Picked Up the New Vexus Today...9/16/2022

My friend, Jen, and I hooked her up and took her to the gas station where she drank almost 60 gallons of the "good stuff", before the gas nozzle shut off. Luckily, I had saved my Kroger fuel points for this day, so I was able to drop 40 cents off the first 35 gallons, before Kroger said, "That's all you get with your discount...you can get your 3 cents off on the rest of it". So cruel...lol

Anyway, she was gassed up, and ice put into the boat's cooler, where we tossed a few bottles of water for our ride later.  I drove home, and plugged her in, while Jen and I vacuumed it out, loaded the bow compartments with the safety equipment required by the USCG, and put the rod holders on. We put the fishing rods in the rod locker, but the lures will go in tomorrow. I have to sort through all the boxes to choose the "fall boxes", for the fall bite, since I missed the last part of summer, due to not having a boat to use.

Once she was loaded, we hit up Subway to grab some lunch to go, and headed to Dempsey's to launch.  The break-in procedure on the Mercury is pretty easy, but must be done how they ask, or there could be motor issues in the future. Today, was the perfect day to go do that, so the stars must have aligned, and smiled on me....because, the lake, which is seldom flat, was perfect today to go riding around for two hours.

The procedure is to simply vary the RPMs between 3500 and 4500 every two minutes, and after every 10 minutes, you can open her up to "wide open throttle" for no more than one minute....so, that's what we did.  Jen, used her phone as a stop watch and would tell me when two minutes was up, so I could vary the speed. I watched the main clock on the Humminbird, and every 10 minutes, I would tell her, "Hold on...here we go!".

While I know some guys, that have had these speeds on their Rangers, I can honestly say, that I have never been over 58mph in any of my 621s, no matter what I tried. Not that I'm a speed demon...I'm not, at all. But, I do like my boat to perform to its best ability, if it can do so.  I had the Vexus up to 68mph this afternoon, and that was with the prop I had taken off of my last 621's Verado, because the new one, that was supposed to come with this motor, is on backorder, but I'm told it will get this boat upwards of 72mph. 

Not that I'm ever going to go that fast, because 68 was too fast for me, anyway. But, it goes to show what a really great hull design can do, when paired with a beast of a motor. :)

The differences between the Ranger 621s I've had, which I've run for the past 21 years, and this Vexus, which I've only driven 4 times now (once in mine, and three times in a camera boat for a bass tournament a couple of weeks ago), are minimal.  

These are just my observations, and may or may not be anything to anyone else, but I notice little things, and little things can be big things to some people.

1. The biggest to me, was when sitting in the driver's seat and looking out over the bow, it feels like a "big water" boat. The bow feels higher off of the water, so when faced with bigger waves, it won't be as intimidating to someone less experienced, while driving in those bigger waves.  The Ranger has that "nose down" feel, so bigger waves can be more intimidating.

2. The fit and finish in both brands is the same. Excellent. However, there are some touches in the Vexus that I really like over the Ranger.  

A. On the passenger side foot area, instead of a bucket tucked up under the dash, there is a slanted foot rest instead.  Jen, mentioned how much she liked that as a passenger in that seat, because it was the perfect angle to have her feet and legs while riding on that side. 

Personally, I never used the bucket that comes with the Ranger, but I know others liked it.

B. The storage is more expansive in the Vexus, than in the Ranger. The bow storage seems almost double that of the Rangers, and the compartments in the back is yet to be determined. I'll know more when I load all my Plano 3700s back there. I know how many I could put in the 621, so we'll see tomorrow, when I load all the crankbaits. 

C. The rod locker is well-designed, but only holds (10) 1-piece rods, with room to put broken down 2-piece rods, compared to the Ranger 621's (12) 1-piece rod holders. But, that doesn't bother me, since I never run more than 8 trolling rods with the Off Shore boards, along with 2 dipsies off each corner, in back, anyway.

The area that holds the reel end of the rods is better in the Vexus, in my opinion.

D. The side rod holders, next to the passenger seat, will hold another 5 rods, easily. And, has a system that doesn't allow the reels to hit the fiberglass, like they did in my Rangers. They are more secure, too.

The Vexus's cooler is located in the back corner of the port stern, instead of in front of the passenger's side windshield, like in the Rangers, which I find satisfying. Because, when I fish, I keep a big cooler on the port side bow, so every time I wanted to get in the cooler, I had to shove that big cooler out of the way, to get in it. When it got full of fish, that sucker could get very heavy. Now, the cooler can be easily accessed. And, the location makes it easier to throw ice in it, and bottles of water, from the outside of the boat. I won't have to climb in the boat, just to add ice or drinks....it's much more efficient.

Well, this is getting long, and since I only spent two hours in it so far, I'll save some of the observations for my next report. It's getting late, and I need to go to bed. :)

Long story short....I think all my customers, new and old, will love this new boat as much as I do. :)

I have trips scheduled later in the week, next week, so I'll be out before then to prefish for them. I've been off way too long. lol But, thanks to my new Helix working perfectly, we were able to find and mark fish today, around the Huron dump, so I have an idea where I will be heading my next time out.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls