BASSINAL

Crongrats! It does not matter what boat you have, what matters is that you get to go fishing! Does the snow come with it?

I have installed 3, on my last 3 boats (Keelshields). And used a different color than the bottom. Just picked out one of the trim colors on the boat and got that color, looks good. Bottom line is take your time, and it has to be warm weather or it won't be flexible. Once you stick it on your boat it's stuck, be careful and it's no problem.

I can certainly understand your points, but the lakes and landings are public and tournament anglers have the same right to use them as you do. (like it or not) I have a very popular web site in the Florida Panhandle area and a couple of years ago there was a state wide tournament at Lake Toho that I attended and had posted the results on my site after the tournament. A few days later I recieved an e-mail from a gentleman from that area about how rude all the anglers in the tournament were and wished we would stay in the panhandle. He had a boat run by him too close as you did and took him forever to get his boat in the water that morning. After a few e-mails back and forth and letting him know that most of the anglers in that tournament were from his own town and reminding him that the landing and lake were public property and that his Chamber of Commerce paid the tournament officials to bring the tournament to his town, backed off and did say that is was just a couple of anglers that in his opion made all of us look bad. There is always a couple of bad apples in the bunch. And seriously, if you want a nice relaxing vacation on the water, do your homework, and don't pick a saturday morning on a lake that hold tournaments.

What you need to let the boaters know is that if they (the boater) send their entry form in with you (the non-boater), in the same envelope, they are guarenteed to use their boat both days of the tournament. Also just making sure you know that you don't have to send your name in with a boater, you will still be able to fish, they will draw you out with someone differant each day of the tournament. I just came back from the Fl State Championship their, it was a little on the tough side. Water is so low you could not get within 1/4 mile or more from the bank and then it would only be 2 foot or so. Be careful and good luck! PS: The tournament is out of Scott Driver Park (not Okee-tantie Park), Scott Driver is a brand new park right accross the road from Okee-tantie.

Panama City area Bass Fishing is alive and well!

Panama City Florida here. Great fishing, Deerpoint Lake, Apalatchacola River System, Lake Seminole and plenty more.

I got on-line, got several dealers phone no's from Florida to Kentucky, called them and got their best price. Then contacted my local dealer and he matched my best price. Even if he didn't, it's worth a drive somewhere to save 2 or 3 thousand dollars. If you get one make sure you get it with the 175. Good Luck!

If your going to purchase a new boat, also check out the Ranger 188VS. 06 is the first year they made them so you probably won't find a used one. I have one and it beats all my expectations. Great boat!!

Castle44, I have a 2006 188VS Ranger (18' 8") I have Keelshields not Keelguard, and I believe it's 7 or 8' long. On the package it tells you depending the length of your boat which one to get. My Ranger trailer has no rollers or nothing to ride up onto the Kellshield. I don't think it would matter if your rollers rolled onto it or not. Better safe than sorry, call them and ask! Keelshield is an advertiser on my web site so I get them free. Check with Bass Pro Shop, I believe they are having a clearance on them right now. Maybe around $125. Good Luck!

It certainly was not as stable as a standard Bass Boat deck, but once you got used to it, it was not a problem.

I had a Keel Shield on my Pro Craft for 4 years and have just put one on my new Ranger. I installed both with no problems. Takes 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. Take your time, follow the instructions, and it's easy.

:)Years ago I had a similiar boat that I added a deck to. It ran from the front to the back of the front bench. I put hinges on the front so that I could lift the whole thing up to get to the storage underneath. Good Luck!

I had one on my Procraft for about 3 years with no problem and installed it with the boat on the trailer. ( it will depend on your set-up ) It took about a good hour. If you do it right the first time you should have no problems. I just bought a Ranger and have the Keel Shield still in the box to put on it. It tells you on the package to wait until the temp is a good 70 deg or so.

:)2006 Ranger 188VS w/ 2006 Mercury 175 Optimax.

Nice!! I just traded my 2000 Pro185 w/ 150 efi Merc in on a Ranger. I had the Boat since it was new and it never gave me one problem in the 5 years I had it. (Boat or Motor) Hope you have the same experiance.

I put the stereo unit in the driver's side rod box and bought speakers with a housing. I mounted the speakers under the console on the back wall above my feet. That way no holes had to be cut for the speakers and the wire runs were just through that one wall between drivers rod box and console. Plus everything is hidden. Only use it to listen to the Seminoles and Gators. Hope this helps.

:-/ For those of you have a Ranger 188VS w/ 175hp. I would like to know how fast yours' run. (preferably gps no.s) and in the Ranger Brochure it shows that the 188vs does not come with Trolling Motor Batteries. Is that true? Thanks