The folks at Ranger Boats have never been accustomed to following the pack.
The Flippin, Ark.-based company has been setting the standard for quality and precision craftsmanship in boat building for more than 35 years, and its dedication to the consumer extends far beyond its rock-solid hull, superior performance and overall handsome appearance.
Ranger has stayed with the times and prided itself in constantly upgrading its products with new features made available through a technological pool that seems to get deeper by the year. Not only are today’s bass boats more reliable, safer and more pleasing to look at than those of three decades ago, but they are also more user-friendly than ever before.
To wit, Ranger broke the mold for security and convenience in 2003 with the introduction of its new keyless ignition/digital switching system, which comes standard with any Comanche package. The keyless feature allows the owner to program a personal security code and start the engine with the simple punch of a button. Power is deactivated by killing the motor and reversing the computerized program.
But the list of new wrinkles didn’t end there.
The company beefed up its accessory line last year by incorporating a unique ratchet attachment to its popular Deluxe Boat Cover. With a few clicks of the ratchet, the cover will conform snugly to a vessel’s every curve, reducing billowing and bothersome flapping during towing.
Ranger promised to tweak its product line even more in 2004 and has followed through with a long list of innovative upgrades, many to the all-important cradle where a bass boat spends most of its life – the trailer.
“The way we see it, a boat trailer is just as important as the boat itself, because that’s where the boat is going to be most of the time,” said Keith Daffron, vice president of sales for Ranger Boats. “The improvements we’ve made this year to our RangerTrail Comanche and Fisherman Series boat trailers have made them more maintenance-free, safer and more durable against the elements.”
Perhaps the most integral addition to the trailer lines is “Road Armor,” a corrosive-resistant material that is applied to the frame of each unit before painting.
The material has historically been used by chemical companies known for storing product stockpiles in large tanks and vats. Individual storage units are lined with the material to prevent the metal from being eaten away by the corrosive components of chemical products.
So named because of its durable nature, Road Armor is to a boat trailer what the spray-in bedliner is to the bed of a pickup truck. It provides extreme protection from the elements, is resistant to rock chips and likewise extends the life of a good-looking factory paint job. It also adds some bucks to the resale value of the boat.
“Not only do scratches and chips look bad from an appearance standpoint, but they can directly lead to rust problems,” said Randy Hopper, president of Ranger. “Road Armor adheres extremely well to the surfaces of the trailer and will provide protection that lasts.”
Unlike traditional bedliner material, which goes on thick and dries extremely rough, Road Armor is sprayed in low volume and dries fairly smooth, sort of like powder coating. According to Daffron, paint bonds to the material like glue.
Another new feature exclusive to 2004 RangerTrail and Fisherman Series trailers is “LED” lighting. LED stands for the maintenance-free, light-emitting diodes that replace the traditional ground/positive connection lightbulbs that have been illuminating taillights and clearance lights for years.
“A trailer gets towed thousands of miles in all kinds of weather,” Daffron said. “The lights are beaten, banged and exposed to the elements, and the bulbs have historically gone out over time. The addition of LED lighting to our trailers will be evolutionary in solving those problems. Anglers won’t have to worry about lightbulbs going out or vibrating loose anymore.”
Daffron said the LED lighting is also much brighter than traditional bulb lighting, thus improving safety by making the trailer more visible to other motorists.
RangerTrail trailers aren’t just going to be easier to see this year. The trailers are also going to ride more smoothly thanks to the addition of torsion axles. According to Daffron, the torsion axle concept provides for four-wheel independent suspension, which allows for better traction on the road.
“The addition of the torsion axles also did away with leaf springs, which are prone to corrosion due to paint chipping that occurs during movement,” he said.
While trailer improvements highlight the list of upgrades Ranger has made for 2004, boat shoppers will also be interested to learn about a few other changes that have taken shape during the last 12 months.
• The sleek-looking Ranger 522VX, a 22-foot bass-fishing machine, has been rated for a 300-horsepower engine. Yamaha is building a motor to accommodate the rig, which marks the first time a bass boat/300 horsepower motor combination has been put into large-scale production.
• 2004-model Ranger boats are available with a CD player and a one-year free subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio.
• All Ranger 500 Series bass boats will come with a bow-mounted Garmin 240 depth finder.
• Consoles on all the new Ranger Fisherman 600 Series boats have been sculpted to accommodate more electronics typically used by the muskie/walleye crowd.
• Ranger also introduced the new Ranger 618T, a tiller version of the popular Ranger 618VS Fisherman Series. The addition of tiller steering eliminated the need for a cockpit, which provides more room for gear storage and more space for fishing.
• The Fish-n-Play market is a very progressive market, and Ranger will meet it head-on in 2004 with the addition of its 190 and 180 Series Reatas. Like the larger 210 Reata (21-4), the smaller, multipurpose hulls are built so the boats can function as fishings boat or pleasure boats equally well.