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

Congrats Dutch on your boat. Great looking boat have you thought about the double seats for the back.
LittleJohn

I love it, keep the post going, congrats on your find!

Great report. Nice looking rig. Thanks for posting.

You will love that walleye boat I fish out of a champion. It has some things I don't like but overall fishing it is the best fishing boat I have ever owned.

That sure looks like my old 2006 619VS I bought new from Jet-A-marina. It was a excellent boat. I had Lowrance electronics on it when I had it if this is the same boat.I ordered it with those exact colors and strip pattern. I sold it in 2010 I believe.

Is my old boat. Same boat numbers. Just vchecked old pic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by z520tom

That sure looks like my old 2006 619VS I bought new from Jet-A-marina. It was a excellent boat. I had Lowrance electronics on it when I had it if this is the same boat.I ordered it with those exact colors and strip pattern. I sold it in 2010 I believe.

Is my old boat. Same boat numbers. Just vchecked old pic.

---

It’s a small small world my friend. Know that she is in good hands and I will keep updating photos as I continue working on her.

Thanks for sharing, gonna be really nice when your all finished, without a doubt! Curious to know if your passenger console is removable? If so have you had thoughts of taking it out to create more room for fishing off that side?

Mike


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Following this thread! I'm interested in your updates. I bought a used 2008 Ranger 2050 a few years back and continue to find ways to spend money to update things the way I want. I also like to troll and have been wracking my brain for the last year on how to get more time trolling with my 80 lb Terrova I-pilot. I've talked to a couple of different dealers about upgrading to a 36V trolling motor but they didn't think I had the space to add another battery because I also have the oil tank for my etec under the jump seats where the batteries go. I did upgrade from a 27 series to 31 series batteries this year but no one ever mentioned the idea of putting the bigger golf cart butteries in there. When figuring the cost of adding a 3rd battery, new 4 bank charger, and new 36V trolling motor it seemed to make more sense to look at installing a kicker motor but still debating because that wasn't in the budget this year.

Keep us updated on your progress.

Mike

Gofish my 80 Terrova handles my 481 Ranger, Trolling don't have any problem that for crank baits and long lining jigs.
LittleJohn

LittleJohn, how long can you troll? My 80 Terrova will pull my boat fine it's just more of an issue with how long it will last pulling cranks. I'm usually going slower speeds long lining jigs or pulling worm harnesses for so it's not as big an issue. Of course there are a lot of factors like wind, boat speed, amount of chop on the water, etc but I was typically only getting 4 hours of run time and draining my batteries. I thought I read you shouldn't drain your batteries lower than 50% so I'm sure that's not helping the longevity of the batteries. I try to run my big motor (225 etec) into the wind when I can but it typically can only troll down to 2.2 mph and I hate putting all those hours on my big motor. Just wondering how long the golf cart batteries last? I keep thinking the battery technology will get better. I have been trying to avoid hanging a kicker on the back to avoid the extra weight but leaning towards going that route so it's not an issue anymore.

Mike I can get 6 hours or more out of my Wally World 29's. I think it is good for batteries to be drain almost all the way down so they can be charge back up. Cat Fan would know more about that me. When I am long lining usally pulled at ,8 and faster when pulling crank baits.
LittleJohn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoFishKY

Following this thread! I'm interested in your updates. I bought a used 2008 Ranger 2050 a few years back and continue to find ways to spend money to update things the way I want. I also like to troll and have been wracking my brain for the last year on how to get more time trolling with my 80 lb Terrova I-pilot. I've talked to a couple of different dealers about upgrading to a 36V trolling motor but they didn't think I had the space to add another battery because I also have the oil tank for my etec under the jump seats where the batteries go. I did upgrade from a 27 series to 31 series batteries this year but no one ever mentioned the idea of putting the bigger golf cart butteries in there. When figuring the cost of adding a 3rd battery, new 4 bank charger, and new 36V trolling motor it seemed to make more sense to look at installing a kicker motor but still debating because that wasn't in the budget this year.

Keep us updated on your progress.

Mike

---

Mike,

I think I’ve seen your posts on Walleye Central. How much vertical space do you have in your battery compartments? You need 11 1/8” clearance for the Trojan 1275s. Two of these would definitely increase the reserve capacity of your system, extending troll time on your rig. Each Trojan is 23lbs heavier than the group 31s I typically use.

If you’re got a solid 24v Terrova and have money burning a hole in your pocket, I’d spend it on a Panther lift bracket and kicker versus upgrading to a 36v Terrova and three batteries, wiring and charger. If you’re a hardcore troller, that’s the only way I’d go if you wanted to invest that kind of money in your rig. I would have added a 9.9 kicker if I had a usable electric steer bow mount TM on this boat- but I didn’t.

Terrova is getting installed tomorrow with some help. That single 4” access hole in the bow panel and the front two bolts should prove interesting since my arm isn’t 5’ long. Also adding the last of three Trojan golf cart batteries to wire it all up.

Waiting on a delivery from Cisco Fishing Systems with tracks and bases for my rod holders. I’m excited to adapt a Great Lakes walleye/salmon trolling system to crappie use. I haven’t seen it used for the type of fishing that we do down here so I’ll be making a lot of it up as we go along. Thanks for taking the time to read about my little adventure, I only hope that it gives one person an idea to help set up their boat for the type of trolling that I enjoy so much.

way to go buddy. its coming together

Tonight the 36v Terrova got mounted to the bow using the R&R trolling motor bracket. The bracket required Flat head bolts, not low profile ovals. I found flat head 3” stainless 1/4”-20 bolts after a little searching. With some help from someone who installs a lot more trolling mirrors than I do, new holes were drilled and the base was bolted on with appropriately sized fender washers and nylock nuts. The year range for this hull has some well-known issues with the electric steer trolling motors hitting the trailer roller when launching at certain angle ramps. To minimize the risk of banging my new TM on the bow roller, this mount allows for several inches of movement rearward when launching and then a single pull of a knob slides it forward into operating position. MinnKota has a smaller version of a sliding bracket but the footprint does not allow for as many bolts to be utilized (we got six bolts into the bow) and the amount of rearward travel is less. They discontinued their better bracket for some reason.

Attachment 317492

Operating (forward) position
Attachment 317488

Launching/Retrieval (rear) position
Attachment 317489

Attachment 317490

Like my last two boats, the foot pedal never saw the light of day so I stowed it away in one of the bow compartments.

Next I fished the custom 2AWG battery cables from the port side battery compartment to the starboard side box. The 60amp breaker was secured to the side of the battery compartment with stainless screws and the line/load terminals attached.
Attachment 317491

Nice job guys.

That's a fishing machine. It will be real good on KY lake.

Sent from my XT1650 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Coming along nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Nice thread!

The Minn Kota 330D 3 bank charger showed up and I (barely) got it installed in the front port side compartment. There’s maybe 1/2” clearance on either side of this beast. I wanted to go with the smaller NOCO genius charger, but they do not sell a lead extension kit and I need one of the banks to be extended to a total length of about 11’ for this boat. Maybe when this one dies they will have figured that out.

I connected the batteries with the 2AWG jumpers and tested the function. Everything checks out so far. MK sells the lead extension kit as a 15 footer so at 20 total feet on bank 3, I will be cutting that back by several feet and re-splicing to clean up the cables. I need to spend some time using some screw-in zip ties to clean up the cables in these compartments and the wiring portion of this project should be complete.

Attachment 318092

The Minn Kota 330D 3 bank charger showed up and I (barely) got it installed in the front port side compartment. There’s maybe 1/2” clearance on either side of this beast. I wanted to go with the smaller NOCO genius charger, but they do not sell a lead extension kit and I need one of the banks to be extended to a total length of about 11’ for this boat. Maybe when this one dies they will have figured that out.

I connected the batteries with the 2AWG jumpers and tested the function. Everything checks out so far. MK sells the lead extension kit as a 15 footer so at 20 total feet on bank 3, I will be cutting that back by several feet and re-splicing to clean up the cables. I need to spend some time using some screw-in zip ties to clean up the cables in these compartments and the wiring portion of this project should be complete.

Attachment 318092

looks great buddy. awesome job all around

More electrical work:

To maintain the cranking battery and isolate it from potential electrical interference of the trolling motor system, I went with a single bank 6amp Minn Kota charger MK106D. It fit nicely in the compartment behind the drivers seat. I attached it using 3/4” stainless self-tapping screws x 4.

Attachment 318820

Charging leads attached and wires cleaned up with zip ties. To reach this trolling battery I needed 6-7 more feet on one of my banks. The factory Minn Kota extension kit is15’ long, so a little cable cutting, splicing and heat shrinking and it’s good to go.
Attachment 318821

Port side battery compartment cleaned up after tucking away excess charging leads and installing a few cable ties.
Attachment 318822

Tracks:

My last aluminum boat had a built in track system in the gunnels that allowed for great versatility in rod holder and accessory placement, the fiberglass boat does not. To accommodate my preference of trolling from the sides of my boat versus straight off the stern, I found a solution on walleye/salmon boats that I’ve seen up north. Gunnel or rail mounted tracks made from extruded aluminum are available from companies such as Bert’s, Traxtech, Cisco and Cannon. Bert’s Custom Tackle is probably the most widely-recognized names in these track systems but I went with Cisco Fishing Systems as all edges on their rail products are chamfered with no sharp edges on the product at all. They’re a family-run business based out of Cleveland. A couple of calls to them to pick their brains gave me an idea of which direction I needed to go. For my application I landed on a 36” track to give me 3’ of horizontal adjustability on each side.

Attachment 318823
Attachment 318824
Attachment 318825

There is no access to the underside of the Ranger gunnels so directly mounting to the pultrusion material in the top cap with screws was recommended by the Ranger factory customer service folks. I covered the gunnels with blue painters tape to prevent scratching as I positioned the racks. Once they were where I wanted them, I taped them to the boat with more painters tape to prevent moving while I drilled some holes. I marked my holes with a pen and then an awl. Initial holes were made through the gel coat with the bit in reverse, then advanced forward to the desired depth. With the tracks and tape removed, a 1/2” countersink bit was used to prevent gel coat cracking at the screw insertion sites.

The gunnels and back of the tracks were cleaned thoroughly with denatured alcohol to remove any contaminants. Fast Cure 5200 was then applied to all 8 screw holes and then a bead ran down the center of the track. Extreme caution was taken not to get this crap on anything else because it’s close to impossible to remove from most surfaces, even before curing. With the track laid down over the holes, the #14 stainless self tapping screws were tightened down and excess 5200 cleaned up with acetone. The fast cure 5200 has a complete cure time of 24 hours so tomorrow I will get the rod holders mounted to the tracks.

Attachment 318827
Attachment 318829

Looking good buddy.

Looks good.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Boat is looking good. You will really like it when running 10 miles down the middle of Kentucky Lake on a windy day. It is great that you can put it together they way you want it. You will like it much better. Plus that is fun work.

Looking good!

SI Transducer Install:

This boat appears to have had at least two different skimmer tranducers mounted on the transom at points in the past due to siliconed screws and the fact that they’re not still installed didn’t give me a great amount of confidence in mounting my Humminbird HDSI transducer where the screws were. In consulting several walleye guys with similar hulls, I elected to mount it under the setback/step for off-plane SI/DI imaging.

Not being one that likes drilling holes in a perfectly good boat, I mounted a Stern Saver transducer mounting block on the step with the supplied epoxy and let it cure for 24 hours:
Attachment 318938

Then I played around with the HDSI bracket, adding and removing different washers until I came up with the configuration that allowed me to tighten it in position I needed. The bracket is meant to be mounted on a vertical surface, not from above as I’m doing. But I’ve seen photos of it done successfully so I knew that it’s possible. Secured bracket with 1/2” stainless screws. (Excess painters tape to be removed at a later date)
Attachment 318939

I routed the cable up and over the jackplate to a pre-existing slot cutout that is under the star it’s side access panel. Not ideal, but it will work for now. Cables secured with Humminbird cable clips that I added to a few of the factory screws holding the black stern trim in place with a dab of Marine grade silicone on the threads. I also added a few cable clips purchased on Amazon that attached with industrial 3M double sided tape, so I cleaned the surfaces with denatured alcohol and firmly pressed them into place.

Attachment 318940
Attachment 318941

Test shot from today of a submerged KY Lake bridge:
Attachment 318942

Good job

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app