I've never ridden a CrossRip, but when a bike is described as not being as snappy as a Cross Check that sets off red flags for me. I used to have a Cross Check and it was a great bike, but I wouldn't have described it as snappy. The reason I ultimately sold my Cross Check is the reason I think you should sell your CrossRip -- the geometry just wasn't what I wanted it to be. The bars were too low and the reach too long for my tastes. I tried to fix that with a short, steep stem (having already made the rash decision to cut the steerer at what I thought was a reasonable height), and with the short and steep stem I was able to get the fit to be just about right but I was never really satisfied with the ride of the bike. That's what I'm hearing from you with your CrossRip.

It looks like you've already got a steep stem on the CrossRip. Different handlebars are only going to make a marginal improvement. They won't fundamentally alter the way it rides.

Two other observations:

1) You should go out and crash your Cross Check in the dirt immediately. Get it banged up. Surly bikes are not made to get "the royal treatment." They're made to be abused. I made the mistake of giving my Cross Check a beautiful electric blue candy powder coating and spent half the time I owned it trying to keep it pretty. Eventually I realized that there's probably a reason why Surly usually chooses such ugly colors for their bikes. Dings and scrapes on a cross bike improve the bike's performance because they make you less afraid to get more dings and scrapes.

2) There's a fundamental tension between a bike that's fully outfitted with rack, fenders, sensible rain tires, etc. and a bike that's built for fun. No matter how fun a bike is to ride to begin with, adding a rack and fenders and bombproof tires is going to make it at least a little less fun to ride. I fight this battle all the time with my primary commuter, which is a 2013 Kona Jake. A friend recently described me (not unfairly) as "a raving Kona fanboy", and the Jake series is the heart of my Kona love. But I've built my 2013 Jake as a rain commuter, complete with rack, fenders and thick tires (as thick as I can tolerate anyway). Recently I picked up a 2015 Jake the Snake for gravel rides and cross racing. It's very nearly identical to my 2013 Jake, but the first time I rode it I was like, "Dang, this is fun to ride." Last week I had the 2013 Jake torn apart to upgrade the brakes, so I rode the 2015 JtS to work with just a rear seatpost fender and it was fun. So when I got around to putting the 2013 Jake back together, I left the rack off and have been riding to work this week with my stuff in a backpack. It's been fun. But there was a reason I had the rack on their to begin with and I know eventually I'm going to put it back on. My point is if you're going to build a beast-of-burden rain bike you should just commit to it and accept that it isn't going to be quite as fun to ride as some of your other bikes.

Personally, if I were in your position I'd designate the Cross Check to be the beast of burden and build/buy a true road bike for the fair weather/fun riding. I did this with a 2001 LeMond Buenos Aires (not just steel, but really good steel) and I couldn't be happier with it.