For those picking up their new 2020 Ranger FS boats - Need your feedback

[gbin]

My dealer just called and told me the truck driver hauling my boat up from Flippin, AR expects to arrive at the dealership tomorrow morning - so I figure I should send my dealer the list of issues new Ranger boat owners have reported at about the same time.

What have you got for me to put on that list?...

Gerry

[Ozark Bob]

I bet your dealer is waiting with "Bated breath". I hope you have good luck with your boat! It has been a long ride. Bob

[Mjd8284@gmail.com]

Ozark Bob. I’m not sure what you mean in your post. Could you elaborate? I’m Captain Mike and I have a 622 pro and guide on lake ozark

[Ozark Bob]

I mean, I am sure the dealer is anxiously awaiting the list and wishing Gerry luck for not having any problems with the new boat. He expected his boat in April. ???????????????

[gbin]

OK, finally time to make my contribution to this thread! As explained elsewhere, I haven't had a chance to take my new 620FS Cup out since picking it up just over two weeks ago. Very soon! (I put a few pictures of the boat there to help tide people over.)

In the meantime, I want to address a couple of things that people asked me to look at when I got the boat, and also do my part to help future FS series boat buyers by telling them what I found wrong with mine...

- Someone, I forget who (sorry), asked me to look at my rub rails to see whether Ranger did a neat job of caulking them to the hull. I went all around the boat, looking above and beneath, and yes, I'd say it's very clean in appearance everywhere. See the attached picture taken from beneath the rub rail at one of the corners to the stern. I don't think a bit of sloppy caulking underneath would ever be noticed by anyone not actually looking for such, though.

- Someone else, I forget who (sorry), asked me to take a photo of the installation of my VHF antenna, so that's attached, too. I'd say it looks very professional and is quite out of the way. Even better, the way the antenna folds down to lie beside the bow's starboard gunwale looks to be pretty out of the way, as well. I worried about that a bit and thought I might even eventually end up replacing the antenna if I thought it was a bother, but at present, anyway, I'm quite pleased with it.

My dealer's service manager found nothing wrong with my boat except that the front seats couldn't piston because they'd been secured in place (presumably for shipping) and a few connections of various kinds supposedly needed tightening. I looked everything over myself at the dealership and saw nothing wrong, but it was far too distracting with them at my elbow telling me all about this and that for me to have done a good job. The two issues that I found I discovered while I was emptying all of the compartments and really scrutinizing everything where the boat now sits in my driveway. The first is really just a cosmetic issue, but the second is potentially (but not necessarily) a functional issue as well - and yes, I'm ticked off about it.

- There's a small scuffed area on the fiberglass fender of the trailer near one of its built-in steps. It's easy to see the worst spot, which is about an inch or a bit more across and looks whitish even from a distance due to having scratches in multiple directions in one small area; just above that are some longer scratches that only go in one direction and can't be seen unless one looks closely. See the attached picture. I figure the trailer is going to get dinged up through time just from driving down the road, so I'm not too excited about this.

- There's a starburst pattern of cracks about in the middle on the bottom of the livewell. Someone - I assume at Ranger, as the dealer wouldn't have had much cause to be doing anything in there - either dropped something heavy into the open livewell or hit it right there with something hard. Worse - and THIS is what has me angry, as I understand that accidents happen - they then did a really half-a$$ed job of smearing a bit of clear sealant over a portion of the cracks. Yes, that's right, they OBVIOUSLY KNEW they damaged it, and then they did a VERY OBVIOUSLY QUICK, LOUSY job of "fixing" it. NOT COOL!!! I don't yet know whether it's going to leak water out of the livewell through the cracks into the bilge. If it does then I'll probably do a somewhat better job of sealing it with silicone, myself (I've kept aquariums for many years), to last it until the next time I visit the dealership and can have them do a good, professional repair. Even if it doesn't leak I might do this just to forestall that leak from developing sometime later, as it might be a good while before I am again in the vicinity of the dealership given that it's 4 hours away.

I promptly gave the dealer an e-mail heads-up about both issues, with photos, and don't anticipate having any trouble getting them fixed if/when I decide they need to be fixed.

So yeah, I'm miffed about the livewell issue, but overall I'd have to say that I'm extremely pleased with my new boat! Of course, I haven't yet spent hardly any time on the water with it...

Gerry

[Nate0404]

Originally Posted by gbin

OK, finally time to make my contribution to this thread! As explained elsewhere, I haven't had a chance to take my new 620FS Cup out since picking it up just over two weeks ago. Very soon! (I put a few pictures of the boat there to help tide people over.)

In the meantime, I want to address a couple of things that people asked me to look at when I got the boat, and also do my part to help future FS series boat buyers by telling them what I found wrong with mine...

- Someone, I forget who (sorry), asked me to look at my rub rails to see whether Ranger did a neat job of caulking them to the hull. I went all around the boat, looking above and beneath, and yes, I'd say it's very clean in appearance everywhere. See the attached picture taken from beneath the rub rail at one of the corners to the stern. I don't think a bit of sloppy caulking underneath would ever be noticed by anyone not actually looking for such, though.

- Someone else, I forget who (sorry), asked me to take a photo of the installation of my VHF antenna, so that's attached, too. I'd say it looks very professional and is quite out of the way. Even better, the way the antenna folds down to lie beside the bow's starboard gunwale looks to be pretty out of the way, as well. I worried about that a bit and thought I might even eventually end up replacing the antenna if I thought it was a bother, but at present, anyway, I'm quite pleased with it.

My dealer's service manager found nothing wrong with my boat except that the front seats couldn't piston because they'd been secured in place (presumably for shipping) and a few connections of various kinds supposedly needed tightening. I looked everything over myself at the dealership and saw nothing wrong, but it was far too distracting with them at my elbow telling me all about this and that for me to have done a good job. The two issues that I found I discovered while I was emptying all of the compartments and really scrutinizing everything where the boat now sits in my driveway. The first is really just a cosmetic issue, but the second is potentially (but not necessarily) a functional issue as well - and yes, I'm ticked off about it.

- There's a small scuffed area on the fiberglass fender of the trailer near one of its built-in steps. It's easy to see the worst spot, which is about an inch or a bit more across and looks whitish even from a distance due to having scratches in multiple directions in one small area; just above that are some longer scratches that only go in one direction and can't be seen unless one looks closely. See the attached picture. I figure the trailer is going to get dinged up through time just from driving down the road, so I'm not too excited about this.

- There's a starburst pattern of cracks about in the middle on the bottom of the livewell. Someone - I assume at Ranger, as the dealer wouldn't have had much cause to be doing anything in there - either dropped something heavy into the open livewell or hit it right there with something hard. Worse - and THIS is what has me angry, as I understand that accidents happen - they then did a really half-a$$ed job of smearing a bit of clear sealant over a portion of the cracks. Yes, that's right, they OBVIOUSLY KNEW they damaged it, and then they did a VERY OBVIOUSLY QUICK, LOUSY job of "fixing" it. NOT COOL!!! I don't yet know whether it's going to leak water out of the livewell through the cracks into the bilge. If it does then I'll probably do a somewhat better job of sealing it with silicone, myself (I've kept aquariums for many years), to last it until the next time I visit the dealership and can have them do a good, professional repair. Even if it doesn't leak I might do this just to forestall that leak from developing sometime later, as it might be a good while before I am again in the vicinity of the dealership given that it's 4 hours away.

I promptly gave the dealer an e-mail heads-up about both issues, with photos, and don't anticipate having any trouble getting them fixed if/when I decide they need to be fixed.

So yeah, I'm miffed about the livewell issue, but overall I'd have to say that I'm extremely pleased with my new boat! [IMG class=inlineimg]https://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/IMG] Of course, I haven't yet spent hardly any time on the water with it... [IMG class=inlineimg]https://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif[/IMG]

Gerry

That live well damage and the attempted fix would really piss me off, do you think it happened at the dealer?

[gbin]

Originally Posted by Nate0404

That live well damage and the attempted fix would really piss me off, do you think it happened at the dealer?

I suspect it happened at Ranger. Can't imagine why the dealer would have been messing around in there whereas Ranger was installing all kinds of things all over the place. But there's of course no way to know for sure. I've already decided to simply let go of my anger (well, I'm working on it, anyway), fix it myself over the short term if it seems necessary and then have the dealer fix it properly when next I visit them whether it seems necessary or not.

Gerry

[Hat Trick]

That livewell damage would have me hot as well!