Ranger II Restoration with TeeNee

Good morning all,

This is my first post to your group after purchasing a Feathercraft Ranger II with a TeeNee trailer a year ago. Nothing like a 10 week recovery from a health event to motivate one to gain some perspective on what's important in life. For me it was/is to get this restoration done. Trailer is first and boat will have to wait until next winter but I fully plan to put it in the water this Spring with a tiller mounted vintage '68 20hp Merc that I've been using to power our 15' Tonkacraft. This pic was taken up at Crane Lake that borders the Boundary waters.



My wife and I have discovered these little AL boats after years of encouragement from my "boat friends" to sell our V8 I/O fiberglass boat, one that we could only enjoy the main channel of the Mississippi with. This wood gunneled '55 Tonkacraft has been a blast but as we age I think a console mount with power tilt and start will be much more friendly. My friend pointed me to an ad for this Feathercraft Ranger II that was located 50 miles away in WI. Fortunately, after mulling it over a week and half to justify yet another project in my life of too many other unfinished ones, it was still available. He had traveled all the way to Kansas to purchase this Feathercraft from the original owner that had kept it on his private lake. I promised this guy that it would receive a proper restoration and so this project begins. It will now live in the back waters of the Mississippi River in Southern MN.


Here's a couple pics of the trailer in process after media blasting, epoxy primer and first coat of high build primer.


I'm recovering the wheels as they were pretty beat up, must have sat flat in a field for years based on how deeply pitted they were but they'll live again.


Fenders too were bent up but they're made of some serious metal, a treat from the thinner gauge automotive panels I work with daily.

The plan is to paint the trailer Ford Chrome Yellow in Urethane and the wheels and suspension in Ivory. Baby moons are essential!

I'm in the process of boxing up parts for zinc plating.


I'm looking forward to sharing the trailer's completion soon and plans for the boat restoration. As a teaser... think Ranger III

Remove that center spine and do all kind of sideway slides in the creeks! The good ole days! Enjoy!

Crazyboat said:

Remove that center spine and do all kind of sideway slides in the creeks! The good ole days! Enjoy!

Click to expand...

Wanting to hang a 30hp Tohatsu on it and graft on an old hood from a Johnson or Evinrude so that it looks correct. Should be a nice little hotrod.

Ranging3 said:

Wanting to hang a 30hp Tohatsu on it and graft on an old hood from a Johnson or Evinrude so that it looks correct. Should be a nice little hotrod.

Click to expand...

Looks like a ton of fun!

Nice classic boat there… Ranger III.

You remind me of me…lol. Everything gets “Hot Rodded”.

I like the idea of swapping the engine cowl to retain the classic look.

Crazyboat said:

Remove that center spine and do all kind of sideway slides in the creeks! The good ole days! Enjoy!

Click to expand...

You actually brought up a concern I have with this boat. I'll admit that I didn't grow up around liquid water so I'm still learning, but the Tonkacraft has two other ribs (strakes?) down each side, a total of 4 more. I'm looking to over power this somewhat and concerned about directional stability. Should I be concerned? Should I expect/plan to add some more ribs?

Ranging3 said:

You actually brought up a concern I have with this boat. I'll admit that I didn't grow up around liquid water so I'm still learning, but the Tonkacraft has two other ribs (strakes?) down each side, a total of 4 more. I'm looking to over power this somewhat and concerned about directional stability. Should I be concerned? Should I expect/plan to add some more ribs?

Click to expand...

To be fair, you seem to have a great hand on metal craft, but personally, I wouldn't add any more strakes. FCs are known to be a bit slide-y, but that's a feature not a bug. lol
In my opinion, ignoring the hydro-engineering potholes, the fewer holes one adds below the waterline, the better, and adding structure down there would require a couple hundred new solid rivits.


BTW, you're dead-on the HP rating for a Ranger with the Tohatsu. Lots of FC folk running that rig.

mbullen said:

To be fair, you seem to have a great hand on metal craft, but personally, I wouldn't add any more strakes. FCs are known to be a bit slide-y, but that's a feature not a bug. lol
In my opinion, ignoring the hydro-engineering potholes, the fewer holes one adds below the waterline, the better, and adding structure down there would require a couple hundred new solid rivits.


BTW, you're dead-on the HP rating for a Ranger with the Tohatsu. Lots of FC folk running that rig.

Click to expand...

thank you for the confirmations, sounds like my ideas or on track. One more thing... apparently hydraulic steering is typically only for larger boats with more torque than the 30hp would deliver but I found a quick ratio small unit. I'm thinking the feel would be a lot nice than the old cable(s) solution. Anyone done this? Again... think hotrod and it'll be a keeper

Ranging3 said:

thank you for the confirmations, sounds like my ideas or on track. One more thing... apparently hydraulic steering is typically only for larger boats with more torque than the 30hp would deliver but I found a quick ratio small unit. I'm thinking the feel would be a lot nice than the old cable(s) solution. Anyone done this? Again... think hotrod and it'll be a keeper

Click to expand...

Personally, I've not encountered hydraulic on small vintage runabouts.
I know quite a few that like the upgrade to a rotary system like Teleflex or Seastar, though. You would need to fab a cable anchor in the stern.
I also know quite a few that run the cable and pulley system on the Tohatsu or Suzuki. Easy adaptor plate on the steering clamp makes it possible.

mbullen said:

Personally, I've not encountered hydraulic on small vintage runabouts.
I know quite a few that like the upgrade to a rotary system like Teleflex or Seastar, though. You would need to fab a cable anchor in the stern.
I also know quite a few that run the cable and pulley system on the Tohatsu or Suzuki. Easy adaptor plate on the steering clamp makes it possible.

Click to expand...

Very clean install, thanks for the pic

Ranging3 said:

Very clean install, thanks for the pic

Click to expand...

To be fair, I lifted the pic from the feathercraft dot net site. Apologies to the photographer. You might dive in few rabbitholes over there, too. More than a couple of examples to be found.

mbullen said:

To be fair, I lifted the pic from the feathercraft dot net site. Apologies to the photographer. You might dive in few rabbitholes over there, too. More than a couple of examples to be found.

Click to expand...

I see the "Seastar SH5150P Helm Safe-T II No-Feedback Single", that's a lot less $s and I like the single push-pull cable. Thank you for the tip!

Ivory bits done! Color is the Light Ivory for the Porsche 356 in Glasurit. Planning to restore the vintage Kainer steering wheel and paint it this same Ivory. Time to start on the yellow bits...

Ranging3 said:

You actually brought up a concern I have with this boat. I'll admit that I didn't grow up around liquid water so I'm still learning, but the Tonkacraft has two other ribs (strakes?) down each side, a total of 4 more. I'm looking to over power this somewhat and concerned about directional stability. Should I be concerned? Should I expect/plan to add some more ribs?

Click to expand...

The only bracing I'd want to add would be at the bow and then only if you will be plowing head first into 2 footers. If your body of water is usually calm, less weight, fewer holes is how I'd go. And of course, do not remove that strake down the center. (I'm always joking)