like this on any of them let alone any others I've seen.

Rob

[Michael49]

My 2013 only has tubes in the port compartment ..... plus I have a port console.
Yes, longer and "stiffer" rods need to be bent slightly to enter rod tube, but once in about half way, they straighten and are fine.
I am careful to store the medium and medium heavy rods in the lower tubes and the heavy rods always in the upper tubes.
Yes... it is a bit of a chore, I have (16) rods stored in (10) tubes, hung on the moose antlers and have never had a problem.

[jc2bg]

This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but I too have a 2018 Z519, and while there is a bit of bending required with some rods in some slots, what you’re describing hasn’t bothered me much. I’ve had an 8-foot one-piece rod in those port-side slots, but because there is a fair bit of bending required when putting in or taking out of the locker, nowadays I tend to put my longest rods (7+ feet) in the center locker above stowed tackle. I have Plano 3700 boxes along the sides of the center compartment, standing vertically, and more boxes or gallon ziplock bags lying horizontally beneath the rods in the middle. Occasionally I have to remove a rod to dig into tackle stored underneath, but most of the time I can reach around and get to it.

Using the 4 top slots in the center locker works great for me. I typically carry about 12 rods in the boat, so 4 in the center leaves 8 in the port locker, and having less than a full load in those racks allows me to employ a bit of spacing which makes it easier to get rods in and out. Did I find it easier to get rods in and out of the port locker in the Z520 I had prior to 2018? Absolutely. But in many other ways a 519 better suits my overall fishing methods, so I’m prepared to work a little harder to stow and deploy rods. And Lake Erie is my “home” water; no problem with rod damage in the 519. Just my experience and two cents.

[rosuallu]

This is not the same situation. I too have had to bend rods slightly to get them in. I only have 2 rods 7'6". The rest are 7' or less. What I have to do is force them into the rack. Then when they are in they dont move because they are wedged in from the bend in the rod between the tubes and the rack. I have to bend then 2-3". This is simply not normal or the ranger quality we should expect.