Gerry

Cowanjo, I imported my Ranger, bought it in Indiana. Had to get a warranty claim about 1 year later....no problems. But, if you are transferring a warranty, Ranger want you to take it to a dealer for inspection before they'll agree to the transfer. I believe it cost me $100 for the inspection.

Cancer touches us all. Your wife's prognosis sounds good. Here's hoping all goes well.

In my opinion and experience, a 4 stroke kicker is a must if you want to troll at speeds of below 2.5mph. The simple revolution of a big prop with advance the boat too fast for walleye fishing. The statement about loss of control with a kicker is hogwash. I have never encountered this problem. Loss of control will come with dragging drift socks with the big motor....tried it and never doing that again. It's true that the big 2 strokes don't like to run at idle speeds for long periods. In fact the manufacturers actually do recommend that you refrain from doing so. Get a 9.9 4-stroke kicker and you'll be happy. The $5,000 price tag is out to lunch, should be more like $3,500 or less.

Float, You're friend is blowing smoke up your ###.

I've owned a boat with an onboard charger for the past 20+ years and I've never unplugged the trolling motor......that would be a major pain in the butt for me. I've had a Lund proV with a 24V trolling motor, a Triton with a 24V, and the current boat being a Ranger with a 36V. The trolling motor stays plugged in and so does the onboard charger when the boat is in my garage.....even over the winter months.

Absolutely right Musky, it is an illness that can be treated....most of the time. Has nothing to do with being "wealthy and unhappy". Very sad to see such talent lost.

Had one in my 2007 Nissan Altima 3.5L and I loved it. I put approx. 130K kms on it and never had an issue. It took some getting used to not feeling gear changes but that was it. As for fuel economy, I can't say because I would need to drive one with regular tranny to compare. I'm now back to a car with a regular tranny and I miss the CVT.

Like Lew says, probably something pressing against or shorting the bow switch. Had that happen to me when fishing a bass tournament on Lake St. Clair. It was a nasty day that day and I took a few large waves over the bow on my bassboat. Then suddenly, my trim wouldn't stop and had to depress the up switch on the main throttle lever to stop it. Ended Had to wrap some duct tape around the switch for the ride in. When we got to shore I realized that water shorted the bow switch. BTW, duct tape is quite useful on board.

Radical......I like it. But, will they improve the quality issues.

My 2006 Ranger came with a 4 bank Dual Pro. Prior to the Ranger I had a Triton and it came with a Dual Pro.....had that boat for 6+ years. And before the Triton I had a Lund ProV and it also had a Dual pro. That one was replaced free when something went wrong with it after 4 years of use.

The thing with tow vehicles is not the pulling abbilities, its the stopping and controlling in evasive maneuvers. I once had a Lund ProV 1800 with a 150HP weighing approx. 2700 lbs and towed witha Ford Explorer V8, 2x4. I had 2 incidents with this that tought me a valuable lessen......if you tow something heavy, tow it with somwething heavy. The 1st incident involved the inability to stop. Here I was driving and sort of daydreaming and come up to a 4 way stop. Although I was late in applying the brakes I thought that I had plenty of time and space. Well let me tell you that my boat felt like I had a freight train hooked up at that moment and it pushed me through the interesection....luckily I didn't hit anyone or anyhting. From that moment I decided that I will never have a boat without its own set of brakes. My 2nd inciednt occured when I launched on a sandy beach, again with the Lund. When it came time to pull out I had to back in to where the rear wheels were half submerged. The rear wheels spun and I sunk in to the axle.....had to get towed out. From that moment I decided the 2x4 Explorer had to go. I had a 3rd incident with this rig. Thisd happened while driving on Hwy11 south of North Bay when this idiot decided to pull out in fron of me. I could not avoid hitting him unless i swerved into the left lane. When I did this the boat again became 4 times heavier and it decided it didn't necessarily want to follow me. It greatly increased the turn that I intended to make to avoid the accident and I almost lost control. So here again my Explorer wasn't heavy enough. The rig that you are looking at 1700 lbs might be OK with a mid-size SUV.....i.e the new Pilots, Jeep Cherokee. A 4x4 may not be necessary if the ramp you intend to use is a good one and that you will only be using it in warmer weather.....i.e no ice and snow. I've have had 4x4s ever since I got rid of the Explorer 2x4 and althought they are less fuel efficient, they are necessary for me. Hope this helps.

That is horse manure.

A Ranger R80 with a 150 Opti isn't too heavy so any full size pickup with a V6 will handle it adequately. Before buying my 2012 F150 5.0L, I test drove the Ecoboost and I was impressed with the power. The boosters don't make it more efficient, in fact the opposite is true, but the power they provide to a small block is awesome. The torque felt the same as the V8. I didn't buy it only because they wanted $2K more for what I felt was no advantage over the V8.....same gas mileage.....from what I hear from friends who have them.

They should make a new movie about the Ford brothers and name it Dumb and Dumber. Oh wait.....that's already been done....sorry.

Charging them independently is best. As for the cranking battery, I know that my Mercury Optimax's computer has a constant draw on the battery, as does the GPS antenna. So, if you park the boat for a long period, i.e. 6-8 weeks you may have a dead battery when you get to the launch. I don't know what make of motor that you have but if has an ECM (i.e computer) then it probably does the same thing. I have a 4 bank DualPro unit on my boat and it does what it's supposed to do.....plug it and forget it. I've had DualPros for 10-12 years, on 3 different boats and they've never failed.

Is it yellow in colour? I think it's the brand that tried to imitate the Honda and Honda obtained a world wide court order for them to stop selling. In fact the order was so broad that it ordered all dealers to remove them from their inventory. Although they were Honda clones, the quality was poor. Your friend might now have another boat anchor.

Not likely.....perhaps to charge a cell phone battery.....and that's if you have direct sunlight for a week. For a 12 V lead acid, deep cycle battery you'll need 2, 2' x 4' premium panels (not those at Can Tire). This will give you approx. 150 watts and it will still take a week of quality sunlight to charge your battery from half level.

Wayne, I haven’t posted previously in response to this thread…..only because I don’t know what to say. I am now, because I feel so terrible for what you, and especially your daughter, have been going through. I am also amazed at the resilience that your daughter has, along with yourself and your family. Your energy and positive attitude are of great benefit to all of you.Your wife and you are burning that candle at both ends right now, so be careful. Your daughter’s well being has been on my mind ever since your first posting appeared. I wish and pray for a complete recovery. Take care.

I'm heading up north next week. Can you tell me how bad the flies are?

I'm also visiting the Maritimes in August....I'll be visiting my brother who lives in northern NB. It's been 20 years since visiting PEI and the Cabot trail, so we're going there also. Halifax is also a nice place to visit, Citadel hill has a lot of history, and the harbourfront is gorgeous.

Bowslayer, Like someone mentioned, the price in the US is $900. That's where I got mine and what I paid. The $75 prep charge in the ad that you mention is a joke. All they do is unpack it, put oil and a bit of fuel in it. It might be worth the drive if you're saving $536.75 ($475 + 13%).

The quietest would be the Honda, the Yamaha a close 2nd. The Champion is cheaper but way, way louder. A noisy generator is extremely annoying. I own 2 Honda's, the 2000 watts and a 3800 watts. I would want to check closely to see that the 2000 will power your A/C.

I always believed that if the bottle is unopened you're OK. Gosh, I do it all the time......taking a bottle of wine to a friends house for dinner. I will ask my daughter, who happens to be in law enforcement.

Better get a compression check on the motor. Those VROs' (variable ratio oiling system) were notorious for not working properly and depriving the middle cylinder (3 cylinder motors) of proper oiling. This was particularly bad with the 60Hp and 70HP. I would like to know if the VRO has been disconnected, which is probable and preferrable, and how many times the motor has been re-built.

Bassboats are by their very nature, flat hull vessels. The flat hull is what makes them faster but also render them rougher rides....they're all the same with some slight differences. I owned a 21' Triton and had it for 6 years. Before it I owned an 18' Lund ProV, and now own the Ranger 620 that you see here. I was in the bass torunament scene for 8 or so years and had the opportunity to ride in many boats, including a few Nitros'. A word of caution....if you think that you can run a boat, any boat, at 70 MPH in 3 foot waves, then you will be destroying your boat and yourself with it. And you will be dissapointed because that just doesn't happen. Nitro is a good boat as are many others. What sets one apart from others is the slight design differences to the hull and interior setups. Hull design will make a boat run faster (in calm conditions) than another, but at the sacrifice of something else. Everything is a compromise with boating. What makes a boat run faster is by putting less hull in the water. The more hull that lifts out of the water the faster your rig will run, but at the cost of stability, i.e. chine walk. My Triton would run faster with the motor set higher on the transom, but that came at the price of losing 'bite; in rough water. Most bassboats need a hydraulic jackplate so as to make that adjustment on the fly. My take on Nitro is that it is a rougher ride than Ranger, or Triton, or Champion. etc. The Ranger is the slowest but also the most comfortable, the Triton was somewhere in between. Some boats are more expensive than others, but that is usually for a reason....they use heavier materials and are built better and stronger. So, as you see, another tradeoff....lower price equals cheaper materials and thus lower quality which might not show up right away but trust me, it will if you run them hard. If you take very good care of a cheaper boat, it will probably serve you well.