I took a Ranger plant tour last week while vacationing in Flippin, Arkansas. You would have to add another couple grand to the $$tag. I don't think Ranger could make a 100% hand laid boat,with how many they pump out. They can drive a bull doser on their hulls!!(but ,what about that inherently weak transom?,I think that could use a redesign! I won't go there now) There is nothing wrong with this way of making a boat, but, you should know exactly what you are getting.That way, THEY ( all manufactures ) might go the next step to improve their boats and that's a plus on our part, the buyer. (1785 Yar-Craft) From talking to Yar-Crafts production supervisor Paul Thompson,Yar-Craft builds by using woven and or mat and puts chop in-between. If I remember right, he also was talking about the injustice of calling Ranger hand laid. of Stroker commented on how it was far from a hand laid hull. Bass & Walleye showed a Ranger with 5-6 guys doing a final rollout of the bottom hull and they said that the Ranger was a hand laid hull. of one of those go fast boats (I think Stroker) Wrote a letter to Backwash. Tom,-I will try to find the letter in Bass & Walleye where a pres. Hopefully they will learn from the bass boat manufactures. Walleye boat manufactures are years behind on transom design. This is why manufactures need to over engineer their transoms. The only problem with that article is all their figures were static. In Bass & Walleye they had a article on transom stress. That will slowly take out your transom with the laminates pulling apart or sheering. ( If you have seen a Triton, they have lots of bracing) With wood, you need lots of bracing to stop any ocsillating delamination. Composite transoms need to have extra bracing to take in account the brittleness of the material. This is why manufactures need to build strong transoms. This would not happen with a composite transom. I slowly saw my motor oscillating more and more as that jackplate took out my transom. I put a jackplate on a 94 Sylvan Pro Select to try to stop a porpose problem. At least with wood, you will see your motor oscillate on holeshot and WOT before it will just ripe off the back. When a composite transom gives way, it will usually be catastrophic and without warning. ![]() ![]() So obviously I'm concerned.The Ranger has a 100% fiberglass transom. I've seen some pretty ugly pictures on websites devoted to rebuilding boats, where glass was sprayed onto stringers and didn't even cover the wood, or cracked and let water in. But I'm trying to learn how to check it over before I get to the test drive, so that I'll know what to look for. If the price is right (and I think it will be), and If I get permission, I may jump at it. I've walked around it, glanced in the baitwells and bilge, but nothing more. The hull appears to be in great shape, but I haven't done much of an inspection yet. The boat was built in the mid nineties, and I know very little about the builder, Laser Boats of Texas, other than that they built boats in Roanoke Texas, outside of Fort Worth for about a decade, and are now out of business. It wouldn't be much use in the shallows, but I live in Austin now, so I'm really looking at it as a "get by," as in, "I'm just bass fishin' to get by until I can get to salt water." He wants to sell it this fall, and I'm trying to get permission "from the boss" to buy it. You'll laugh at me for considering this.Ī neighbor has a Laser Bass boat that's gorgeous. It's all up to the builder to make sure the laminate is strong enough where it needs to be, to make sure that all the air bubbles are rolled out, to make sure the resin was catalyzed correctly yada, yada, yada. Yes, an all hand laid hull is better I suppose, but it still doesn't really guarantee it was built right. I know that doesn't really answer your question. That will burn away all the resin and leave only the glass which can be picked apart in the different layers. ![]() About the only way to really tell what kind of layup was used is to take a hole saw and cut out a plug and then have someone who knows what they are looking at to do a "burn out" on that piece. Or a very thin layer of chopped strand may be used between heavy fabrics to prevent concentrations of resin between them. Chopper guns are still used by some respected builders, but only for purposes such as to prevent the weave pattern of fabrics, like woven roving from showing on the gel coat surface. ![]() Well, if the boat is 10 to 15 years old, been used pretty hard and has no structural problems, then it probably won't develop any, no matter how it was built.
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