Ranger Tugs has just launched its new flagship, a 41-foot family cruiser with two staterooms, two heads, and Volvo Penta IPS performance. The R-41 also has enough amenities to furnish a New York apartment, including standard washer and dryer, three AC units and three refrigerators.
The 41 is Ranger’s largest boat yet – by a long shot. Until now, the Ranger Tugs line went from 23 to 31 feet. Ranger Tugs, along with Cutwater Boats, are made by Fluid Motion in Washington State, one of the most successful builders in the U.S. Ranger and Cutwater have well-earned reputations for building turn-key, user-friendly cruising boats; just bring your toothbrush and a change of clothes and you can start cruising. (I have cruised happily on Rangers and Cutwaters on both coasts of the U.S. and Canada and have found that they lived up to these expectations; they’re fun, easy-to-love boats.)
But Fluid Motion also gives owners a reason to use their boats. They hold owners’ rendezvous, cruises, factory visits and more. All this results in a loyal ownership base. In the Ranger Tugs case, this often meant that a first-time owner would buy a Ranger 25, then move up to a 29 or 31, and then…
Owners told Ranger that they wanted a larger boat than the 31, a cruiser with two cabins and two heads, so they could cruise longer and farther with more of their families or friends on board. The 41 was born.
The R-41 is Ranger’s first boat with Volvo’s IPS pod drives. It comes with twin 300-hp Volvo IPS400s, all controlled by three joysticks on board; one on the right armrest at the lower helm, a second in a cabinet tucked beneath the steps to the flybridge in the cockpit, and the third up in the flybridge itself. IPS, of course, offers fingertip maneuverability around a dock and the system is fuel-efficient, quiet and smoke-free.
When Volvo’s engineers tested the R-41, they said it topped out at 25 knots, with full fuel and water and four people on board. The efficiency was noticeable throughout the speed range. At 8.2 knots, the engines burned 4.7 gph; at 13.3 knots,16 gph; at 20 knots, 24 gph, and at 25 knots, 31 gph.
For cruising boat owners, a boat’s range is an important part of the equation. The R-41 carries 300 gallons of fuel. With a 10 percent reserve, the range at 8.2 knots is 471 nm; at 13.3 knots, 224 nm; at 20 knots, also 224 nm, and at a wide-open 25 knots, 209 nm.
You walk on the Ranger 41 through a side door on the starboard side, or through the open side of the transom via the wide swim platform (the transom settee rotates to open up access here). The cockpit is large, for maximum sociability, and it comes equipped for a picnic or a party, with a barbecue, icemaker and sink. It’s protected overhead by the overhang from the flybridge, which has LED lights.
A large glass door opens up to the salon, with the galley aft on the port side. A glass bulkhead opens to the cockpit, and the galley has a three-burner stove and oven, a double-basin sink, microwave, fridge and lots of cabinets and counter space.
Large front and side windows let in a lot of natural light, and there’s seating at the port-side dinette and around a table to starboard, plus a reclining leather chair; all told, Ranger says the salon can hold 12 people. You lift up the dinette table to get to the utility room with the full-size washer and dryer; the table also converts to an extra bed at night.
The helm is to starboard, with a sliding glass door leading to the side deck for easy line handling or docking. Two helm chairs are side by side, and they face an instrument panel ready for cruising, with a standard 22” Garmin chartplotter, sonar, AIS, radar and autopilot. A genset also is standard.
The aft cabin is on the starboard side, opposite the galley. You go down three steps and it has a bed that can be configured to a queen or a double twin. The aft cabin also has a seating area plus its own vanity, head with shower.
The master cabin is forward, and it’s filled with natural light from two large overhead hatches, three windows on each side and four small front windows. The queen-sized bed has walkaround room and there’s a two person leather settee on the starboard side and a cedar-lined hanging locker. A lighted desk/vanity is in a nook, and the master head, with a shower, is heated, a particularly nice touch in the Pacific Northwest.
You climb up to the flybridge using steps, with a handrail, from the starboard side of the cockpit. It has a full helm station, wraparound seating for eight, a fridge, electric grill and sink and a stereo. The mast can be lowered so that the air draft is only 12’ 9”, a very attractive feature for cruising the Great Loop, say, or the ICW in Florida with all its bridges.
Specs.: LOA: 41’2”; Beam: 14’0”; Draft: 3’6”; Fuel: 300 gals.; Water: 120 gals.; Power: 2×300-hp Volvo Penta IPS400 diesels with pod drives. Price: $799,937. (A salon version is $749,937.)
