Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | A few years ago I finally went to an older Ranger 617 from a 2005 alumacraft Navigator 165 single console. In aluminum, I was extremely happy with that Navigator as it had a decent front deck and at the time a small back deck to stand on. They had made a couple of improvements in following years with a fold-down deck extension which was a nice feature as well.
In the single console model, I could sit or kneel on the front deck with the net over the port side of the boat. Handling fish was an easy task from there. I also added a strap with a snap to the end of my net and a small eye bolt on the console so I could let go of the net and have 2 hands working with the fish. Nice wide boat with a 90" beam, and a nice HP rating of 90. The Navigator 175 was just as nice, had a 150hp rating and a little longer... I should have gone that route when I purchased... Great rig!!
Never felt it was too high nor too low and it fished great!! Many trips to big water and so long as I didn't make any mistakes, it could handle rough seas decently.
For smaller waters yet, my older alumacraft lunker V16 was amazing! It had a tendency to lean to the side you were fishing out of (the boat only weighed 660 pounds and had a narrower beam. but for handling fish, this was by far the best as the front deck had a small separation from the side decks, allowing me to be right up against the boat side while handling fish. I could sit down and work with the fish (same set up with the net as in the navigator). I could get into small waters well, yet still felt comfortable enough on big waters like lake of the woods. Maxed out on HP, this boat was a great little performer!! Only bad thing on this boat....no back deck...which is why I finally upgraded to the navigator 165.
Steve |
