R31cb

[Neoleony]

I am looking at a duel purpose boat. One for salmon fishing and the other for taking trip with my young family. Is the rc31 cb the right choice?

 

[Nit-Sea-Moose]

Not really great for fishing, they can't troll slow enough unless fitted with a trolling motor. These boat can also be setup with a trolling valve which slips the transmission to achieve slower speeds. This causes a jerking action and a clunking sound when in slow speed. I'm not sure this is a great practice in the long term.

 

[conniemarie]

We have the trolling valve on our D4-300 and never have jerking or clunking. We love it for trolling and precise control while in marinas. To us it was well worth the cost and not having to fool with a second motor, fuel, controls. The rear control station in the cockpit is also essential if you plan to fish.

 

[TLR_Chris]

I had the same question when I was looking for a new boat. Having put A LOT of time in our R31CB in just the past 3 months since delivery fishing and cruising in both Lake Washington and most recently Puget Sound, I can say my son and I are happy fishermen and my wife is very comfortable cruising with us! And of course the kid has a place to hang out when the fishing is slow...

It's not perfect as a fishing boat so I won't overplay that, but it works pretty darn good. Brought 8 Chinooks in just this last weekend in Area 10 catch and release! I have the trolling valve and actually had Ronnie calibrate it down so I can do as slow as .9 mph, and all the way up to idle speed. Plenty of variability for speed control. BTW, Andrew and Ronnie were fantastic in helping to get the Volvo low speed valve calibration dialed in!

Have 2 downriggers on there (the Factory installed Scotty pads and outlets). They are installed in the forward part of the cockpit. Ideally I would want them in the aft corners, but the gullwing seats and the rails are in the way. But they work well and I have not had any issue with the rigger wire getting near the prop. You can get a 3rd rigger with a rail mount.

I did upgrade the sounder (GSD24) and transducer (Airmar M260). Some lessons learned there and I'd probably do it differently now, with a bit more cash invested. I am looking at a kicker with the TR-1 for two reasons. One is the hours on the main that will build over a couple seasons (and the more frequent oil change costs). Other is for bottom fishing and more control in staying over a hole (steering in reverse to fight current). That said, the autopilot and remote steer, as well as the aft helm have made it pretty
Easy to stay in the cockpit the entire time.

There are times when I wish the back seat wasn't there, but getting used to it, and its a good spot for the tackle boxes so going to get a fitted Sunbrella cover to protect the fabric.

On the cruising with family side, it's fantastic. We actually looked at the aluminum pilot house boats, but they lacked comfort. Very untilitarian. The Rangers are very nice. In fact we just had 12 people cruising, and 6 of them fishing at once and the rest just lounging or playing cards inside.

Needless to say I could go on, but probably running out of characters... If you are in north Seattle area I would be more than happy to take you out for first hand salmon fishing from the R31. And feel free to send me a PM if you have specific questions.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[TLR_Chris]

Hello again. I have had a few PM's seeking more info on the lessons learned on the ducer and sounder, so I thought I would respond to the broader community.

Since I knew we would use this boat as a fishing first vessel, I had the sounder upgraded from the GSD22 to the GSD24, and kept the P79. It was an OK upgrade. I knew the 24 was a better unit, but the ducer just wasn't giving the power and didn't have enough capability to give good returns. Granted I was a bit jaded since I had a dedicated fish finder with Chirp on my previous boat, so I was expecting detail on the screen.

So next step I researched the ducer side. A lessened learned here. I was reluctant to drill a hole in the hull so I looked only at in-hull. The only real options for the GPSMaps 7215 plotter and GSD24 was the P79 and M260. The M265 is Chirp compatible but only works with the GSD26. I am a techie and loved the detail of the fish finders, but the M265/GSD26 upgrade was about $3500 more (the M260 installed was about $1200). The other options would have been a thru-hull tri-ducer to get speed and temp as well. This is what I would have done differently. Get a thru-hull.

All that said, to be honest with myself, and the household CFO, it's likely good enough for what I'm doing now. For salmon fishing just find the bait, and the configuration I have does that.

Now, the other side of the fish finder saga is an external unit near the aft helm. The dual display on the TV works well, but I find myself running inside to flip between charts, split frequency, etc. So I'm looking at a networked 7" unit mounted under the overhang above the aft sink. Or at the very least a plotter only so I can have the topo maps outside and the split frequency inside (because you can see the screens well from the back).

Other area is the 7215 and being limited for true fishing. New plotters support down view/side view and more tranducer options. If you are looking for a fishing first vessel with a Ranger, i would look to upgrade as much as possible in the build with Ranger. But of course, it's only money 🙂.

I hope this helps! And more than happy to have an excuse to go fishing, so if you are local and want a first hand look, I am in Edmonds

Cheers,
Chris