Ranger 23 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Mull framed the Ranger 23 as “a little ship capable of sailing anywhere in the world safely, and swiftly,” and the hull answers that brief with a fine bow entry and racy lines that stood apart from most contemporaries of the early seventies. The underwater appendages are straightforward trapezoidal profiles using standard NACA sections, paired with 1,500 pounds of lead ballast in the fin keel and a spade rudder carried on a stainless steel post. The hull and deck were built to Lloyd’s Provisional Rules for GRP vessels, with the hull laid up in alternating mat and woven roving and bulkheads bonded to the shell, while the interior rides in a fiberglass pan. The deck itself was a balsa-cored sandwich using a honeycomb method developed by Hexcel Corporation, a construction choice that lent stiffness without great weight.

Rig and Handling

What distinguishes the boat aloft is a high-aspect sailplan on a beefy, deck-stepped masthead rig with a single set of spreaders. Mull noted that he was able to design each Ranger mast for its specific model rather than drawing from stock extrusions, and the standard mast rose 27.7 feet above the deck, with a tall rig adding two feet and corresponding sail area for light-air regions. A revised sailplan with a shorter mainsail foot was later drawn to qualify for the Quarter Ton class under IOR. Standing rigging is purposeful: 3/16-inch 1x19 stainless for the headstay and upper shroud, 5/32-inch for the backstay and lower shroud. Long-time owners characterize the rig as overbuilt, and no failures surfaced in a reader survey. The deck-stepped arrangement was a deliberate move to keep clear access through the interior, though it limits the compression an owner can develop on the stays. On the water, owners praise excellent windward performance and commonly carry a 150% genoa with full main until breezes pass 15 to 18 knots; Mull predicted 5.5 knots on flat water, with 10-knot conditions yielding 4 to 6 knots and stronger air or waves bringing planing and surfing.

Accommodations

Below, the Ranger 23 makes no pretense of standing headroom—Mull felt no compulsion to provide it, and cabin height settles at 5 feet 6 inches. The bow holds a V-berth with a 6 foot 2 inch sleeping area and two dressers, while 6 foot 6 inch settees convert to berths in the main cabin. A tilt-away dinette table and a 25-pound icebox that doubles as the companionway step speak to compact cruising logic. The galley places a sink to port with an optional two-burner alcohol stove to starboard, plus two drawers and a storage cubby; interestingly, the original sales brochure drew the stove and sink on opposite sides from the finished layout. The head was sited for convenience and stability rather than privacy, originally a self-contained Handihead with a four-gallon capacity and waste discharge. In the cockpit, four sit in relative comfort even with a tiller occupying the footwell center.

Known Issues

The mast step drew Mull’s own warning as “probably the biggest source of grief.” It is a 6061-T6 aluminum fabrication fastened to the deck structure and meant to be bedded in flexible waterproof compound, but on many boats that bedding has dried and cracked, letting water track through the bolt hole in the deck core. The deck-stepped mast also inherently compromises the compression available on the stays. Elsewhere, failures of adhesives and the numerous toerail bolts at the hull-deck joint can leak, and many owners rebed chainplates every couple of years as a matter of course. Some owners have reported leaks through the ballast bolts, which Mull advised correcting by re-bedding the keel and bolts with an elastic compound to absorb hull-keel movement. A few owners note dime-sized blisters needing inspection or repair, though the design avoids any reputation for chronic deficiencies requiring total bottom replacement.

Refits and Ownership

Ownership of a Ranger 23 tends to center on cyclical sealing work rather than structural overhaul. The keel-bolt re-bed Mull recommended addresses the movement at the hull-keel joint that produces leaks, and chainplate attention is a recurring but minor task. Standard gear worth preserving includes external halyards, Barient winches at mast and cockpit, and Schaefer track, blocks, and cleats, with bow and stern pulpits and 24-inch stanchions carrying a single lifeline for safety. Initial options were limited to a split backstay and a racing package with spinnaker gear, so most refinements seen today are owner-driven rather than factory expansions.

The Verdict

The Ranger 23 is a focused Mull design that traded interior volume for a quick, seaworthy little ship with a rigorously built hull and an overbuilt rig. Its weaknesses are concentrated in deck penetration sealing—mast step, chainplates, hull-deck joint, and keel bolts—but none suggest systemic failure, and the boat remains a tidy entry into traditional performance cruising.

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