SERIOUS CORROSION BEFORE WARRANTEE WORE OUT!

[david orr ludlow]

Hi. This is David Ludlow the original poster last September of SERIOUS CORROSION BEFORE WARRANTEE WORE OUT!

I found that the problem was as simple as not removing the screens on the scuppers. (Thanks to Brian B and others of you.) But the corrosion damage compounded so that the engine water level alarm was disabled, causing serious engine damage from corrosion as well.

Ralf Henkle has assured me that the one year warrantee would be honored until this issue is settled. I am writing to find out how many others have had a similar problem because Ranger still not replied to that request.

In one week, I will have payed $18,000 to Alan Harbor Marine in Harwich, MA (Cape Cod) for damages from corrosion due to not removing the scupper screens. I will be requesting that Ranger reimburse me for all of that under the original one year warrantee. Up until now it has been their position that any boat owner should know enough to religiously clean those screens without it's being brought to their attention as a serious potential corrosion threat. My first and previous cursing boat was a Seaward 27 R/K in which I slept in the bilge. Any water accumulation got my feet wet when I got up, so I falsely assumed I would know if their was water buildup in the bilge of my new boat.

Were any of you notified that this might be a problem when you bought your Ranger Tug? How many of you had to learn to remove your scupper screens the hard way like me?

In their R-27 Owners Manual, which I was told is the same as that for my 25-SC, this is only mentioned on p.37: "Example of a spring pre-launch checklist" Cleaning: "Remove debris from scuppers and scupper drains." Once a year only?
Nor was I alerted to this issue during the sales run-thru.

I will also be requesting that Ranger post in the Manual a warning about this and require all their sales people to include it in their pre-sales briefing checklist.

I expect that I will only win this warrantee claim if many of you also express here that you agree that this issue needs to be addressed for future Ranger Tug owners.

Thanks,
David Ludlow, and "This Is It!" Eastham, MA

 

[sheral]

With all due respect, I do have to ask, how the corrosion got so bad before it was noticed? Is the boat serviced regularly and at the very least after each season? Stupid question, I am sure it is, but who serviced it? You should have some very pointed questions for them!

 

[captstu]

I was not the first owner of my 2010 Ranger 25. After I had her about two weeks in the Drystack, I scrubbed the cockpit for the first time. The scupper screens were in place and checking of the engine for my pre-departure check was done before I scrubbed the boat.

As you would expect the engine compartment filled with water without me knowing anything was amiss. The Drystack company launched the boat and I went for a ride with my new clean Ranger.

The first time I came down from plane the boat felt sluggish and without any alarms or hearing any pumps running I went to check the bilge. There was significant water in the bilge. I returned to the dry stack and paid for an after hour emergency haul out and went to work on the problem.

At this point I did not know if there was a leak and I did not know that both bilge pump switches had failed since there is no easy way to test style switch is used in a Ranger.

Another owner finally told me to remove the scupper screens after I described the problem. In the meantime the transmission was full of water in the engine was buried in water.

The yard was 100% cooperative, they washed the boat down with fresh water dried it with fans and sprayed it with corrosion spray. They also changed the transmission oil three times to get the water out of the transmission cooler.

At the upcoming boat show, I discussed the problem with the representative of the Rule factory. He was so vehement that the electronic switches that are not testable my human beings are unacceptable on a boat that he gave me four of the new style Rule switches. The switches are trivially testable by mere mortals and can be removed if replacement is necessary without any tools since the switch mechanism snaps into the base.

I had mixed fortune last week when both my primary and safety hose clamps on my shaft log and PSS shaft log seal broke. Both of been visually inspected earlier that day as part of my pre-departure check.

Fortunately, unlike the electronic switches, reliable rule switch turned on the bilge pump and kept the bilge water level acceptably low until I could go to a safe place to change the hose clamp.

What have I learned, three things:

1. The cut thread style hose clamps are worthless, they fail even after a visual inspection because you can't inspect the whole clamp without removing it.

2. The scupper screens work against you by diverting the water that would otherwise go harmlessly overboard in the engine bilge.

3. The electronic bilge pump switches just don't belong on the boat. I try to keep your water engine area as clean as possible, but it is a boat. Over time a small amount of diesel fuel, a small amount of Various oils, and some belt dust gets in the water. Even though I liberally use engine rags and diapers to keep everything clean a tiny bit has to go through. These oils are death to the electronic switches. I removed and cleaned them when the boat was new to me but just a few weeks later they did not detect the down flooding from the clogged scuppers. Just to see what happened, I clean them again and they work perfectly until they were replaced about two weeks later. Since there isn't any easy way to test them, I urge you to remove them.

As to Ranger's responsibility, they did everything humanly possible to help me as other than the first owner. I believe everything they install was represented by their manufactures to work in the environment where they employed. It's really our responsibility as owners to come up with a pre-departure checkList, to learn from others, and to share what we learned.

I'm pleased with my Ranger and while I have had some problems, I believe the problems are much less than I had with other boats over the years. Part of the improvement I see with this boat is this group. Thank you all for your help.


Stuart Bell
Ranger 25: Shearwater
(561) 352-1796