Thread: Rigging the Ranger

looks great buddy. awesome job all around

More electrical work:

To maintain the cranking battery and isolate it from potential electrical interference of the trolling motor system, I went with a single bank 6amp Minn Kota charger MK106D. It fit nicely in the compartment behind the drivers seat. I attached it using 3/4” stainless self-tapping screws x 4.



Charging leads attached and wires cleaned up with zip ties. To reach this trolling battery I needed 6-7 more feet on one of my banks. The factory Minn Kota extension kit is15’ long, so a little cable cutting, splicing and heat shrinking and it’s good to go.


Port side battery compartment cleaned up after tucking away excess charging leads and installing a few cable ties.

Tracks:

My last aluminum boat had a built in track system in the gunnels that allowed for great versatility in rod holder and accessory placement, the fiberglass boat does not. To accommodate my preference of trolling from the sides of my boat versus straight off the stern, I found a solution on walleye/salmon boats that I’ve seen up north. Gunnel or rail mounted tracks made from extruded aluminum are available from companies such as Bert’s, Traxtech, Cisco and Cannon. Bert’s Custom Tackle is probably the most widely-recognized names in these track systems but I went with Cisco Fishing Systems as all edges on their rail products are chamfered with no sharp edges on the product at all. They’re a family-run business based out of Cleveland. A couple of calls to them to pick their brains gave me an idea of which direction I needed to go. For my application I landed on a 36” track to give me 3’ of horizontal adjustability on each side.





There is no access to the underside of the Ranger gunnels so directly mounting to the pultrusion material in the top cap with screws was recommended by the Ranger factory customer service folks. I covered the gunnels with blue painters tape to prevent scratching as I positioned the racks. Once they were where I wanted them, I taped them to the boat with more painters tape to prevent moving while I drilled some holes. I marked my holes with a pen and then an awl. Initial holes were made through the gel coat with the bit in reverse, then advanced forward to the desired depth. With the tracks and tape removed, a 1/2” countersink bit was used to prevent gel coat cracking at the screw insertion sites.

The gunnels and back of the tracks were cleaned thoroughly with denatured alcohol to remove any contaminants. Fast Cure 5200 was then applied to all 8 screw holes and then a bead ran down the center of the track. Extreme caution was taken not to get this crap on anything else because it’s close to impossible to remove from most surfaces, even before curing. With the track laid down over the holes, the #14 stainless self tapping screws were tightened down and excess 5200 cleaned up with acetone. The fast cure 5200 has a complete cure time of 24 hours so tomorrow I will get the rod holders mounted to the tracks.

Looking good buddy.

Looks good.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Boat is looking good. You will really like it when running 10 miles down the middle of Kentucky Lake on a windy day. It is great that you can put it together they way you want it. You will like it much better. Plus that is fun work.

Looking good!

SI Transducer Install:

This boat appears to have had at least two different skimmer tranducers mounted on the transom at points in the past due to siliconed screws and the fact that they’re not still installed didn’t give me a great amount of confidence in mounting my Humminbird HDSI transducer where the screws were. In consulting several walleye guys with similar hulls, I elected to mount it under the setback/step for off-plane SI/DI imaging.

Not being one that likes drilling holes in a perfectly good boat, I mounted a Stern Saver transducer mounting block on the step with the supplied epoxy and let it cure for 24 hours:


Then I played around with the HDSI bracket, adding and removing different washers until I came up with the configuration that allowed me to tighten it in position I needed. The bracket is meant to be mounted on a vertical surface, not from above as I’m doing. But I’ve seen photos of it done successfully so I knew that it’s possible. Secured bracket with 1/2” stainless screws. (Excess painters tape to be removed at a later date)


I routed the cable up and over the jackplate to a pre-existing slot cutout that is under the star it’s side access panel. Not ideal, but it will work for now. Cables secured with Humminbird cable clips that I added to a few of the factory screws holding the black stern trim in place with a dab of Marine grade silicone on the threads. I also added a few cable clips purchased on Amazon that attached with industrial 3M double sided tape, so I cleaned the surfaces with denatured alcohol and firmly pressed them into place.




Test shot from today of a submerged KY Lake bridge: