391V and 391XT

[headhigh]

What is the difference between a 391V and a 391XT?

[Jeff Hahn]

If memory serves, the 391V was the original model designation. When the 400 series boats came out, Ranger designated the older 300 models as XT versions. So, the only difference would be the year of the boat, with the XT's being a year or more newer than the original 391V...I think.

[buster502]

i was thinking the xt was more of a tournament boat series with bucket seats vs a bench in 391v its been a long time

[ericm]

Jeff's got it! The 300 series was extremely popular and Ranger didn't want to discontinue after the 400 series came out. The "XT" was just a re-branding of sorts.

[gonnabe]

The 391v was a basic boat that you added options too. The 354xt, 374xt, and 391xt were packaged boats that came with petty much everything you would need on a boat at that timeframe.

[headhigh]

Thanks for the info guys. I was asking because I'm looking to possibly buy a 1994. It has RANGER 391V logo's on it, but the hull plate says 391X. It has the nice bench seat, but it's on a single axle trailer....which isn't a problem, since the hull only weighs 1325 lbs.

[buster502]

be nice if it has the factory deck extension in it,nice boats just a tad narrow by today standards,the still get a lot of looks like a 361

[headhigh]

No deck extension, but I intend to make one for it.

[STRETCH1]

The XT were package boats. The V you can add any option or color you want. The V generally is better because it is not a package boat with limited color choices.

[Ranger391v]

So in 2001 I bought a '94 Ranger 391v from a really good friend of 'Jeff Hahn' (who posted above) here in SC from Marshall's Marine. It had a factory rigged '93 Johnson 200 GT Venom (that was the first year of the Venom motor, yet they still had GT graphics on the Venom cowl). It would turn a 24" Raker 6000rpm's for 68-69mph with 2 people loaded to fish. At the time, I was really into getting those 390/391/392 hulls to run and made many different friends with these hulls while trying to help them with theirs too. To this day, I still have the Ranger brochure from 1994. That boat was probably one of the best boats I've owned. It was a great 'trolling motor down to fish' boat, super stable. I sold it to a friend of mine back home and to my knowledge he still runs that boat (repowered with a Evinrude HO).

Like said above by some of the other guys, the 391v was a Comanche Series boat. Typically they will have a nicer color scheme to them. They will also have all the bells and whistles for that given period in time. You will find most of them on a tandem axle trailer, but occasionally they will be on a single axle, probably a 5:1 ratio based on my findings. With that said, I once had two buddies who swapped trailers since they both had 390/391/392 hulls but each other wanted the other person's axle count for different reasons. Bench seats were considered the nice seat back then for the 300-Series boats. In 1994, Ranger had been came out with the 400-Series boats for about 3yrs then (both a 400-Series 'VS' which meant it had the setback transom and the 400-Series 'V' which had a normal transom) and still produced the 391v (as well as a few other 300-Series V boats) as a Comanche Series just like all the 400's. Their 'budget boat' at that time were older version 300-Series layout boats (like the 375v, 383v, 390v) and they designated them the 'Apache Series', which had the 'upside-down hull stripes' typically but not always.

In the later years (like somewhere around 1996'ish), Ranger was still selling some of their really popular 300-Series hulls and hated to get rid of them (like the 361 and 391). Thus they then took the 361 & 391 and made them their 'budget boat' and dropping the 'Apache' line and boats previously used in that line. Then by 'packaging' these 361/391/etc and giving them the 'XT' designation they made them the new budget line. These boats still had the same features (if memory serves me correct) but those bells and whistles of years past are now considered modern day standard features. The XT Series was kinda the beginning of pre-chosen color schemes, this was to minimize cost. Also, my experience with 391XT is that about 50% were on a single axle trailer. These 'XT' boats would later be replaced the the 'R-Sport' Series hulls.

Speed and performance ....... guys were getting the exact same ballpark speeds out of both boats, no difference there, depending on motor. Big block 200's did perform better on these hulls. This was about the time everybody was figuring out that big block 200's made a big difference on heavier hulled boats. With that said, though the 391v was considered a heavy hull back then at an advertised 1335lb ....... by today's weights, she's pretty light.

Sorry this turned out way longer than I hoped ............ but THANKS for the trip down memory lane for me at least. Just wished it had Uncle Josh pork, Deep Wee R's and MoonPie's and it would have been complete. LOL!!!

Hope it helps.
-391v

[ericm]

No deck extension, but I intend to make one for it.

You might want to call Ranger. I thought someone on here posted that they had bought a deck extension from Ranger for an old 361-V?

[Trickyrick]

Yes you can call ranger and get a deck extension. I have decided to only do mine 2/3 as long so there is still room to sit and be in front of the consoles. I will say the larger engines do really make a difference I had a Venom on mine and that was good but I dropped the G2 on her and ohhh my gawd this thing is amazing and the handling is crazy stable.

[buster502]

i am sure ranger no longer makes the deck extension,i was told by ranger the molds was lost when they had a fire one time,that was on a 361 boat