Most people use their Ranger Tugs for cruising, maybe some fishing, probably a lot of time relaxing with family and friends. Dr. Victor Stime is different. A dentist, he uses his Ranger Tug 31, appropriately named Offshore Drilling, to treat people in isolated waterfront communities in Alaska every summer.
A graduate of Seattle Pacific University, Dr. Stime worked as a dentist in a rural community near Spokane for 29 years. Then, two years ago, he suffered from a serious heart problem and had surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. According to this story in SPU’s magazine Response, that changed his life.
When he recovered from his heart problem, Dr. Stime sold his practice and he and his wife, Christi, decided to start a floating dental clinic. Lifelong boaters, they had chartered boats over the years in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. They bought the Ranger, which they almost named Molar Express, and outfitted it with a portable dental chair, a portable X-ray machine and other dental equipment, all powered by a generator. And they headed north.
This past summer they started and ended their tour in Ketchikan, Alaska, treating patients in remote inlets and coastal towns in southern Alaska. Some towns have docks, where he ties up and patients just walk down to the boat; other times he anchors out and patients visit by dinghy. Read more:
