They're great sailing boats, especially for the
money. In their
price range, they're tough to beat in that regard. I owned one for 5 years and she never showed any bad habits, even when pushed. Although, I'm told that at the limit, the boom's a touch undersized.
Nice big
bilge sump, fairly good
engine access. Just add some lazy jacks, & a
cockpit locker organization locker & you're good to go. And yeah, that locker's HUGE.
The cons; Galley's miniscule, & the dinette's a touch small. Plus she's a little shy on
storage space in the main
cabin. Though you can
work around this; either by breaking out the tools, & or being creative in other ways. As basically the space behind the seatbacks in the
Saloon goes completely unused, as she come in factory trim. Vertical seatbacks in the
cockpit.
Here's a few
reviews, including Latitude 38's boat of the month:
Ranger 33 Review - Bing
Latitude 38 Boat of the Month: Ranger 33
A couple of other good boats to look at in the same
price range are; Cal 34 (bigger
galley & more comfortable cockpit),
Ericson 35 (bigger down below, especially for entertaining & cooking),
Ericson 32. And a few others.
If you just want bigger down below period (with amenities), look at a
Catalina 30. They're not
offshore boats, but for size for the
money, they're tough to beat. If you get one, make sure to get the tall rig.
And if you want to do things on the
cheap, take a look at Cal 29's. The quality's still there, it's just that they're a bit smaller. However, I've seen decent used ones go for $6k.
Cal's & Rangers were made essentially by the same company. Just different names & designs. As can be seen at
www.sailboatdata.com
Make up a cheat sheet, or list of note cards in terms of what you want in each area of the boat. It helps to have a checklist when you're looking at boats, as it's easy to fall into lust with something, only to later discover that you glossed over X, when that was a feature or brand which you really wanted.
Given the age of Rangers, & these other boats, what separates them is; quality of care, & what they have accessory wise. Particularly as, when purchased new, accessories can
wind up costing a LOT.
Dodgers, Biminis, Ground Tackle, Auto Pilots...
Also, prior to doing the full on pull it out of the
water survey, you might consider having a
mechanic look over the
engine first. And tell you a bit about it's
health, plus what may need replacing etc.
Ditto on having a rigger look over those systems too. As those two areas are the most expensive (and critical) on the boat.
And take a friend who's sail savvy with you when you go to inspect it, as well as on the test sail, so that you have an idea of their
health as well.
PS: Given the age of said boats, a lot of them have been repowered, from Atomic-4's (gas) to Diesels. And there's little difference in the market price between them for the most part. So get one with a
diesel. They're more reliable, easier maintance wise, & better when it come time to resell the boat.