Pete and Allen asked me if I could put my thoughts down as to what I felt the Sea Ranger was like compared to other boats I had been in.

Well I can’t compare to all boats on the market so I can only comment on my experiences in the past. I have fished a lot of game fishing tournaments in past years in conditions that would have and have scared the living pants of me. More so because of bad calls on the part of the skipper on the day in seas that do not tolerate the slightest mistake. Combine this with boat hulls that I like to call twitchy and unless one has a good sense of steering skills, all adds up to roller coaster rides that should stay in the amusement park.
The Sea Ranger has one of the nicest bottoms I have seen, and found it to be one of the best handling boats I have handled. The day I had a bit of a play with in a following sea of about 2 meter’s, it felt like I could almost take my hands of the steering wheel when we started surfing. Normally one would be anticipating the next spin of the wheel to compensate, got to love the great big wide chines.
A lot of boaties and builders go on about the benefits of this or that above the water line, when the most important part is what actually sits in the water. Most boaties have no idea what displacement is or how it will effect the ride. Boats like Haines are great for speed in big chops, but the down side is when they have to slow down in big seas take your sea sick pills. The old Pelin design was the opposite, and other designs will fall some where in between these two.
The Sea Ranger falls in the category of, “It’s a hard row to find the perfect women mate” but I would marry it tomorrow.

Pete has done a great job on the Sea Ranger, with a hull that is built to standards far above most alloy boats. How many can claim to be built to marine survey specs.

As to the top half of the boat, Pete can customize to your specs, I would certainly change a few things in relation to the type of fishing I would anticipate doing. After all Pete is only a South Island cod fisherman. But the finish is still up to his standard.

Lewy McConnell.