Trying to buy a used Ranger 375 for incredibly cheap.. 2025
th365thli reply :
Hi guys.
I've been scouring facebook marketplace and craigslist for a good deal on a bass boat and I *may* have found one. Emphasize on the word *may*. A man is selling his, or more accurately, his son's Ranger 375v. I don't know the year. He says his son moved out of state and left the boat. He's honest in that he told me that the carpet needs to be redone and the seats re-upholstered. Personally, anything wrong cosmetically I can deal with. I'm mainly concerned about the hull and the motor.
Regarding both, he said the last time he took it on the water was 2 years ago. The hydraulic fluid that helps lower and raise the motor may need to be changed, he mentioned difficulty doing that. I'm sure the batteries are going to have to be replaced. Not sure about the livewell. edit* Fuel was drained after last use and it's been stored under a cover.
I'm checking it out this Saturday. Now you may ask, this boat sounds like a lot of work. Yes it does, but he's also selling it for $2300. He says he never uses it, was never his originally, and he's trying to get rid of it. Now of course I'm going to take all this with a grain of salt, but I figure $2300 for a project Ranger boat ain't that bad of a deal.
If I can't get a mechanic to come out with me, what should I look for? I know almost nothing about boats. I know I should check the year, check if the transom is made out of wood, check for obvious cracks, and see if the motor turns on. Is there anything else? Really hoping this would be a good deal.
Here are some pictures, she certainly needs a cleaning. Hoping for something workable beneath the dust.
Tim Kelly reply :
You might get lucky, but if it's been kept outside (look at the jack wheel!) chances are it's going to need some structural work as the plywood will have rotted under the decks, maybe the stringers and maybe the transom. Could be a big project. It would be much easier to find an Aluminium boat, which would be easier to check structurally and more likely to be in your budget, and use that until you can afford to buy a more expensive rig.
th365thli reply :
What if it doesn't have any wood? I heard ranger stop using wood around 1990
Tim Kelly reply :
Your call. If it's sat outside It's hard to imagine it's going to be in as good a condition as you might expect a boat of that vintage to be if it were garaged. You might get lucky, but you might get a money pit.
th365thli reply :
On 2/21/2018 at 11:00 PM, Tim Kelly said:Your call. If it's sat outside It's hard to imagine it's going to be in as good a condition as you might expect a boat of that vintage to be if it were garaged. You might get lucky, but you might get a money pit.
Thanks for your input, I'll have to extra critical on Saturday when I see it and not expect much.
fishnkamp reply :
You might want to look at this one too. It is a bit more money but may be at a better condition to start with.
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/boa/d/ranger-bass-boat-392v-with/6496715421.html
Ranger Bass Boat 392V with 1999 Mercury 150 Outboard - $5900
Check this one out as well.
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/d/bass-boat-86-ranger-2000-merc/6495954783.html
Bass Boat 86 Ranger 2000 Merc. Optimax 150 - $6800 (concord / pleasant hill / martinez)
th365thli reply :
Thanks, the one in San Diego looks really nice, but it's wayyy too far. California is a huge state, that's like traveling from New York to North Carolina.
The one in Concord looks really good but for a 5 thousand dollar difference not sure if it's worth it.
So I actually went and checked out the boat today. It was very dirty and very dusty. The fiber glass looked decent, just needs a polish to get rid of some of the oxidation. There were some small scratches on the keel, I assume from 30 years of using. It didn't look consequential but I'm not an expert. The carpet was disgusting, that'll be the first to go. The outboard jack fluid seals need replacing an o-ring, but we refilled it with some fluid and it worked fine. Livewells and aerator pumps probably need to be replaced. The motor itself looked pretty good. Little bit of gunk but the connections and hosing looked clean. Of course, I would need to hire a mechanic.
Which brings me to my next dilemma. I would need a mechanic to come take a look for sure. Just to run a test on the motor and verify the transom/hull integrity. Problem is, it's $375 dollars to get one to come down to take a look. I don't want to waste that $375 dollars. The guy was adamant the motor started and ran. He told me after last use he put oil stabilizer in there. He also agreed to bump down the price to $2000. I mean ****, if the motor works, the cost of the motor is pretty much $2000, nevermind a bass boat. I can put in the time and money to make it pretty.
Forgot to mention he says the trailer has bearing buddies and the brake lights should work, he can verify for me.
iabass8 reply :
2k isn't a terrible gamble. The best thing you can do yourself is run the motor on muffs at this place to warm it up and then do a compression test of all the cylinders and make sure they are all within 10% of each other. Most auto stores have the tool you can buy for 25-30$ or sometimes rent. Check the lower unit oil for any water. Just twist the plug and let it drain a bit. You're going to want to replace it with new stuff anyway but if there's water, you'll get an idea if it's just seals or possibly a bad lower. unless you put back pressure on the motor (run in lake or in a tub) you may not hear gears grinding if it's bad. Stabilizer or not...2 year old gas will need to be replaced. Just judging from the pics...that's going to be one heck of a project. I personally wouldn't do it unless I could put it in the water to at the very least check the full for leaks. Any cracks on the transom and I would walk away. If he won't let you run it or anything offer 1500.
th365thli reply :
On 2/22/2018 at 8:25 AM, iabass8 said:2k isn't a terrible gamble. The best thing you can do yourself is run the motor on muffs at this place to warm it up and then do a compression test of all the cylinders and make sure they are all within 10% of each other. Most auto stores have the tool you can buy for 25-30$ or sometimes rent. Check the lower unit oil for any water. Just twist the plug and let it drain a bit. You're going to want to replace it with new stuff anyway but if there's water, you'll get an idea if it's just seals or possibly a bad lower. unless you put back pressure on the motor (run in lake or in a tub) you may not hear gears grinding if it's bad. Stabilizer or not...2 year old gas will need to be replaced. Just judging from the pics...that's going to be one heck of a project. I personally wouldn't do it unless I could put it in the water to at the very least check the full for leaks. Any cracks on the transom and I would walk away. If he won't let you run it or anything offer 1500.
Thanks for the advice. I talked to the mechanic and he said similar things. If he doesn't let me take it out on the water, just walk away. If I can, the mechanic will check everything. Just hoping it won't be out $400 for the inspection...
iabass8 reply :
On 2/22/2018 at 9:08 AM, th365thli said:Thanks for the advice. I talked to the mechanic and he said similar things. If he doesn't let me take it out on the water, just walk away. If I can, the mechanic will check everything. Just hoping it won't be out $400 for the inspection...
If you take the boat to him and he wants 400$ find a new mechanic. Checking over a hull / motor usually doesnt run more than 200$.
I guess I wouldnt walk away if he wouldnt let me water test but I wouldnt give more than 1500. A no to running the motor or doing any compression checks would make me say no though.
Just make sure there arent any softspots in the floor anywhere in the boat. If there are you have no idea if there had been constant leaking thus water logging the insulation. Thats something I would walk away from as well. Make sure theres no cracks in the transom or around the motor mount holes. Offer 1500 if the motor checks out. Odds are you will be redoing all upholstry and a lot of the wiring. You have one heck of a project but 1500$ would be a deal for something that runs and doesnt leak.
th365thli reply :
No this is for a house call. The one reputable one near me Leland Marine, the guy is on vacation. IF anyone has suggestions in San Jose I'm all ears.
He's totally fine with running the motor and having me hire a mechanic to come down here. That's a huge reason why I'm still interested. It's an odd situation, but it was originally his son's boat. Son left home and left the boat and fell on some hard financial times, and the father wants to sell it to help out the son. He has a pink slip from a previous registration, but I would need to register it. That's the main thing, he says he's going to call the DMV and see the registration fees, because the lakes around here won't let us launch without registration.
I'm going to check it again tmrw. I'm going to hammer the transom, do a more thorough inspection. Also check soft spots like you said. I don't think he's maliciously trying to screw me, he spent a lot of hands on time with me on the boat today, but I also need to protect my money lol.
iabass8 reply :
You could run the motor in a tub/large barrel/trash can for back pressure if need be. At least youll know if its firing on all cylinders and runs. Check the LU oil and compression after you run it. Oil shouldnt be black and stink or full of water. Water will drain first. Make sure the hull is solid without any cracks, holes, or stress cracks. If you can get it for 15-1600 it should be a good buy. Just be aware you will be replacing all the fuel lines, lots of wiring, and the upholstry. Motor has been sitting so you’re looking at new LU oil, seals, water pump kit, plugs and filtlers at a minimum for a bost that sat that long. After all is said and done and your motor doesnt need anything except what i listed, youll be in for another 1000-1500.
Scott F reply :
Make sure the seller has a title and the title is in the seller's name. If the title is in the son's name, the son must sign the title before it can be transferred to you.
th365thli reply :
On 2/22/2018 at 10:21 AM, iabass8 said:You could run the motor in a tub/large barrel/trash can for back pressure if need be. At least youll know if its firing on all cylinders and runs. Check the LU oil and compression after you run it. Oil shouldnt be black and stink or full of water. Water will drain first. Make sure the hull is solid without any cracks, holes, or stress cracks. If you can get it for 15-1600 it should be a good buy. Just be aware you will be replacing all the fuel lines, lots of wiring, and the upholstry. Motor has been sitting so you’re looking at new LU oil, seals, water pump kit, plugs and filtlers at a minimum for a bost that sat that long. After all is said and done and your motor doesnt need anything except what i listed, youll be in for another 1000-1500.
Thanks, a working boat for 3k ain't too bad. In some ways I'd rather just do it myself. I know exactly what I'm getting and I'll learn how to take care of a boat. It'll be like an education. I think for me it's better than buying a boat advertised as in good condition but maybe has underlying issues not advertised. Building it up like this will give me confidence and save me money in the long run.
All the things you said are fixable. I'm more nervous about a cracked transom and leaks. I'll be taking pictures tmrw and posting them on here.
th365thli reply :
On 2/22/2018 at 10:22 AM, Scott F said:Make sure the seller has a title and the title is in the seller's name. If the title is in the son's name, the son must sign the title before it can be transferred to you.
It's in the father's name so should be good to go on that front.
TOXIC reply :
Complete the sale "Pending your outboard mechanic's inspection" Normally, if it were me, I would put a deposit on the boat until my mechanic could do a full once over of the motor. I wouldn't even try to crank it before my mechanic looked at it. Just from the pic, my concerns would be the tires/bearings, floor decking and electrics. Any evidence of mice? If you can't tow it out of there to your mechanic, it would be a no go for me. After all, your big $$ is in the big motor and chances are you are going to need new steering cables as well. Good luck and I hope it checks out.
th365thli reply :
Thanks, I went back over to check it out today.
-I did my best to do a thorough check for soft spots. Couldn't find any.
-The boat has vents on the floor to drain water, I'm assuming to the bilge or somewhere in the boat
It was tilted forward, when we tilted the boat back, water came out of the drain. Is this concerning? The water is from rain I'm assuming (the boat cover is a piece of ****). So the water has just been sitting in the bilge, when it came out it was clean and didn't seem to leak anywhere to the outside.
-The transom seems solid. We both leaned on the lower unit and didn't see any flex at all. The entire boat responded to our leaning
-I also did a "hammer test" I'm no professional but it seemed good. Definitely a "clack" and not a "thud", especially at the bottom it seemed good.
-Motor oil looked good. No signs of water. No milky ness, uniform copperish/brownish oil color.
-Some small chips on the keel. Seems to be okay considering it's 30 years old. I can see fiberglass through the chip.
So essentially all the water seems like it's coming from the top (rain). I couldn't find any soft spots or stress cracks, or evidence of wood rot. Here's some pictures.
TOXIC reply :
Honestly doesn't look that bad. You are going to need new trim seals and some MarineTex will patch the keel. After patching I would put a KeelShield on it. Still need to check out the motor, fuel, and fuel lines. For reference, my rig before I bought it sat out for 2 years under a bad cover and although I have had a mold problem that I am dealing with, there was no real damage.
J Francho reply :
@TOXIC I'm sure you know, but lots of repeated applications of peroxide will eventually kill the stuff. It's a pain, though.
Troy85 reply :
The boat I bought sat for a couple years, it was covered, but some of the fuel in the tank, and the fuel left in the engine had turned to varnish. I had to replace all the fuel lines, pull the fuel tank out and clean it and replace 1 injector. I had a mechanic take the fuel system apart inside the engine and remove all the varnish buildup.
In short. If possible, look inside the tank and make sure the gas hasn't began to gel up. If it has, I'd take the cost of cleaning and/or replacing the fuel system into account when making an offer.
TOXIC reply :
On 2/23/2018 at 11:54 PM, J Francho said:@TOXIC I'm sure you know, but lots of repeated applications of peroxide will eventually kill the stuff. It's a pain, though.
Believe me, I've read and read and done tons of research. First myth debunked is bleach. Although bleach will kill and remove the color from mold, it will not get to the "roots" and mold will re-grow. When I first got the boat, I left the plug in and poured a biodegradable cleaner in through the front of the boat (over a gallons worth) and towed the boat around with some added water to get it throughout the bilge. Parked it nose down to get the cleaner well distributed. When I took the plug out, it drained like syrup, black syrup. You couldn't even read the battery manufacturer on the 4 batteries in the bilge and you couldn't tell what color any of the wiring was. It was all black. Mold on every one of the undersides of the compartment lids and heavy in the carpet. All of that took a lot of manual scrubbing. Pulled the seats and there was 1/2 inch of mold on the fuel tanks. We wore masks and looked like coal miners every time we worked on it. I bought an industrial mold product that supposedly also kills the roots and have been slowly re-mediating it for 4 years. I still get flare ups. It's a pain.
J Francho reply :
Yuck, man.
th365thli reply :
On 2/24/2018 at 12:12 AM, TOXIC said:Believe me, I've read and read and done tons of research. First myth debunked is bleach. Although bleach will kill and remove the color from mold, it will not get to the "roots" and mold will re-grow. When I first got the boat, I left the plug in and poured a biodegradable cleaner in through the front of the boat (over a gallons worth) and towed the boat around with some added water to get it throughout the bilge. Parked it nose down to get the cleaner well distributed. When I took the plug out, it drained like syrup, black syrup. You couldn't even read the battery manufacturer on the 4 batteries in the bilge and you couldn't tell what color any of the wiring was. It was all black. Mold on every one of the undersides of the compartment lids and heavy in the carpet. All of that took a lot of manual scrubbing. Pulled the seats and there was 1/2 inch of mold on the fuel tanks. We wore masks and looked like coal miners every time we worked on it. I bought an industrial mold product that supposedly also kills the roots and have been slowly re-mediating it for 4 years. I still get flare ups. It's a pain.
This is really good to know. The boat definitely has some mold in the comparments. When I drained the water it was clear, but I'm guessing putting in a mold remover will change that. Is it worth it even cleaning the bilge? Won't it get water in it constantly?
J Francho reply :
On 2/24/2018 at 2:42 AM, th365thli said:Won't it get water in it constantly?
If you aren't fishing in the rain, always put the plug in, there no leaks in the hull, and keep it covered, the bilge usually doesn't get all that wet.
th365thli reply :
Judging by the answers here the boat needs a lot of work, but it's doable work. I still think ~2000 is reasonable especially if the motor and boat are in good condition beneath the yuck.
I bought a compression tester and I'll be doing that today hopefully. I'm also going to buy new trailer tires and grease the bearing buddies. Transom looks good and the keel looks good especially for 30 years. If everything checks out I'm taking that sumbitch home!
J Francho reply :
These boats were built like tanks, so if everything checks out, it should be fine. There's quite a few Rangers from this era up here.
th365thli reply :
On 2/24/2018 at 2:49 AM, J Francho said:These boats were built like tanks, so if everything checks out, it should be fine. There's quite a few Rangers from this era up here.
Honestly I'm very surprised to see that besides cosmetic issues the hull looks very good. Couldn't find a single stress crack. No indications the water in the bilge seeped into the insulation. According to another member if it had the water would be discolored. When I drained it, it was clear. The transom looks solid, I'm going to hammer test and bounce test it for the third time today but I would just need to fill the screws with epoxy and hardener.
Cleaning is going to be a lot of work....but imagining the finished product is getting me excited.
Toxic is right about checking the fuel. The owner just replaced the fuel filter. The lines definitely need to go. Hopefully the fuel tank hasn't varnished, he said he drained it but I'm going to double check...
TOXIC reply :
The bilge will always get water in it. The key is to not let that water sit in there for long periods of time. In my case it was for a very long time and mold got established. Easier to prevent than to cure. I am very picky about condition but I am forced to store outside so I crack open the compartments under the cover and put a fan in there whenever it is stored. I am in the forest in Virginia and mold is a constant problem on everything we have outside. BBQ, Smoker, Lawn furniture and even the 1100 sq feet of decking I have. The pic is of the tanks after 2 scrubbings.
th365thli reply :
Well folks, I pulled the trigger. Ran a compression test on it. All 6 readings were within less than 5 psi of each other. The spark plugs were a little dark, but I'd rather have it run rich than lean. We had to bypass the fuel lines anyway since they were shot to ****, I'm sure we were pumping harder than we needed to. The previous owner also screwed in transducers directly in the transom. I took out a couple screws and it was all dry, no wetness or wood rot detectable.
The compressions read about 110 across the board. I was unable to open the throttle to do the test, didn't know how as when we opened it the engine won't turn on. In my research, I heard that this matters in getting a peak compression reading, but for checking tolerances between cylinders it shouldn't matter. I'm above 100 anyways so I think I'm in a good place.
Here she is: Cleaned up just a little bit, but still needs a lot of work. I'm very excited though, I'm ready to take it apart and give it new life. Redoing the pumps and fuel lines intimidates me a little, but if I can't figure it out a mechanic can.
TOXIC reply :
Enjoy. The lines are a pita but easily done. Just remember, it’s a Ranger and was top of the line and built well. Keep us posted on your progress. I really like seeing the old boats brought back to life.
Further North reply :
Looks like you did all the due diligence you could. Enjoy it!
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