interesting article. Maybe Nemisis could buy Ranger.
http://bassfan.com/opinion_article.asp?ID=135
Nemesis Ranger Inc, i like the sound!!!!
Nemesis buy Ranger? Why? No offense, buy you'ld be quicker out of the hole with a snowplow. ;D
Now, Nemesis buying Bullet or Stroker is more up my alley.
if quicker out of the hole catches more fish then I need a bullet or a stroker ;D
where in michigan can u buy a bullet or a stroker ???
and does the bullet really weigh 600+ less pounds than an equal size boat,if so were are they scratching all that weight off at(fiberglass thinner??) heard alot about the bullet,seen a few(go really fast) but have not gotten to ride in one yet,but have a buddy thats dead set on owning one of these.
anyone out there currently riding in a bullet,lets hear about it i'm interested to see how northern guy's like the boat ???
not sure i have ever seen a Bullet or Stroker at a local event in SE Mi. they look nice. be fun to get a ride in one.
Last Bullett I saw rode hard on the Great Lakes did not make it through one season. Some of the internal stuff would need to be attached differently to survive often rough water for any length of time. It was real fast until it filled completely with water. Then it didn't go fast at all.
I've seen about 3 Strokers here, but 2 were just passing through and 1 is used mostly on inland water.
Boat building is a compromise between weight, speed, fishability, safety and toughness. For safety, fishability and performance I'm happy with, I like my Ranger. A lot. 17 seasons on the Great Lakes and counting.
Gr@ssmonkey... you should just stick to your Christmas tree colored Ranger. You'd break a Bullet or a Stroker... I've seen you drive!
I saw quite a few of the 'go fast' boats down south. Not so much up here.
I will stick to my lead sled. Built like a rock and I still did not get passed this year. BFL's, regionals....nothing managed to pass the big heavy Ranger. ;D
Those new Z21's are the best combination of everything in a bass boat I have been in for this part of the country.
I have a story about a contact and his Stroker bass boat I need to publish this winter. I would like drive an Allison some day, but only on a very safe, flat body of water with a nice open straight stretch and no other boats to worry about ;D Fun to drive, but not my choice to use on the Great Lakes all the time. The last one I saw was in Sturgeon Bay a while back. Ran really fast... until it got to Green Bay. Lost the lead shortly after that.
Don't know what will happen here with a sale, but I'm sure it will turn out well. Great product. Great company.
mike lohn has had a bullet for 11-12 years he lives in westland michigan..
i can get his e-mail addy if ya want..
first off i have driven all three hi po boats..of the three stroker takes rough water the best not that a bullet or a boat wont just that the stroker can run much faster in the rough stuff than either of the other two..
unlike a stroker or a bullet you just can't hop in an A-bote and haul azz there is a steep learning curve.. there is a " seat time" curve in the bullet also but way differant.
bullet and A-botes do not have fiberglass in them they are kevlar and carbon fiber. a 21 bullet hull weight is 1150 pounds. remember guys if you pushing 60 with all you got. your eating gas like it was free. a bullet with a 225 will run 60 and only be turning 4000 rpm..
zooker
The person I knew who had the Bullet liked to go really fast all the time. No matter what sometimes. He was always buying the latest and fastest light hulls and had many 'adventures.' All hulls drive differently for different types of water and can be destroyed if you try hard enough. Some are a little easier if you try. He was really good at it ;D
I've had people tell me many things about hulls over the years that I found misleading when I had a chance to drive them myself. Even hulls within the same company often drive differently. As zooker pointed out, once you have a chance to spend some time on that learning curve, it makes a difference.
I tried to drive a Stratos one rough day on St. Clair - a hull I had never driven before. I could not get it right most of the day. Quite a bit different than what I'm used to. As many members point out on here, it's the driver that's can make the biggest difference. Many boats will hold up with the right driver driving that boat how it needs to be driven for those waters.
Of course, some people... just gotta go fast all the time no matter what. When the gas tank is bouncing around loose... you've gone too fast... ouch!
dan,i completely know what your saying and alot of guy's probably don't realize that(i didn't) different hulls drive different ways to make them ride nice.
case in point,i used to drive a 1997 18' champion 150 hp and it rode good,i never really had a problem with it,it was what i now call "user friendly" any one could get behind the wheel and it would ride the same.now i have a ranger 519 vx 200 hp,after owning this boat for a year i remember telling my friend "if i don't learn how to drive this thing i'm going to break it" i was having a tough time in rough water with it,but after learning some steering wheel magic and a little more trimming up and down (unlike i had to do with the champ) i now can make the boat ride through almost any size waves without so much as spilling my coffee in the morning :o if u would have asked me the first year how the boat ran in rough water i would have said not very good,but when asked know i tell people "if u know how to drive it it rides like a dream" and that was an unexpected lesson learned 8)
One of the common misconceptions about big water is that heavy is always better. Sure, pure mass does matter, but you wouldn't want to drive a non-hydrodynamic hull just because it's heavy; you need the right shape hull to perform.
My 2000 TR-21 is a pretty fast hull, the '99 & '00 were very fast designs. Even though it weights 1725 lb. Is it a good big water hull? Not by design; it tends to "slap" water as it comes down unless you know how to drive it.
I've also had the pleasure of riding/driving a '07 Bullet 21XDC, including on LSC. I'd say the Bullet outclasses my Triton for rough water any day. I've never had the pleasure of an Allison, but have ridden in a Stroker. All are wicked fast, and all require a driver to really make them perform.
There are several things you can look for in hull design for big water. Longer is better, you span wave crests more easily. Especially if the keel runs the length of the hull. A sharper deadrise cuts water better for less slap. Narrow hulls will take waves better, but make for tippy fishing platforms.
The big Bullet has a 53 degree deadrise, and the keel runs the length of the hull. Makes for a pretty good big water ride. On the negative side, the bow rides high when fishing, so wind can be a problem. The seats are really just a shell to keep the weight down. Rear storage compartments have oddly shaped bottoms, so it reduces how much tackle you can carry.
But a 21XDC with a 250XS will run mid 80's with the right set up; let up some and your cruising at 70 but only running 4800 RPM. Saves a ton of gas across a season.
Are these the best rigs for big water? Nah, no bass hulls are; we're fooling ourselves if we think so. But I see a Bullet in my future. I'm certainly not gonna go to a slower hull after Lightning... ;D
Just because it's a flyweight don't mean much when it comes to performance. Hull design is more important than pure weight. Although driver & set up make the most difference.
All good information from each of you. Hulls are changed from year to year sometimes too so what someone tells you about their two year old boat might not be accurate anymore. I tend to prefer a flatter more stable fishing platform knowing what I will give up for that. Luckily, with competition among companies and more feedback from rough water anglers, many companies have improved their hulls in numerous areas.
Then it comes down to personal preference, affordability, resale value (if you have that in your future), dependability, warranty, taste etc. What I do warn (and others hinted at) DO NOT make your first bass boat one of those built for speed demon boats. I have to get the story shared on here about a new tournament angler I cautioned on that very thing who went for the Stroker instead of a more user-friendly brand and what happened to him (what I feared would happen and warned him about the year before it happened). I almost personally learned a similar lesson (the hard way) the first time I drove a fast hull by myself with no real experience. I lucked out.
I love my old Ranger I hope everything works out for them.
Me too. Profitable company with a great product. They are going forward business as usual with the product knowledge tour coming up the first weekend of December.