Christmas Project - Extending the front deck of a Ranger

Since dad and I have some time off around Christmas, we're going to do a little work on his Ranger. We've been wanting to extend the front deck for some time now. Also, we're looking into the possibility of us both fishing off the front, instead of taking turns in the back of the boat. It will add some more storage to the boat while we're at it.

This is what his boat currently looks like.
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...g/CIMG0668.jpg


We're wanting to do something similar to what my buddy Scrapper did with his boat, below:

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...P1010372-1.jpg

I'm gonna chronicle our progress in this thread. Let me know what you think.

You may want to look into getting one of those 2 seat benches.They will move around however you want, or pick it up and go to middle of boat. Think they are around 75.00 They also tie down to front pedastel.

You can get two seat bases and not have to worry about the beanch.

We're probably just going to stick with the one pedestal up front and a portable seat for the middle. We fish more to the side than off the front of the boat like you see most people doing.

We haven't started extending the deck yet. Although, I did strip the boat of the rails, cleats, etc. and broke out the buffer. The gel coat was starting to get oxidized, so I worked over the entire top cap of the boat with Meguires Color Restorer. It did a great job of bringing the shine back. Now I need to get some good wax put back on it. I've got some before and after pictures I'll try to put on here in the next day or two.

Can't wait to see it! Thanks.

Keep us updated on the project.

I have a '94 Ranger that has been well taken care of. The paint's fine and the last owner told me that he put lemon pledge wax on the paint about twice a year. Well, not knowing how much he actually fished and had the boat out in the elements I figured on doing that 4 times a year. He told me the oils from the spray furniture polish kept the paint looking top notch. Dunno...but I certainly cannot argue with the results since the boat is so old. Only takes about 15 minutes to get 'er done which is the best part.Thumbs Up

I've got a couple of pictures that kinda show the improvement the color restoration made on my dad's boat. Honestly, pictures don't do it justice.

Before:

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...g/CIMG0673.jpg

After:

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...g/CIMG0675.jpg

We've almost finished building the front deck extension. We still need to attach the lid, and we're thinking about re-carpeting the lid. It's one that we've had lying around, and the carpet is running the wrong direction. So it looks to be a different color, but it's actually the exact same color. Also, the existing carpet in the boat is dingy and showing some signs of wear. Here's a picture showing what we've accomplished so far.



http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...g/CIMG0688.jpg

Wow! Good job! I'd go ahead and replace all the carpet. I'm afraid you'll always regret it if you don't. WTG!Thumbs Up

Got her looking good so far. That will make big difference

Great job!Thumbs Up

I'm impressed, that looks factory:cheers2 When do I need to bring mine, :D

Well between me having an engineering background and teaching shop classes, and my dad's 30+ years of experience building boats, we should at least half way know what we're doing. :D (My engineering background didn't help.....learning stuff from my dad over the years came in awfully useful though.) The carpet in the boat is actually not that old, and is from when we last redid it all. I think a little carpet cleaning will bring it back some. I'm sure that we'll eventually redo all of the carpet when it's necessary.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AgriHawg

Well between me having an engineering background and teaching shop classes, and my dad's 30+ years of experience building boats, we should at least half way know what we're doing. :D (My engineering background didn't help.....learning stuff from my dad over the years came in awfully useful though.) The carpet in the boat is actually not that old, and is from when we last redid it all. I think a little carpet cleaning will bring it back some. I'm sure that we'll eventually redo all of the carpet when it's necessary.

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I am seriously thinking about replacing the carpet in my boat, when the weather is not fitting to fish, say like in august, and I may be begging for advise because this would be a new venture for me. I know dark carpet would be hotter in the summer time, but this beige carpet shows everything, I vacuum more than I fish...lol

Great job guys.