This is a public service announcement!
My wife and I are new owners of a 2024 Ranger Tug 27ob, and we just made our inaugural voyage, a trip from the Pocket Yachts' dock on Kent Island in the upper Chesapeake Bay to our home marina in Norfolk, Virginia. We had a couple of days of 2-foot waves on the nose, but no 3-foot or larger waves. We did try running at planing speed for a short while, but it was too bumpy for our old bodies, and apparently for the boat as well, so we slowed down to a trawler-like speed of about 7 knots. After arriving in Norfolk, I opened the center cockpit locker and was surprised and dismayed to discover that the port side bulkhead had come detached from its fiberglass frame (see attached pictures). After examining the failure, I realized that the bulkhead had been attached with screws rather than thru-bolted, poor workmanship on the part of the factory in my opinion.
I contacted my salesman and he told me that the factory normally uses thru-bolts and lock washers.
I repaired the bulkhead myself, using machine screws, fender washers and nylon locking nuts. I also used 5200 adhesive between the bulkhead and the fiberglass frame to give it added strength. The starboard bulkhead showed no damage, but just to be safe, I replaced the screws with machine screws, fender washers and lock nuts.
If you own a 2024 Ranger Tug (especially 23, 25 or 27) manufactured in or around March of last year as our boat was, let me suggest that you inspect your boat to make sure that your bulkheads are thru-bolted rather than screwed in place. If thru-bolted, you can easily see the lock nuts and washers in both the port and starboard cockpit lockers.
My wife and I are new owners of a 2024 Ranger Tug 27ob, and we just made our inaugural voyage, a trip from the Pocket Yachts' dock on Kent Island in the upper Chesapeake Bay to our home marina in Norfolk, Virginia. We had a couple of days of 2-foot waves on the nose, but no 3-foot or larger waves. We did try running at planing speed for a short while, but it was too bumpy for our old bodies, and apparently for the boat as well, so we slowed down to a trawler-like speed of about 7 knots. After arriving in Norfolk, I opened the center cockpit locker and was surprised and dismayed to discover that the port side bulkhead had come detached from its fiberglass frame (see attached pictures). After examining the failure, I realized that the bulkhead had been attached with screws rather than thru-bolted, poor workmanship on the part of the factory in my opinion.
I contacted my salesman and he told me that the factory normally uses thru-bolts and lock washers.
I repaired the bulkhead myself, using machine screws, fender washers and nylon locking nuts. I also used 5200 adhesive between the bulkhead and the fiberglass frame to give it added strength. The starboard bulkhead showed no damage, but just to be safe, I replaced the screws with machine screws, fender washers and lock nuts.
If you own a 2024 Ranger Tug (especially 23, 25 or 27) manufactured in or around March of last year as our boat was, let me suggest that you inspect your boat to make sure that your bulkheads are thru-bolted rather than screwed in place. If thru-bolted, you can easily see the lock nuts and washers in both the port and starboard cockpit lockers.
