08-22-2016, 09:45 PM
So, in 1984, my good friend Rick, purchased a brand new, Ranger 373 from Robertsen's Marine. What was unique about this boat was that it was all white, no metal flake. He special ordered it that way, thinking that the upkeep would be easier. He had state of the art Hummingbird Depth finders, a 12/24 volt Johnson electric on the front, and a Johnson GT150 V6 motor. It was the cat's meow and really great to fish out of.
Several years down the road, he was forced to sell it. He was no longer fishing tournaments at the time and the cost and upkeep were not conducive to family life. He had 3 daughters that took a great deal of his time and he decided family was more important, so he sold it.
Fast forward to about 2 months ago. He was checking KSL ads during his lunch hour and low and behold was his 1984 Ranger, for sale. He knew it was his old boat because of the metal bar he installed in front of the driver's console, which he had done so to hold his tackle in place. It had the original upholstery, carpet, Electric mtr, and the GT150 on the back. He was so amazed, he went and took a look at it. He was not going to buy, but it was great to see how the boat had weathered the storm of the last 30 years. He showed the pics on KSL to his family and sent them to me and several others. That was end of it, or so he thought.
About a week after first seeing it, his oldest daughter, Gentry, stopped by the house and asked her dad to come outside and look at something. There on the street, behind her truck, was Rick's old Ranger. Gentry and her two sisters had pooled some funds together and purchased the rig for their father. He was speechless. I went up several days later to see and was amazed at what good condition it was in.
Rick immediately began to work on it, repainting the trailer, re carpeting everything, putting on a new electric ( Another friend of ours, Dave had taken his 36volt Minn Kota off his boat to put a new Ultera on. He gave the old unit to Rick.) I had taken my old Lowrance X15 graph off my boat and replaced it, so that was put on the console. Dave also gave Rick a Lowrance X3 which went on the front.
Rick has been working on the rig for the last 6 weeks and we put it on the water for the first time on Saturday. The old GT150 was a bit rough starting, but once it fired up, it ran like a scalded cat. We spent a great morning fishing up at Rock Port, everything worked great, we even caught a few fish.
He did have to purchase a new tow vehicle, but overall he has put this rig back into almost like new condition with lots of sweat equity. Below are a before pic and several after pics. A great well done and congratulations to Rick !!! Also to his three daughters who really took care of their father.
Rock Port: Didn't catch much till we moved down to the face of the dam. Most of the SMB were small, under 8 inches, but we did catch a few 12 and over. They were not deep, but caught swimming a grub or tube sub surface. They would not hit a topwater, a crank, or take a drop shot, they wanted it moving down to about 2-3 ft. . No special color.
Several years down the road, he was forced to sell it. He was no longer fishing tournaments at the time and the cost and upkeep were not conducive to family life. He had 3 daughters that took a great deal of his time and he decided family was more important, so he sold it.
Fast forward to about 2 months ago. He was checking KSL ads during his lunch hour and low and behold was his 1984 Ranger, for sale. He knew it was his old boat because of the metal bar he installed in front of the driver's console, which he had done so to hold his tackle in place. It had the original upholstery, carpet, Electric mtr, and the GT150 on the back. He was so amazed, he went and took a look at it. He was not going to buy, but it was great to see how the boat had weathered the storm of the last 30 years. He showed the pics on KSL to his family and sent them to me and several others. That was end of it, or so he thought.
About a week after first seeing it, his oldest daughter, Gentry, stopped by the house and asked her dad to come outside and look at something. There on the street, behind her truck, was Rick's old Ranger. Gentry and her two sisters had pooled some funds together and purchased the rig for their father. He was speechless. I went up several days later to see and was amazed at what good condition it was in.
Rick immediately began to work on it, repainting the trailer, re carpeting everything, putting on a new electric ( Another friend of ours, Dave had taken his 36volt Minn Kota off his boat to put a new Ultera on. He gave the old unit to Rick.) I had taken my old Lowrance X15 graph off my boat and replaced it, so that was put on the console. Dave also gave Rick a Lowrance X3 which went on the front.
Rick has been working on the rig for the last 6 weeks and we put it on the water for the first time on Saturday. The old GT150 was a bit rough starting, but once it fired up, it ran like a scalded cat. We spent a great morning fishing up at Rock Port, everything worked great, we even caught a few fish.
He did have to purchase a new tow vehicle, but overall he has put this rig back into almost like new condition with lots of sweat equity. Below are a before pic and several after pics. A great well done and congratulations to Rick !!! Also to his three daughters who really took care of their father.
Rock Port: Didn't catch much till we moved down to the face of the dam. Most of the SMB were small, under 8 inches, but we did catch a few 12 and over. They were not deep, but caught swimming a grub or tube sub surface. They would not hit a topwater, a crank, or take a drop shot, they wanted it moving down to about 2-3 ft. . No special color.