Year to Year changes?

[timdelta]

Is there a list of the changes made to each model over the years? I'm just starting my hunt and would love to see that someone has done the work. Are any years more important than any previous ones? How can I see all the manuals? Has anyone figured out a sweet spot in years, i.e.. where a boat has finally leveled off in depreciation? Thanks guys/gals!! I've been lurking a while now.

 

[Smokeyham]

I have the same question! I'm thinking of purchasing a Ranger 29 Tug and like the "Classic" models. I see that, near the end of the production of the classics, they changed from a having an auxiliary fuel tank for the generator to having a combined fuel tank for both engine and generator, and would love to know which model year they went with that.

 

[StinkerBell]

We had to do a spread sheet for each boat we looked at. We found that all though there are changes there is also the extra options that some added that for a brand new model would be considered standard. We had one delight which was all though the boat was a 2013 the Garmin Navigation was updated in 2015.

 

[VogonPoet]

Expanding on what Stinkerbell said above.

In the spreadsheet, we captured many different standard and optional featured, and compared it to "what would we buy if we purchased the current 2016 model." On almost every boat we looked at, there were things we would upgrade, and priced the cost to add those features. For example, GPS/sonar/radar, bimini, etc. In some cases, the owners had already upgraded. In other cases, owners had gone with cheaper alternatives. One thing we couldn't "upgrade" was the cab/cockpit change between the 25-classic and 25sc. It wasn't until we looked at both did we realize that the 25sc suited us better - but it could have gone the other way.

We had a number of nice surprises, and glad we didn't try to guess the features based on the year but by looking at each boat on its own merits.

 

[timdelta]

Thanks for the info. Maybe if we could list the changes from year to year for each model then the bulk of the work could be done, this way one could focus on the individual changes of each boat. A great starting point may be, does anyone know when the engine changed in the models? i would be happy to compile each models changes over the years if guys can chime in with the data. Then we could have a sticky? spread sheet? that we could use for our shopping list.

 

[S. Todd]

We have a 2015 R25SC
Last year the remote spotlight was standard on the 8.5 foot beam (and less) boats.
White PVC molding added to walkways on sidedecks (something they began earlier on the Cutwaters and people liked).
Volvo D3-150 is in 25, (D3-200 is in the 27)
Led Strip lighting added under the side brows (led lighting throughout was still an option you paid extra for)
Interior window treatments were changed to a lighter color
Interior (and rear cockpit seat) upholstery was upgraded to solid brown Sunbrella fabric with off white vinyl (this and window treatments may have occurred on some 2014 models)
Microwave and TV were both optional equipment on the 25
Mast was changed from prior years - folds to port side (instead of forward) and removed the side stays and raised the spotlight
Optional Navigation system without radar was Garmin 741xs
Teak dashboard was changed to dark brown vinyl (this may have occurred in 2014 or earlier)
Slight change to the handrails around the cockpit took place then or sometime prior.
(A spread sheet on all the changes could become a significant project - but this is my two cents worth to get you started.)

 

[Levitation]

Complicating the issue is that Fluid Motion does not make just annual model changes - though they do some of that. Changes are fluid and ongoing continuously due to numerous factors - suppliers change their product without warning, factory discovers there is a problem with the way they always done this or that, boats are hand built by employees who come and go. Tis an interesting time we Tug owners live in.