Ranger Boats construction

Team member Chad Craven and faculty adviser Jonathan Phillips traveled to Flippin AR to visit the Ranger Boats factory and the Forest L. Wood museum. Here are the basics of how a Ranger boat is crafted. This description is to the best of Jonathan Phillips memory so some facts may inadvertently not be 100% acurate. If you have any questions please contact Fred Page at Collins or watch the Ranger Boats video.

A Ranger boat begins with the construction of a plug or die (black 188). The die is a perfect form of what ½ the fiberglass finished part will look like. From this die, the molds for an individual boat model (green on top) are made. Every boat has two primary molds, a top (deck) and a bottom (hull). These production molds are the negative image of a finished part and will be used in the factory to create the boats. Unlike some American boat manufactures, Ranger's die and molds are made by American's right here in the USA.... Flippin AR to be exact.

The left picture shows a green mold being hand taped making it ready for gel coat. No I didn't miss a step. Gel coat is done before any fiberglass. It is similar to lining a cake pan with frosting before adding the cake mix. All that pretty pin striping you see on a Ranger boat is all done by hand. Probably by the guy and girl in these pictures. Middle picture is boat top receiving its black gel coat. The third picture is a mold (green) that has become a white bottom boat with black sides and is about to get its Ranger stripes.

After the gel coat is complete then fiberglass is added. The left picture shows the fiberglass being applied with a controlled glass to resin ratio - making for a stronger, more resilient product. The right picture is a crew that goes over the boat with hand rollers to set the fiberglass in its right place.

Once the main body of the fiberglass has set the boat is then removed from it's mold for a quick look at the gel coat. (Left Pic) It is not until this much material and labor is invested that the quality of the gel coat tapers/painters can be seen. If the gel coat is wrong then the boat is destroyed. These hard working Americans deliver quality workmanship with an amazing 99% success rate.

The Left picture shows the next step of adding Pultruded fiberglass. Notices how far forward the transom extends into the boat. After the Pultruded glass is in, then foam is sprayed to fill the gap between the bottom and the stringer. The right picture shows workers glassing over each hole that was created for the foam to be injected. The foam does a lot more then provide flotation. It provides structural support to prevent the hull from flexing and wires/cables from bouncing around.

The final step before mating the top and bottom is to cut holes for storage boxes (Right). To make one solid boat out of the two halves, more fiberglass is hand laid on the inside of the boat. The boxes on a Ranger boat make a solid connection with the boat bottom. Show in the middle picture is the seating area of a bass boat. Next the rod tubes and consoles are added (Left).

The final steps are to lay the carpet, add the accessories and outboards, and it is ready for a water test.

For most boats the next stop is to be loaded onto the trailer which is made in the building next door. Some get the extra step of a wrap or cut up for show.