Les Lampman
New member
Hi Karl,
Just saw your post and thought I'd add a bit of what I learned about the Arima boats as a long time dealer for them.
The Arima Sea Ranger 19 Hardtop is a nice boat if you're looking for something in that size range. It, of course, compromises the cockpit to get room up forward for the v-berth (the Sea Chaser model has a storage compartment forward but no v-berth so you get extra cockpit space but alas, no pilothouse, the closest you can come is the Skip Tower model with full canvas if you opt for a Sea Chaser). But as 19-footers go it packs a lot in and does it well. Since it has a modular interior (in the helm area) you can change it pretty easily to suit your needs.
Since it was designed for the Pacific Northwest it's a "sit down" boat. It's not a deep-v so it isn't intended (or necessary) to stand up to run the boat. If you exercise some throttle control (and especially with trim tabs) you can take on some very rough water and still stay comfortably seated. It runs fairly flat for good visibility forward at moderate speeds. It's intended to cruise (in any up to a decent chop) at 20 knots. It's will do 25 knots easily (with enough HP on the stern) but after 30 knots it sucks a lot of power (it's not intended to lift and reduce drag like a deep-v hull, there's too much lift in the stern for that).
I outfitted a ton of them with 90 HP Honda engines (and a few with 75s) and they do well; they don't need a huge engine to run nicely. You need nothing close to the 150 HP rating.
Like most 19-footers I'd avoid too much weight on the stern; it will put up with it better than most but it still kills the balance (just like it would in other 19-footers).
It's a very honest boat in terms of handling and doesn't have any bad habits. It will likely go through a heck of a lot more than you will. They don't break easily and they're well put together; not very fancy but very workmanlike with few, if any, issues.
Mr. Arima is a fisherman and the Arima boats were all designed around that thought with precious little given over to cruising but for an all-around utility boat they're great.
As far as headroom there are two issues: Mr. Arima hates ugly boats and wouldn't make his hardtops any higher than absolutely necessary and as I mentioned before, they're designed for sit down operation. However, there are hatches (that don't leak) in the hardtop so at your height you could absolutely stand up in the hatch over the helm seat and operate the boat that way. I find the hatches wonderful for the open boat feel...remove both of them, drop the aft curtain, open boat side windows and it's as close to an open boat feel as you can get with a hardtop. The advantage then is being able to button it back up again for a nice (mostly) weather tight cabin.
Good luck in your search.
Les
Just saw your post and thought I'd add a bit of what I learned about the Arima boats as a long time dealer for them.
The Arima Sea Ranger 19 Hardtop is a nice boat if you're looking for something in that size range. It, of course, compromises the cockpit to get room up forward for the v-berth (the Sea Chaser model has a storage compartment forward but no v-berth so you get extra cockpit space but alas, no pilothouse, the closest you can come is the Skip Tower model with full canvas if you opt for a Sea Chaser). But as 19-footers go it packs a lot in and does it well. Since it has a modular interior (in the helm area) you can change it pretty easily to suit your needs.
Since it was designed for the Pacific Northwest it's a "sit down" boat. It's not a deep-v so it isn't intended (or necessary) to stand up to run the boat. If you exercise some throttle control (and especially with trim tabs) you can take on some very rough water and still stay comfortably seated. It runs fairly flat for good visibility forward at moderate speeds. It's intended to cruise (in any up to a decent chop) at 20 knots. It's will do 25 knots easily (with enough HP on the stern) but after 30 knots it sucks a lot of power (it's not intended to lift and reduce drag like a deep-v hull, there's too much lift in the stern for that).
I outfitted a ton of them with 90 HP Honda engines (and a few with 75s) and they do well; they don't need a huge engine to run nicely. You need nothing close to the 150 HP rating.
Like most 19-footers I'd avoid too much weight on the stern; it will put up with it better than most but it still kills the balance (just like it would in other 19-footers).
It's a very honest boat in terms of handling and doesn't have any bad habits. It will likely go through a heck of a lot more than you will. They don't break easily and they're well put together; not very fancy but very workmanlike with few, if any, issues.
Mr. Arima is a fisherman and the Arima boats were all designed around that thought with precious little given over to cruising but for an all-around utility boat they're great.
As far as headroom there are two issues: Mr. Arima hates ugly boats and wouldn't make his hardtops any higher than absolutely necessary and as I mentioned before, they're designed for sit down operation. However, there are hatches (that don't leak) in the hardtop so at your height you could absolutely stand up in the hatch over the helm seat and operate the boat that way. I find the hatches wonderful for the open boat feel...remove both of them, drop the aft curtain, open boat side windows and it's as close to an open boat feel as you can get with a hardtop. The advantage then is being able to button it back up again for a nice (mostly) weather tight cabin.
Good luck in your search.
Les
