Ranger 520VX Boats For Sale

The Ranger 520VX is a 20-foot fiberglass bass boat built for serious tournament and big-water fishing, with examples on the used market spanning the early-to-mid 2000s. It carries a reputation as a dry, capable hull that keeps anglers out of spray and holds a steady ride on cold, rough days. Rigged, the boat runs heavy, weighing well over 4,000 pounds, so towing it is a deliberate job. Many were finished in a sparkly candy apple red, a classic Ranger colorway that still defines the look of these rigs.

Power on the 520VX varies by model year and owner. A 2002 example carried Mercury's 3.1-liter V-Max two-stroke, an engine valued for its reliability and pull. A later setup with a 225 Mercury OptiMax has been run to 53 mph without being fully opened up, which lines up with the model's reputation for being reasonably fast. At least one 2005 hull has been repowered with a large Mercury Verado, an outboard tall enough that, mounted on the transom, it stands over a 6-foot-6 person — an unusual choice on a bass boat, where the ProXS is more common.

The helm is laid out for fishing first. A Humminbird Helix 10 typically anchors the dash, paired on well-equipped boats with Mega 360 and Mega side imaging, plus a second Helix 10 at the bow for mapping and 2D. A hot foot throttle and a blinker trim let you adjust trim without taking a hand off the wheel. Switching for live wells, lights and fuel sits on the dash panel, with fuel, trim, water pressure and RPM gauges in the cluster.

Up top, the 520VX has a big front deck with three hatches and a back deck originally fitted with six, including a split live-well hatch and twin live wells. Storage is generous: a large rod locker that holds 12 rods comfortably and can be packed near 20, plus port and starboard storage boxes and a recessed trolling-motor foot-pedal tray. The interior fiberglass corners are rolled rather than square, and the factory layout was built around carpet, details that matter if you plan to refit hatches or flooring. Boats are commonly rigged with a MinnKota trolling motor — including the Ultrex with a 52-inch shaft and 112 pounds of thrust and spot lock — along with shallow-water anchors and a multi-battery setup running a cranking battery, a dedicated graph battery and three trolling-motor batteries.

When shopping a 520VX for sale, condition and rigging drive the value as much as the year. Factory carpet and interior can be replaced, and well-kept hulls have been brought back to near-new appearance with new hatch lids, CNC-cut deck turf with the Ranger logo, stainless locking compression handles, and color-matched powder coating. A full custom refresh of an older hull runs in the neighborhood of $10,000, against roughly $100,000 for a comparable new bass boat, which is why clean used 520VX rigs remain in demand. Look for a documented repower, a manual jack plate, current electronics and a full cover when comparing listings.