Bass Boat Rebuild Part 1: Intro and Trailer Updates

Over the past couple of years, my son has worked hard during the summer months to save up enough money to buy a truck and a boat. Two years ago, he managed the truck, and this past fall we found a cherry boat deal we just couldn’t walk away from. In fact, I’d consider this boat a near barn find. It’s immaculate.

It’s a 1999 Ranger R83, which was the company’s fish/ski rig, but unlike most combo boats, this one was designed to fish first, ski second. It features the famous Ranger hull that’s fast and stable with all the included amenities, such as livewells, spacious rod lockers, tackle storage and ample room in the power plant to rig with modern batteries and other items—we’ll get into the wishlist later on.

The rig feature is powered by a 150hp Yamaha 2-stroke outboard with quite reasonable hours for a boat/motor of this age. This motor is arguably one of the best 2-strokes you could ever buy, which was a major selling point for us. It’s practically bulletproof.

The boat also came with the factory Ranger cover, which fit before we rigged the boat, but that may be an expense we consider later on as it’ll need to be adjusted in order to fit the new equipment it now carries. A simple problem, but not a cheap one. Most tarp or cover modifications will cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 depending on how extensive the mods are. Keep that in mind if you plan to add new components to an older hull like we did. Keeping the boat covered when not stored inside is critical to the lifespan.

The older gentleman who sold us this boat, gave us a smoking deal, and for that I’m very grateful. The result, I think, occurred because we were patient, stuck to our limited budget and kept our eyes peeled for listed fishing boats that met our expectations. This one hit all the check boxes.

There are, of course, some items that need attention, but again, it’s a 26-year-old boat. A few of the compartment lids need replacing, the livewell lids especially, which we ordered right away. The carpet is decent but certainly shows some wear and tear—the seats were recently upholstered and was a major selling point for us. There were a number of devices attached to the bow, gunnel and consoles that covered several serious holes. And you’ll appreciate how we dealt with and repaired those areas of the boat. But the best part is the clear coat is fully intact, and the rig just shines after a fresh coat of wax.

Now, before anyone complains that a high school kid shouldn’t have a boat “this nice” as his first rig, remember he worked hard for two years to save up enough cash to make this purchase. His passion is bass fishing, and this is a wonderful platform to get him the independence he needs to grow as a fisherman.

Off soapbox.

We elected to rig this boat with a 52-inch Minn Kota Ultrex Quest, a pair of 8-foot Minn Kota Raptors and a 3-bank Minn Kota on-board charger. The electronics package includes a Humminbird Apex 13 and two Xplore 12s all networked together within the first-in-class One-Boat Network. All powered though Li-Time lithium batteries: two 36-volts rigged in parallel for trolling motor power, a 12V, 140Ah as exclusive electronics power and a 12v, 140Ah dual-purpose battery to provide power to house amenities and crank the motor.

We also planned to add Bass Boat Technologies and Balzout mounts to the rig, a 6-inch TH Marine Atlas Jack Plate and Hot Foot.

We’ll go through the details of installing each of these items in later portions of this series, but the first installment is covering trailer upgrades and a few other items.

Let’s dig in.

The console will receive a full overhaul in a later installment, but here’s a look at it before we removed everything. Oh, and both windshields were crack free and in fine shape, by my son had plans to remove the existing stickers and add some of his own. More on that later.

Here you can see the nice seat upholstery, and the overall look of both consoles. Oddly enough, you could almost climb inside the passenger-side glove box, it’s cavernous!

The boat came with a Minn Kota Ulterra, which is a fine motor, indeed, and ideal for the gentleman we bought it from, but we elected to pull it off and sell it on Marketplace and use the proceeds to pay for the Ultrex. I’ve said this in previous features like this, sell what you can to raise enough money for all your upgrades—even junk stored in your attic or basement. I promise you’ll find things of value to someone else to help you fund your dream rig build. The Ulterra was helpful for our upgrades. Also note the pedal, the previous owner built a small wedge-shaped stand to hold it, so it functioned like a cable-driven motor. A good idea, but we had other plans.

The Humminbird Helix 7 at the bow was sold on Marketplace and helped us fund our bow graph purchases. It was an easy sell in our neck of the woods since many summertime anglers also ice fish, the Helix 7 is one of the best ice units on the market today. I think it sold the same day I posted it.

At the rear of the boat, the previous owner switched the drain plug to a cable-driven drain plug, which works well currently—but if you’ve used this long-term, you know they tend to start leaking with extended use. We’ll see how long it functions—fingers crossed! You’ll also notice the motor-support arm that runs from the motor’s lower unit to the trailer roller. Back in the day, this was an acceptable form of motor support, and it works fine if not hauled too often, but to those who know, this does indeed add stress to the lower unit and trim components.

We upgraded immediately to a DD26 Motor Tote—and of course we went with blue to keep with the boat theme.

The boat winch and bow roller were shot. This was no surprise because they do sustain a lot of use over several years, and as far as I’m concerned, I’d feel better knowing my son is hauling a boat around with new and reliable components keeping his rig attached to the trailer.

Plus, it’s an inexpensive upgrade. A Fulton winch is an affordable and reliable upgrade worth making. They make different size winches for different size boats—double check your boat weight before you buy.

The tie-down straps on the back of the boat were in the same shape as the winch and rollup up front—they’ve seen some use and badly needed replaced. We bought a pair at our local Fleet Farm for $80.

And then the tires and hubs. Good grief, this is always a disaster with an older rig, and as expected the tires and hubs needed fully replaced. The boat came with two different tire sizes, including the one you see in the picture that was too large. One pothole and that fender could be ripped off. The actual trailer tire that was recommended for this boat trailer were not available anywhere, must be a discontinued model or something. The tech at the tire shop suggested a car tire with near identical dimensions and add about 10 more pounds of air to increase support. After one wrong tire size, we found the right set.

As you’d expect, it turned into a drawn-out mess that required a couple different sets of hubs, brake calipers and finally adding the correct tires. We’ll detail tire issue in an upcoming installment as we learned some important insight that might help you avoid the mess we dealt with.

The short of it is the tires, rotors, brake calipers and brake pads all needed replaced. My son dug in and got all the junk removed and ready for new parts!

The next part will dig into more upgrades, especially the end to the tire saga.

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