Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | VMS - 2/3/2011 4:37 PM
Esoxfly....
Best person to talk to on this one. He has one beautiful ranger bay boat and I believe he uses it in St. Clair quite a bit. He will have some wonderful insight on what to expect and how they are. Awesome guy to deal with as well!! 
Steve
Thanks for the kind words Steve. I'll do my best to answer some questions, though my boat is a bit different than the 07 in question.
I use my boat 100% on LSC. There are significant changes from my hull to the current bay boats. As treats said, my boat sits on a (225hp) 620 hull. Ranger slapped a center console, bay cap on it and called it a bay boat. I'm a saltwater guy at heart, and was shopping for a 620, so when this boat came along I had to have it.
What's happened since my boat is that Ranger has designed and built "proper" bay hulls. Their newer bays are chined like a bay boat should be; they're quieter and chine slap has been minimized. You'll also notice the flat gunwhales, square transom and no set back. The trade off is hp rating. By going to a quieter, shallower hull, they lost hp. They don't make the 2000 Bay any longer, but when they did, it was rated at 150. Even the new Bahia, which is longer and wider than my boat is only rated at 150. The benefit is that it's quieter and only draws 11" They'll still handle big water just fine, you'll just not have the power to length ratio of the 620 hull.
As to their fishability for muskie, it's top notch. Being able to 8 and work a fish down the side of the boat and not have a console in the way is great. Room and storage isn't bad, but it's not great. One thing to keep in mind is how you'll be fishing. There's a leaning post and a basic seat along the back, but if you're into trolling, you won't have the comfortable seating you do in a 620 or other multi-species boat. My boat doesn't even have seats. I pulled the rumble seats out of the back because I never use them. If you want to sit in my boat, you have to sit on the casting deck or the Just Encase in the back. I'm 100% caster, so it suits me fine, but it is something to keep in mind.
Standing up in my opinion is the only way to go. I'd ridden in 620's and bass boats before my boat, but now that I'm used to standing up, I feel like I can't see anything when sitting down! In fact, I doubt I'll ever have a sit-down boat again. It's great for visibilty and for taking the waves with your legs and not in your back and abs. Some guys feel a little weird standing up at first, but it's very stable and like I say, it's the only way to go if you ask me.
There's no carpet, so it works well for me and my dog's hair!
I must admit, I like my older styling a bit better than the newer ones. My cap still has 620 curves on the bow rail, gunwhales and stern as well as the higher hp rating per foot. Ranger also managed to put a 20" transom on my boat vs the 25" on 620's and the current Bays. Not sure why they did it, but I like the 20" shaft. I've thought about if someday I'd ever be interested in a newer Ranger Bay, as they're sweet boats. I just like my 20'er vs the larger 22'-24'. I fish alone 99% of the time, so 20' is plenty for me and handles big water very well.
If you're ever up on LSC, look me up. Look for the green Ranger Bay with two Power Poles and a black lab on the bow.
Here's a couple of shots showing the cap layout and the styling vs the newer bays, but the fishability and room is the same.
Edited by esoxfly 2/4/2011 12:48 AM
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