On 2/13/2021 at 8:28 PM, Teal said:

Lund must be a northern thing.  I just dont see a whole lot of them down here.  

Almost everyone has a Lund up here....I will probably save up for one

4 hours ago, Colin Mahon said:

Almost everyone has a Lund up here

That’s quite a bold statement. I would definitely say they are a popular brand of boat here along with several others but I would not say that almost everyone has one. Most people don’t even own a boat.

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That’s quite a bold statement. I would definitely say they are a popular brand of boat here along with several others but I would not say that almost everyone has one. Most people don’t even own a boat.

True. All of my fishing buddies have one, but to be fair, I see Rangers and Alumacrafts too

4 hours ago, Colin Mahon said:

Almost everyone has a Lund up here

 

23 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That’s quite a bold statement. I would definitely say they are a popular brand of boat here along with several others but I would not say that almost everyone has one. Most people don’t even own a boat.

Ya - I actually tallied up the fishing boats in my neighborhood (2 block radius) last year.

2 Lund

3 Crestliner

1 Tracker

2 Smoker Craft

1 Ranger

1 Triton

1 Lowe

1 minute ago, Colin Mahon said:

True. All of my fishing buddies have one, but to be fair, I see Rangers and Alumacrafts too

I think I see more alumacrafts than anything. Lunds, crestliners, rangers, and trackers are also popular. On bigger walleye lakes I also see a lot of warriors.

I have been trailering from Virginia to Wisconsin every year for the last 23 years and fishing the same chain of lakes.  Never fails when I put my 21 foot Ranger glitter rocket in the lake, I get a lot of stares.  I see almost exclusively big water deep V’s with kicker motors.  The lakes we are on are not big water but a lot vacation there so I think it’s a good cross section of the market.  My boat choice was governed by the water that I fish.  I chose Ranger because that is what most of the guys that I know that run the same water have.  I wish I could drop back to a tin rig that was smaller and easier to tow but it just doesn’t fit the water I run.  As for the Johnny Morris ill  will, a lot of it is unfounded.  I also ran a 21 foot Nitro in the guide service and it was a fine boat.  When JLM bought the nitro brand there were some definite quality issues that took years to overcome but the quality of their current offerings is good.  Tracker tin boats were always value priced and upgrades usually brought them close to other manufacturers.  I watched all of the JLM saga unfold because I was first on their state team and then pro staff for 15 years.  Rangers price point used to be for a higher quality and the best customer service in the boating industry.  Both of those qualities have come into question more recently.  I do not feel the quality has gone down but the loss of sooo many long term employees has hurt them and the pandemic didn’t help.  Customer service has had a couple of hiccups with them trying a new computer system and now using a call center and with social media it’s brought a lot of complaints out to the public eye.  Bottom line, do your research, ride in your short list of boats and make your choice because most everybody will like the boat they bought when asked.  

On 2/13/2021 at 8:44 PM, pharmfisher said:

I'm looking at buying a new aluminum mod v bass boat. I've really narrowed it down to a lund renegade or a ranger rt188. My main question is about the recent quality of ranger boats. Has anyone noticed any decline in quality since ranger is now under new ownership? I like the layout of the ranger better, but I am hesitant to buy from a company that puts their name behind tracker. thank you. 

It's been 45 days since the OP.

 

And 8 months since this one 

 

You've received some valuable feedback here so far.

How's your shopping going ?

A-Jay

Other than the Lund Pro-V bass which is much more expensive and a whole different beast, the Lund Renegade and Ranger RT188 would be at the top of my list of aluminum bass boats. To be completely honest, I would give Lund the edge but if you have a Ranger dealer that is closer or can get a better deal on the Ranger, I would go with the Ranger.

On 3/29/2021 at 7:25 PM, A-Jay said:

It's been 45 days since the OP.

 

And 8 months since this one 

 

You've received some valuable feedback here so far.

How's your shopping going ?

A-Jay

To be honest I sat in a renegade and while I really liked it, I just worry that I will end up wanting to fish some really big water, like Green Bay. I'm actually looking more into a pro v bass. I have never bought a boat before and I just don't want to make a mistake.