1986 Ranger 373V Complete Restoration

[North Texas Fiberglass]

Ok guys,

We've been working on a 1986 Ranger 373v. Here's what this boat is going to have done.


Complete Topcap Refinish, with color changes
It will be White, silver pinstripes, and red (or Burgandy) Ranger arrows.
New Transom
New Carpet
New Dash Panel
Sides of the hull and stern of the boat will be completely refinished and color changed
Complete trailer restoration, paint, bunks, fenders, ect.
New Power Steering System

So I will post pictures as we go along. However, it is going to be weeks before we are done with this project.

But I wanted to give you guys an idea of what goes into something like this.

Price???? Just so I don't have to answer and email from every BBC'r who sees this post, final price is yet to be completely determined. Owner of the boat keeps adding things to the list, like yesterday he added a new power steering to the project.

But right now, this is going to come in between $15,000 and $18,000!!!!

So you really have to appreciate how much some people lover their boats!













We will be completing the transom next week or so.
More photos to follow later.

[Stein]

This will be a fun project to follow.

[luvdmymerc]

Are you going to rebuild the Mariner too???

[North Texas Fiberglass]

The Mariner is in vintage shape with absolutely no scratches on it. The boat was running like a sewing machine when it was brought in for the new face lift. So we are not doing anything to the motor other than buffing it out when re-installed.

[Bass Ackwards]

This is going to be a good thread to watch, Thanks for sharing with us Michael!

[JoePA]

This is going to be good!!!

Michael,
Would the price be any cheaper if he didn't do a complete color change? I was thinking about getting this done to my boat last year but when I called Ranger and the price I got I damn near fell of the chair! I wasn't changing color. Just wanted some screw holes down the side of the hull filled and fix the battle scars and the price was almost what your charging this guy and he's getting a WHOLE lot more!

So mine next right!!?? Looks good and can't wait to see the finished product.


Joe

[cart7]

Please show details on that transom repair. I've never seen anyone just chop the cap out like that for the transom replacement. I'm interested in how you patch the thing back together.

[Skeet'r89]

Mike cheated. Thats the easy way. He sould have removed the top cap just for fun. I am sure he has some tricks for repairing that cut out. I wish the wood in my transom looked that good when I took it apart. I think i would have to concider purchasing a newer boat if I was going to put 15-18K in an existing ride.

[stratos22ssextreme]

Thank you for posting this...

[North Texas Fiberglass]

Joe,

One reason why it is priced the way it is, is due to the fact we are changing colors. Where the red flake was originally on the boat, we are changing the color to base white. That is going to save about 50-60 hrs of labor. Where the boat has the light plue pinstripes and the dark blue metal flake, we are changing it to silver pins and red flake. I wanted to do as little flake work as possible to keep the $$$ down.

If we had to do it completely in factory colors, it would cost in excess of $25,000 for this job!!!!


Cart & Skeeter,

On a Ranger or Basscat, due to the way they are put together, you will destroy the boat decapping it. The floatation foam "glues" the hull and top cap together and it is virtually impossible to seperate the two.

When you decap a boat, it is like doing open heart surgery. You have to cut the floor out of the boat, and the top cap will be glassed down in areas like the rod boxes, storage boxes, and the transom. So to decap most boats, you cut about 40 linear feet of fiberglass. Doing it this way saves a tremendous amount of work and saves the customer about $1500 on the transom job.

I will show the pics of the splash well going back together and how we reinforce it.

However, I will add a disclamer at this point. Cutting a boat apart is not for amateurs. You can severely damage the boat if you do not know where to cut or put it back together properly, this includes the engine falling off the boat! So if you don't know what you are doing, you can cause irreversible damage to your boat!

My personal boat is a 1999 203 Champion. I bought it back from the insurance company after they totaled it. We cut the back end off, replaced the transom, hung a brand new 225 Pro XS off it, and have been running it for a year now without any problems.

[Rollo331]

guys notice in the last pic of the new transom board.it appears he drilled a line of holes across the board to let resin come out...
that is very important so when he put it in and clamped it tight it pushes the resin out them holes..what he is doing is making sure it has no voids behind the transom board..if you do it will be weak and a great place to start to rot...

good pics i am just blown away at the prices you are able to fetch.....

[North Texas Fiberglass]

It is actually just getting an idea of what the customer wants, giving them realistic expectations, and showing them areas we can save them money. Example, doing the transom now saved about $1500-2000 in extra labor later on. We saw some dark stains coming out of the stern eyes, so knew there was a rot issue. No use doing a refinish if it is just going to be ruined later. Lots of shops would let the transom go, and just wait for the boat to come back in later on, knowing the customer will bring it back to them, especially if they did the custom refinish work.

I will post more pics in a few days.

[cart7]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by North Texas Fiberglass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">......


Cart & Skeeter,

On a Ranger or Basscat, due to the way they are put together, you will destroy the boat decapping it. The floatation foam "glues" the hull and top cap together and it is virtually impossible to seperate the two.

When you decap a boat, it is like doing open heart surgery. You have to cut the floor out of the boat, and the top cap will be glassed down in areas like the rod boxes, storage boxes, and the transom. So to decap most boats, you cut about 40 linear feet of fiberglass. Doing it this way saves a tremendous amount of work and saves the customer about $1500 on the transom job.

I will show the pics of the splash well going back together and how we reinforce it.

However, I will add a disclamer at this point. Cutting a boat apart is not for amateurs. You can severely damage the boat if you do not know where to cut or put it back together properly, this includes the engine falling off the boat! So if you don't know what you are doing, you can cause irreversible damage to your boat!

My personal boat is a 1999 203 Champion. I bought it back from the insurance company after they totaled it. We cut the back end off, replaced the transom, hung a brand new 225 Pro XS off it, and have been running it for a year now without any problems.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, I'm well aware that my Champ's top cap is fused to the hull. Fortunately I only have some rot on the upper portion of the transom and am probably going to seacast the thing to repair it.
I'm more curious on the process if you were to not be changing the deck color and how you would color match the cut out joint on a boat where the top cap color has that many years of aging.

Keep it coming, this should be very interesting.

[North Texas Fiberglass]

Just sent you a PM.

As far as your Champion. What we normally do on Champs, is cut the splash well out, and then when it comes time to refinish, we will match the primary color of the boat with normal gelcote vs. flake. If you boat is primary white, when we refinish the splash well white. But we tape it off and break all the lines very nicely.

If the boat is a colored metal flake like blue, red, ect. You would have two choices. Solid color Gelcote that matches the primary color of the boat, or black. Black splashwells actually look very good on a metal flake boat.

But call me before you go the other route.




Modified by North Texas Fiberglass at 10:47 AM 1/2/2007

[Skeet'r89]

I guess my old Skeeter came apart pretty easy compared to some others. There were only a few places bonded together. The console area and bench seat base, the bottom of a storage box just ahead of the console step and the transom section of the splash well, and of course 250 rivets to attach the top cap to the hull.

[Ritchie]

Thanks for posting and sharing your lessons! Rollo, thanks for the explanation of the holes... got mine tore down now and need to learn all the tips I can.

[Slippy]

i have to give prop's to someone that would be willing to put that kind of money into a older boat. At the same time it seems like not the greatest investment. I would have bought a newer boat instead of putting the $$ into this one.

[DR Stratos]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slippy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">At the same time it seems like not the greatest investment. I would have bought a newer boat instead of putting the $$ into this one. </TD></TR></TABLE>


Not sure why you even wasted the bandwith with the above post.... I reread the entire post several times and I don't recall where someone ask about investment advise.


Anyway - anymore updates or pictures.

[Will I Am]

update?

[North Texas Fiberglass]

Sorry for the delay, but this is going to be a long project. Here is the latest. Transom is completely in, and top cap is going on in the next couple of days.