I can’t remember to be honest, sorry, I’m not on here a lot and think I just searched thru for a bit and found it.

HAHA, that’s the guy that bought it for sure! Nice. Wish I still had his number to give him credit. He said he lived in Mobridge.

Hookem I’ll have to try and find which video it was! Thanks for the heads up. Miss that boat.

Would these fit the Cisco track?

FINALLY, almost there! Just have the remaining lids to do but that might have to wait until the snow is flying again. haha. Not excited to tackle another one of the lids but might have to bite the bullet and get er’ done one night/weekend. Final cleanup underway shortly.

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Yeah, lots of rubbing compound and then some polish and wax. There will be some spots that don’t look “great” but so far turned out ok. Lots of elbow grease! Never thought of the wet sanding though! Great idea, Thanks

What color is your boat by the way? Kind of looks similar to mine but blue carpet. I have a reddish brown with gold/silver flake.

I can’t believe how well the carpet has held up from the factory for 27 years!

That turned out awesome! I opted to not go up the sidewalls on the front deck. I noticed that on the main deck you didn’t go up the walls of your livewell and rod lockers. Did yours used to have carpet there? Mine did and had an aluminum trim that ran around the whole front and then around the whole deck about a foot off the floor to the top of the carpet. can’t understand why they would run the carpet up the sidewalls but I’m not going to be doing it.
Just realized I never really took any good pictures of the before. This was after cutting the old and using them as a template. The carpet used to run up the sides on the front deck and the main deck up the side walls. I’m really glad it was the gel coat flake underneath. I never liked the carpet running up the side walls.

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88 Ranger 680t no stress cracks and there wasn’t a hole drilled in her until I put on the trolling motor and some grab rails. Hurt to do it but needed to be done. Nothing harder than drilling into a boat! I even found this sticker for the date it was built. Kind of a neat thing to find.

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Will do. I have a couple of before and I’ll get the after pics of the first lid. I did end up taking it all out and then used a putty knife and a light hammer to wedge it back in there. Great idea that Ranger had as well. I took off the carpet on the little space above the fuse box and found a label that gave the information on who built the boat. Pretty neat stuff.

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Wow!! So happy with the first run out with the BigFoot. Didn’t have the GPS hooked up but pretty sure I’m pushing the 33-35 range. Got on plane right away and ran great. I can’t believe how quiet they are also. No smoke either!

I did see that post, very nice and hoping to achieve similar results as well. The main reason I chose the Mercury is there are simply no service places around my area if something was to go wrong with it. I called three different places and would ask their opinion on where they would take one for repair and none of them could think of any. Plus I’ve always loved Mercury engines. Never left me stranded anywhere yet. (knock on wood!) I’m getting ready to redo the carpet after the motor is finished.

Very nice looking boat! I’m hoping to get over 30 mph but more hoping to get the hole shot to get on plane quicker. Have a 36v system so 4 batteries plus the gas in the rear of the boat. Hoping this helps quite a bit. If not, have to reconfigure the weight somehow. I appreciate the information. Will let you know how it goes. Handle came in today but still waiting on the throttle and shift linkage. Should be in tomorrow.

How does it push your rig? Top end, getting on plane, etc.?

I ordered a big tiller handle for it and waiting for it to come in. Hoping it will be here in a couple of days.

Not sure if I will add the tach or not. Most likely not this year unless I feel the need to save for one. They don’t look cheap but might be worth it.

What motor are you running the 4 blade spitfire on?

Not sure if I will add the tach or not. Most likely not this year unless I feel the need to save for one. They don’t look cheap but might be worth it.

What motor are you running the 4 blade spitfire on?

I’ve pulled the trigger and went with the 60 hp Mercury Bigfoot. I found out that there are virtually no service centers in the Omaha, Lincoln or Fremont area for the Evinrude Etecs. Really surprises me to hear that. Maybe there are a couple but just wasn’t worth the risk of having no service and buying a used engine from a Canadian Lodge IMO. Hoping this is the ticket

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I saw this on Craigslist. Sounds like a pretty good deal.
http://omaha.craigslist.org/bod/4908509384.html

Ahhha! Thank you for the help. I guess I’ve never noticed the “Search Forums” before.

I believe it is fuel injected but great question for me to ask! Do you have any trouble getting on plane with the Etec? What did you have on prior to that motor?

Supposedly the E-tec I’m looking at has the shorter tiller handle so I’m hoping that won’t be an issue. I’m not sure if I want to be messing with the jack plates and such. If I do go with the Merc, it will have the Big tiller handle on it. It is set up for a console now but from what I understand it’s a simple procedure to switch over to tiller.

The main concern on the E-tec is the fact that it is coming from a lodge in Canada and will have no idea to how many times it will have hit the rocks due to “new” fisherman using the boat. It does come with the 2 years of warranty but I don’t think hitting a rock at a resort would be covered. haha.

I would really like to hear from someone that has either motor on the 680t?

That is the biggest problem I’m finding if I put it right behind the step down. The top of the battery posts are exactly the same height as the deck. I never thought of laying them down! Interesting thought. But then I would have to go spend a small fortune for the AGM batteries, LOL I’m contemplating either building a “slanted” box that follows the line of the boats natural “step” up line to the top of the storage boxes so you wouldn’t stub or trip over. oOr putting them in the very front of the boat and build a box for them there. I rarely fish from the front but if I put them there it would be a little tight if you would want to fish from the front on your feet. I’m really contemplating doing a “step” up box and covering it with the carpet, put a swing up door so I can get to the batteries without having to lift them over something. I’m waiting for it to warm up a bit, it’s in storage and there is no heat in the building. I’ll try to get pictures and measurements when I do. I’m almost positive the width at the bottom of the step down is about 38″ or just a bit over. I know I can line up all 3 batteries about perfectly length wise just below the step, but wouldn’t have any room for the 3 bank charger if I made a box to just fit that. If I put them length wise running front to back I would have room for the charger as well I think.

I did put on a hydrofoil and it has helped a lot, but I had a friend of mine in the boat that, let’s say he’s on the heavy side. 300+ and that was the best my boat has ever gotten on plane! lol. I just figured if I could add 150# +or- to the middle or front it would help when I fish alone. Which is most of the time.

Does anyone have any hints or ideas on exactly where to put the batteries? I could put them in the way up front right by the trolling motor or was thinking more toward the edge of the front deck and build a box for them to set in and maybe more storage space?

I’ve got an 88 680t and I would think you could get close to 5000 for it, depending on the shape of the boat.

Like the old adage goes, “it’s worth what someone’s willing to pay” is spot on with these boats. Muskie guys love them. I love mine and don’t think I will ever part with it.

How fast does the 50 push your boat?

I don’t have a 60 on mine but have a 45 hp Mariner, just went through the “prop” issues as well. I ended up with a 13 prop on mine and I’m thinking this is the ticket. I tried an 11 and a 14 first. 11 was revving way to high and was getting a lot of prop washout, the 14 was nice but still had a lot of rpm’s left. I went with the 13 and so far I think that is the ticket. I want to try to get my hands on a 12 but I’m not sure I want to spend more money on another prop. I did put the SE sport 400 hydro plane on as well and that was an amazing difference for getting on plane quicker.
88 Ranger 680t

I sprayed a CJ5 interior with a product called Raptor Linings. I loved it except for the prep of the vehicle, prep takes 90% of the time and the spray went in awesome. It goes on with a Shuetz gun (sp?)they are cheap and come with the product when I purchased it. I went through TP tools website to order the stuff. It went on easy and it was tough as nails. I can’t say anything about the slip factor though? I think they have a tintable product as well.