Rigging the Ranger

Another member and I were discussing a rod holder issue tonight and he suggested that I create a thread to document setting up my boat that may potentially help other members embarking on a similar venture.

Several west KY guys know that we’ve been looking at different boats for about a year and a half or so. My wife wanted a boat that was more stable in choppy KY Lake waters than our Triton aluminum, one with carpet or lighter color interior than our camo boat and a built in boarding ladder. We looked at several possible types of boats but she found a used Ranger 619VS walleye boat for sale locally on the internet. We made the drive over, took a test ride in 1.5’ Barkley slop and could immediately tell this was the boat for us. It’s a 2006 that needed some love and we felt we were up for the job at hand.

Attachment 317235

Immediate needs on our to-do list to make this a crappie trolling machine:
•upgrade the 24v TM to a 36v system
•swap out existing Lowrance units to our HB graphs
•come up with a rod holder system that fits our style of trolling
•other issues as they arise

Attachment 317236
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Maxxum on the boat, she had to go. First call of this project was made to Brian at BBG Marine and I ordered his last MinnKota factory reconditioned 36v 60” 112lb Terrova with iPilot. I didn’t want the US2, but was stuck with it as an option. Within three days, the UPS man was at my door with the 80lb box. When I inboxed it, I immediately noticed how much more robust the 112 is compared to the 80 on the old boat. Also the new Bluetooth iPilot remote seems much larger-review to follow on that.

To mount the TM on this boat I wanted a removable mounting bracket that I can also slide back when launching on steep ramps. We all know that the design of the Terrova and Ulterra require the TM base to extend past the bow in order for the shaft to deploy. Many reports on walleye forums speak to knocking the TM on the trailer when launching on steep ramps with this boat. MinnKota discontinued the great MKA-47 bracket and I wasn’t paying $250 for one from France. Enter the R&R trolling motor bracket made in Texas. They manufacture them for Skeeter to be sold as an option on their line of fiberglass walleye boats. It allows a good 6” of rearward travel and the plate is SOLID. Machined out of aluminum, this thing is clearly made to last the life of the boat and then some.
Attachment 317237

This thread will continue to grow as I get more parts in and time to work on our new ride.

To feed the new TM, I knew I had to up my battery game. While I would have preferred to find this boat with a 9.9hp kicker, you don’t find many user Ranger 6-series boats in west KY so beggars can’t be choosers. The previous owner had recently had a local shop install two series 27 battery trays and they put in two cranking batteries for the trolling motor??? I can only wonder why...

Attachment 317238

These got pulled along with the trays and original factory Ranger DualPro three bank charger and the Ranger 50 amp switchable TM breaker. The larger Terrova requires a 60amp breaker, although I really like the Ranger style device. The Ranger charger is huge and took up more than 6” of the battery compartment. To fit larger batteries, the charger situation had to be modified. So down to the bare fiberglass we went and two Noco group 31 trays were screwed tot he floor with stainless hardware.
Attachment 317239

After exhaustive research and conversations with my local CDC trolling friends, I knew that I wanted the higher swerve capacity of golf cart batteries. There are several options out there that are adaptable for marine deep cycle use but Doug’s (mrdux) opinion of the Trojan T-1275 golf cart batteries sealed the deal for me. They’re not cheap, but since i am a troller at heart, this is where I knew I had to spend some money to get the performance that I wanted in a day of trolling crankbaits on KY. At 85lbs each, they’re a pain to maneuver and they will only fit through the battery compartment door in one orientation. Hint: they do not come with lifting straps on them so do yourself and your groin a favor and buy two of the rubber golf cart battery lifting straps from your dealer that you get batteries from. Your urologist will thank you later.

The two Trojans installed and strapped down in the rear port compartment.
Attachment 317240

The third battery has to fit in a battery compartment on the starboard side of the boat alongside the cranking battery. To make this work, jumper wires between the sides of the boat had to be installed. Concerned about the length that I had to run the jumper wires and not wanting any significant vintage drop to the Terrova, I went a little overboard with 2AWG size wire to make the 10’ snake from one compartment to the next since i found a great deal online. Battery layout is battery 1 and 3 on the part side with two 10’ jumpers +/- to battery 2 behind the drivers seat. This keeps the factory 6AWG harness on the port side of the boat. Cables should be here tomorrow.

Attachment 317241

To replace the factory switchable breaker, I went with a 60 amp breaker from Blue Sea Systems. The only issue is the breaker has 3/8” lugs and my factory harness has 1/4”. So I’ve got to figure out if I want to replace the two terminals or find a way to adapt them so I don’t have to cut and crimp this heavy wire this week.

Attachment 317242

I’m really comfortable with my Humminbird electronics so I wanted to stick with my current units. The Lowrance and Garmin units were pulled from the console and I mounted my HB 999 on the dash. I purchased an adapter at Rickie’s recommendation to adapt the through hull Lowrance puck to this Bird. Unfortunately, though some testing we discovered that the through hull has an issue and will shortly be replaced with a HB XP 9 20. I will also have the SI transducer mounted on the transom when I finalize the location.

Attachment 317243

I don’t fish much from the bow so I kept an existing RAM mount for the 7 series HB that only gets used once in a blue moon. This one will be wired to the Terrova’s built in transducer.

Attachment 317244
Attachment 317245

The new iPilot utilizes an external electrical compass for some of the new iPilot features. It’s essentially a heading sensor that has to be mounted where it can connect via Bluetooth the the Terrova head. I chose to utilize a GPS mounting plate that was already covering a hole on the stern where a Lowrance GPS puck was previously mounted. Spade terminals were crimped and wires fished to the console to connect to empty slots on my electrical panel.

Attachment 317246

:ThumbsUp Good stuff. I'm enjoying this read. Brings back memories of when my dad purchased his Ranger.

That’s an awesome boat. Congratulations


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Congrats. My z520c is best all around boat I've ever owned

Super post buddy. It’s looking great

Great read Brother. I’m tickled you found the rig and you have friends
you can call on to help you spend untold amounts of $$.

I want to design a lot of the features of your boat into the new design Excel Storm Cat or whatever they end up calling it.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

That is looking good. Keep us updated. This is a good post.

Sent from my XT1650 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Nice.

It's amazing how much all that "little" stuff ends up costing.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app