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Thread: New boat

  1. #1
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    Default New boat


    Hi everyone. I was looking about getting a new boat and I'm thinking about one of the following. I mostly fish in small to medium sized lakes and rivers. Any suggestions are welcomed. Thank you.

    Ranger Boats RT188C

    Ranger Boats RB200

  2. #2
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    Micanopy is offline Crappie.com 1K Star General * Crappie.com Supporter
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    I looked into the RB 200 when I was going through the process. I say get the bay boat.


    I would consider:

    You are not far from some interesting places, and even though you say small lakes and rivers, the intracoastal is right near by. The bassboat will have issues there. Not with the waterway itself, rather the large powerboats that send off huge wakes. The bay boat can go in the intracoastal though and do just fine.

    If you plan to take more than one guest, the bay boat will be more accommodating to seating.

    Each boat has plenty of storage for fishing gear. Each can be setup to troll pulling or pushing.

    The dealer nearest you has a couple of Rangers but mostly sells Tidewater boats ($$$). I understand that it is a tough time to be getting a new boat as everyone blames the flu for not having product. I was told that I would be waiting until May to get an engine for a new boat sitting on a dealer’s lot. You might find that ordering your boat will take a while. Be sure to look into availability as it may change your mind.

    Kind of hard to choose a boat without ever being able to sit on it. Getting on the boat and spending a half an hour playing around is important to making sure the boat is a good fit. If you are set upon a Ranger, I recommend driving to the one you want. I drove to Tampa and Deland and Orlando looking at boats. Eliminated all of my top five list that was based on internet sites. Each fell away due to something or another I didn’t like. No boat will be 100% perfect for you, but surely there is one that will be 90% what you want. You are going to live with it for any number of years and those will be good or the boat will stay in the yard.

    I think I made a good choice when I bought the 20 foot Xpress bay boat. I took it up a creek that was about five feet wide and a foot deep by lifting the trolling motor up and the boat brought my wife along nicely behind. We made it into the Black Lagoon which only kayakers access. I was amazed. We plan to run the intracoastal and catch mullet and flounder. Explore the St Johns and find springs and catch shrimp and crabs. Pull tubes in Summer. Scallop in the Gulf. Do this and that and so I picked a boat that could do all those things. When we ride around and when we fish we almost never bump into one another. I set her up with a nest on the back and she reads while I fiddle and fight my experiments. Plenty of room no matter what we choose to do. Very happy that I didn’t get a bass boat or a fiberglass bay boat.

    Ranger made a great name for themselves, but times change and I read a lot about how problems with the various boats get addressed. Dealers blame manufacturers and manufacturers claim they never make mistakes. Ranger is part of the White River Marine Group now and you will definitely want to look into all of this before going with a $30,000 purchase. The dealer looks aggressive to me so make sure he doesn’t push you into the boat he wants you to have. Take your dear sweet time and it is OK to be an unfriendly customer.
    Maybe they will bite this one……
    Likes Tradbow, Redge, skeetbum LIKED above post

  3. #3
    Tradbow is offline Crappie.com 1K Star General * Crappie.com Supporter
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    I went thru the boat buying process three years ago and ended up with an Xpress. Fit my needs very well

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    Thank you guys for the info. I guess I just like the lay out of the Ranger boats but I still have time I'll keep looking. I was leaning more towards the RB200 for the intracoastal use as the boat I have now is only a 15' with a 40 hp on it and 36 yrs old it's not made for that. Again thank you.

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    Man if I lived in Fl I would certainly go with the bay boat. Seems like a no brainer to me.

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    Redge is offline Crappie.com Legend - 2017 Man Of The Year
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grainraiser View Post
    Man if I lived in Fl I would certainly go with the bay boat. Seems like a no brainer to me.
    X2!


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  7. #7
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    skeetbum is offline Crappie.com Legend - Moderator Jig Tying Forum
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    I have a 17’ Carolina skiff, my first center console. Not a lot of extra room but my wife doesn’t get in the boat, period, so I need enough to fish two of us and after that it’s all gravy. You’re on the right track, looking a lot before you buy. The sitting in the boat for a while is spot on. You can’t judge a boat standing alongside of it, or looking at pictures. Storage, live wells, quality of the wiring and layout of it are all high on my list.
    Creativity is just intelligence fooling around

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    I have a RT178. After all the stupid little things that were wrong with it when I picked it up I would not buy another ranger. It's really sad, Ranger has been a top shelf boat for many years and now there a cheaply made. That being said, I like the stability, decent ride for that style boat. Seats are nice, live well has way to many functions, the latches on compartments are cheap, rod box is a little small. Mine is not the c model so I have good storage. Because it was a package in the showroom it came with a merc 60 4 stroke. Awesome motor, quiet, starts good, easy on fuel but I believe its a little light on performance. This boat max hp is 75, surprised by that, my old alumacraft was a few inches smaller and it was 90

  9. #9
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    M R Dux is offline Crappie.com Legend , 2018 Crappie.com Man of the Year * Crappie.com Supporter * Member Sponsor
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    Don't buy until you look at an Excel Bay Pro 203. Fast, built like a tank, and reasonably priced.

    Excel Boats
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  10. #10
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    Give the Lund boats a look too. Fantastic boats for shallow water and big waves. Wide and comfortable with great stability. The bigger the better but all models are well built. Pricey but you’ll get what you pay for. They’re built to last and has great trade in value if you ever want to go bigger.

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