It has been a dream of mine to own a ranger boat since fishing out my dads when I was a kid. I bought a ranger banshee extreme a couple of weeks ago and my two sons and I were going down a river in florida at idle speed. I noticed several semi-semerged logs so I raised my jackplate up. Soon after I felt a log hit the bottom of the boat and instinctivly I trimmed the motor up and put it in neutral as most of you would do. Then I heard this loud (crunch sound) and when I looked back, I noticed that the top of the motor had hit the polling platform and crushed the fiberglass cover. If for whatever reason I hadnt heard the fiberglass crushing I would most definitely done severe damage to the motor. I called Ranger for two days and someone called me back. I explained what had happened and that I felt this was a design flaw that either could be corrected by raising the platform a couple of inches or at the very least , they should put some kind of warning on the console letting people know that you could destroy the top of your motor while trimming up while the jack plate is up. The gentleman I spoke to didnt comment much as far as a design flaw issue, and later someone else called me back. Needless to say they sent another cover to my dealer today and although I have not seen it yet, My dealer said it is much worse shape that my crushed one. The paint is all scratched and faded and will need repainted at the least . Not what I expected at all after spending this kind of money for a new boat that after two weeks of owning, I will spend several more hundred dollars for a new cover.
