Ranger 28 work

[solman55]

Gary Mull design ranger 28 I want to use it as a liveaboard and sail to far away places, haha. Anyway I need to find out what it would cost to replace all the tanks, the guy that owned the boat befor this fellow removed the holding tank, raw water tank, and the fuel tank so the fuel is supplied by a small 6 gallon fuel can. I can do all the work myself I just need to find where I can get these and about how much I would be looking at spending, cause I would like to put about a 10 gallon fuel cell in it, a 10 gallon holding tank and a 15 gallon water tank. Now what would be more reasonable and where could I get these. It is a 1977 Ranger 28 in great condition other than it needs new top coat the guy did a decent job I just think i can do better. Let me know what you think and some good ideas. I want it to be a live aboard so I know what I plan to do on the inside of the boat, propane stove, small refrigerator, and cut out the excess junk and she would be a fine live aboard.
Thanks

[sailingdog]

Call up Ronco Plastics. They make holding and water tanks and are recommended by Peggie Hall.

As for fuel tanks, I'd recommend going with a Moeller fuel tank. They make tanks for both above and below deck use. With a permanently installed fuel tank, you'll probably want a bilge blower and fume detector.

You'll probably want to install a proper propane locker, as well as a propane solenoid and fume detector.

For refrigeration, I would recommend getting an Engel or Norcold portable refrigerator. These are dual voltage, top-loading, small refrigerators that are efficient enough to run off of solar panels.

As for plumbing the head, I would recommend plumbing the discharge of the head directly to the holding tank. Then I would recommend plumbing the holding tank pump out line to a y-valve. One side of the valve should go to the deck pumpout fitting. The other side should go to a manual diaphragm pump and to a seacock and through-hull. This will allow you do dump the holding tank when out past the three-mile limit.

For your electrical system, you'll probably want to get some passive re-charging capacity—solar or wind. Solar is easier and requires less maintenance in the long run, and it is a lot quieter too.

[smackdaddy]

I ordered my 9 gallon tank from marine.com (sailnet's sister store). Great price and good folks:

HERE IT IS AT MARINE.COM

[solman55]

Thanks for the advice. Does anyone have any information on the ranger 28 tanks? My dad and I have done battery work for a while and I am thinking about switching over to a 24v system and rewireing the boat for that so when at sea I can have my house batteries last a good long time, i also want to switch to lithium phosphate batteries so they do not fume and last 10 years so I can move them inside and i could run a small solar panel somewhere which would be great, so I could make the frig last a good while with the proper setup and would allow me to use little power at the dock which would save me money in the long run. The boat had an atomic four but was repowered with a yanmar 1gm so I need to see where the original blower stuff was at cause Im sure it had something before. I need to figure what it will cost me before offering him anything. I dont own the boat but I am looking to buy it, It needs some minor work to it the engine runs and shifts like a champ and the interior is in excellent shape. Im just figureing new sails, roller jib, mast removal so I can clean it up and repaint it and put new pulleys on it so I know it is good. It needs new ropes all around, so Im just figureing it all up and i can live on it and work on it. Im also thinking of putting a marine air unit on board to keep the boat cool, so if you have any other ideas on these things let me know.
Thanks

[mitiempo]

I don't think 24 volt would be a great help. True, you use half the amps at 24 volts but you need twice as many batteries to get there to start with if using 12 volt batteries. Also most marine equipment is 12 volts and I know of no boats that are exclusively 24 volts but many with dual systems. You wouldn't have to rewire much for 24 volts if the wiring is in good condition but if you did you could of course get away with a lighter gauge. Every light bulb, sailing instrument and of course the alternator and starter would need replacing and the engine panel reworked for 24 volts. And some things just are not available in 24 volts.
Lithium phosphate batteries? With today's much more common choices such as AGM I don't think that makes sense.
As far as the tanks the advice given above by dog is good. Ranger is long gone and tank size and shape will depend a lot on where you want to install them. You have a diesel so you do not need a bilge blower or sniffer for the engine system.
For the propane system you will need a vapor proof locker that vents overboard and a solenoid for shutoff at the tank inside the locker. A sniffer for propane is a good idea and they are available with a solenoid control built in.

[solman55]

Ok thanks. I thought 24v would be more common, I like the lithium phosphate because the weigh much less so I can get more Ah for the size, and they do not expel any gasses, and cannot catch on fire. We have done extensive testing and these are the way I would go just because of my experience with them. I wish someone with a ranger could chime in.

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by solman55

... I need to figure what it will cost me before offering him anything. I dont own the boat but I am looking to buy it, It needs some minor work to it the engine runs and shifts like a champ and the interior is in excellent shape. Im just figureing new sails, roller jib, mast removal so I can clean it up and repaint it and put new pulleys on it so I know it is good. ...

What you just rattled off sounds to me like a minimum $5-10,000 in cost, and I expect that you don't know the half of it yet.

I suggest you put together a spreadsheet of what it will cost you to put this boat into good order. Don't assume anything cost-wise, get real quotes on equipment...when you're done, put the list back up here and you'll get plenty of feedback on it. Unless you really just want to wing it.

The Ranger 28 was not a bad racer, but seems like a poor choice for a live-aboard or a cruiser...let me guess, is it available for a song, too cheap to pass up?

You will save yourself a lot of time and money, if you put together $10-15,000 and find a nice Catalina 30 ready for you to move aboard. If you feel you can't afford that, you don't want to get into a fixer-up. You'll spend even more, and likely end up with less.

Been there and done that...

[sailingdog]

SF makes some good points.

Given the scope of the work you already have ahead of you, and you say the boat will need new sails, new running rigging, and likely new standing rigging, unless you're getting this boat for nearly free, it is very likely that this boat will have a NEGATIVE VALUE—that it will cost you more to make the boat ready than it would ever be worth.

BTW, a bilge blower isn't a requirement on a diesel powered boat. Not a bad idea, but not a requirement, since diesel is far less likely to explode than gasoline. I wouldn't recommend going with non-lead-acid technology batteries quite yet. They're not really ready for marine use on a small boat, and quite expensive too.

[smackdaddy]

I've got a question - why do you guys always recommend buying stuff from other companies when sailnet/marine.com has the same or similar stuff that is quite a bit cheaper?

Like the Ronco thing. Granted you can get custom-shaped tanks with Ronco - but you're generally talking twice as much (or more) than getting a standard Todd tank from marine.com. And, sure, there are cases where standard shapes just wont work - but at 2-3 times the cost of a Todd, I can figure out how to make a standard tank work.

I have no affiliation with sailnet/marine.com - but I really do appreciate this forum they provide for us. And, more importantly, I appreciate the fact that their prices are most often some of the best around. Both of those added together makes me wonder why you guys won't support them more.

Just a question.

[sailingdog]

I recommended Ronco, cause I know their tanks are pretty decent. Sailnet can sell Ronco tanks... A lot of the gear I recommend is sold by many different vendors... I appreciate their supporting this forum and use them when I can.

The one issue I have with sailnet is that their on-line store is a huge waste of time. It is pretty much broken. I've mentioned this to them several times over the past few years, and yet they've done nothing. Calling Sailnet is really the best approach, but recently, they've been having some issues there as well. I have used sailnet as a vendor for years, but to me, the fact that I do most of my ordering online and the fact that their online store is difficult to use at best, is a huge problem for me.