Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
Those of you who have followed the speed saga of my Ranger 200C
Sportfisher, it has now entered a new chapter.

I got this idea to weigh the boat/motor/trailer fully rigged with
T-top, full fuel/oil/batteries and trolling motor on a certified
scale.

It weighed:

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

5,000 lbs.

Which is 500 lbs over the trailer rating which is 4500 lbs.

Which means that the boat is about 1,000 to 1,200 lbs over weight all
by it's lonesome.

Which goes a long way to explaining why I can't get past 50 even with
the new E-TEC.

Now I need to find out why.

And why I didn't think of that five years ago. :)

You primary problem is easily solved by hanging a 300HP Yamaha HDPI off
the stern.

The other problems are only relevant if you get into a accident on the
road while towing it.

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

Those of you who have followed the speed saga of my Ranger 200C
Sportfisher, it has now entered a new chapter.

I got this idea to weigh the boat/motor/trailer fully rigged with
T-top, full fuel/oil/batteries and trolling motor on a certified
scale.

Is this the same boat you were bragging about it's gs
mileage a while back? Have you ever measured the fuel
consumption of the tow vehicle?

"Heavy" always costs.


Which means that the boat is about 1,000 to 1,200 lbs over weight all
by it's lonesome.


That's a lot.


Bert Robbins wrote:
You primary problem is easily solved by hanging a 300HP Yamaha HDPI off
the stern.


That's a smart answer.

Anyway, the issue could be one of waterlogged flotation. Not
all foam is created equal and lots and lots (and lots &
lots) of boats have been built with foam that will absorb
water. But it can also be dried out. You may have to cut
some access and aim a heat gun into the voids (flotation
spaces).

Another likelihood is that the boat was built overweight.
Almost all production fiberglass boats are built with more
glass and way more resin... it's cheaper than the labor to
do proper lay-ups. Plus I think the fumes make the workers
think it's funny to just glob the stuff in there. The result
is hulls/decks that are weaker & heavier than designed, and
a great reason why cored construction has such a poor
reputation.

I've known of 15' sailboat hulls that were supposed to weigh
120lbs as designed, and would support a truck if built as
designed, to come out weighing 300lbs and oilcan like crazy.

Fiberglass is awesome engineering material, but like
anything else, it takes good workmanship to produce a good
product. And it's lot cheaper to buy advertising to convince
people of it's "high quality" than it is to actually build
it that way, the more so sincemost people will never notice
the difference.

Gee that turned into a rant, didn't it? Sorry.

Fair Skies
Doug King

With respect to the boats fuel mileage, I have no complaints at all -
it's pretty efficient engine. I can only wonder what it will be once
the weight is off.

Pleasantly surprised!

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
As to the tow vehicle, it's a diesel and I haven't noticed any change
in fuel mileage while towing - it's rated for 10K lbs anyway, so that
shouldn't be an issue.


OK... 2x overkill must be a great feeling of confidence


I have had issues with trailer braking which could be explained very
easily by the extra weight. Plus the top end and odd planning
behavior with the short leg FICHT.

However, in this case, I've got to believe that something went screwy
somewhere because Ranger builds a hell of a boat. I've owned several
and know a ton of bass types who have never had a hull problem or
flotation problem.


Well, is being 10% to 20% over weight going be a problem for
very many people? Most probably would never notice; it
sounds like your boat may be pushing 40% over weight, which
probably includes both waterlogging and "extra" fiberglass.


Ranger does use closed cell foam and the technique is very similar to
the way Boston Whaler does it - in fact, I believe it's the same foam
- I could be wrong on that.

OK, maybe it's just water getting into the voids... or maybe
it's all "extra" fiberglass. Was it always like this?




Be interesting to see what happens.

Yes, please keep us posted. I have little idea which
motorboat builders do what kind of work- except for
Fountain, who has an awesome plant, very skilled & motivated
workers... I was offered a job there years ago, at least
half in jest... should have taken it up but then I'd be
forever labelled as "that sailor who works at Fountain" and
who needs that?

DSK

I have had issues with trailer braking which could be explained very
easily by the extra weight. Plus the top end and odd planning
behavior with the short leg FICHT.



Ranger does use closed cell foam and the technique is very similar to
the way Boston Whaler does it - in fact, I believe it's the same foam
- I could be wrong on that.



Tom, the Scituate, MA harbormaster had a serious problem with a waterlogged
Whaler a few years ago.
From talking to a couple of the guys up there, the boat had been slowly
losing speed over a couple of years and was handling poorly, despite being
repowered. I don't know what year the boat was, but my guess is that it was
a early '90s model. It actually sat low in the water and when they hauled
it and put it on a trailer, sections of the hull stayed wet ... never dried
.... even when left high and dry for weeks.

The last I heard about this was that Boston Whaler had refused to fix it and
the issue had become a ****ing contest. I'll ask what happened the next
time I visit up there.

Eisboch