Browsing: Ranger Tugs

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Cruising to Remote but Beautiful Stuart Island in the San Juans on a Ranger Tug 29 By Peter A. Janssen One of the best things about cruising is that no matter how long you’ve done it, there’s always someplace new to go – a new island, a new cove, a new destination somewhere. Exploring places, seeing new things, having new experiences is basically what it’s all about. All this is particularly true for Jim and Lisa Favors, from Traverse City, Michigan, who’ve already done the Great Loop and trailered their Ranger Tugs 27 pocket cruiser across most of the U.S.,…

Cruising Life
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After Trading Up to a Ranger Tugs 29, the Favors Take a First Cruise with Their Grandson

Jim and Lisa Favors just took delivery of their new Ranger Tugs 29, named Kismet, the same name as their old Ranger Tugs 27. The main reason the Favors (who’ve cruised all over the United States, including the Great Loop) moved up to the larger boat was that they wanted to spend time with their grandchildren on board. Well, that just happened. The first overnight guest on the new, larger Kismet was their grandson, Silas, who’s almost four. When the Favors first invited him to join them for a week-long cruise in South Puget Sound, Washington, Silas immediately replied, “When…

Cruising Life
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Intrepid Cruisers, the Odendahls Create Their Own “Shoe Loop” on Their Ranger Tugs 25

Take a look at the map, above. Taking some poetic license, Cheryll and Rich Odendahl say it resembles a shoe. In any event, it traces a 1,240-mile voyage the Odendahls just completed on their 2008 Ranger Tugs 25, appropriately named Roam. And the Odendahls, who’ve cruised just about everywhere from Alaska to the Bahamas and Cuba, have named it the Shoe Loop. SHOE, Odendahl says, also is an acronym for St. Clair-Huron-Ontario-Erie. Intrepid travelers on land, air and sea, the Odendahls have visited 149 countries around the world, many since he retired in 2011 after working 30 years at General…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Report from Newport: “Best Show Ever,” “Outstanding” and “Fantastic” By Peter A. Janssen The first show of the fall season, the Newport International Boat Show can serve as a bellwether for the coming year. And this year all the signs were good.  Many new boats were introduced at the show – the Grand Banks 60, Sabre 45 Salon Express, Hinckley Dasher all-electric boat, MJM 35Z, Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot, Outer Reef 610, Beneteau Swift Trawler 35, and Hampton Endurance 658, among them. Nancy Piffard, the show director, said attendance was up 10 percent over the previous year. The show “was…

Cruising Life
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Ranger Tugs, Cutwater Boats Hold Biggest and Best Owners’ Rendezvous Ever

More than 400 people on 180 boats showed up at the annual Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats Factory Rendezvous in Roche Harbor Marina and Resort on San Juan Island last week – the largest such gathering ever. And they had three days of fun, although from my own experience, it’s hard not to have fun at Roche Harbor, which is on the northern tip of San Juan Island about 100 miles above Seattle and qualifies as one of the best cruising destinations anywhere. But Ranger and Cutwater, both under the umbrella of Fluid Motion, LLC, in Kent, Washington, specialize in…

Cruising Life
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The Favors Get Their New Ranger 29 and Start New Cruising Adventures

Jim and Lisa Favors from Traverse City, Michigan, are hardly new to cruising, or to Ranger Tugs, for that matter. They’ve been boating most of their lives and have completed the Great Loop once (plus many, many side trips), and they’ve trailered their red-hulled Ranger Tugs 27 Kismet all across the United States. But last winter they decided they wanted to move up a bit (and have room for visiting grandchildren), so they sold Kismet – and bought another Ranger Tug, this time a 29. They just took delivery of their new Ranger Tugs R29, also called Kismet, also with…

Cruising Life
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50 Boats Cruise to Poets Cove in the Canadian Gulf Islands for Ranger Tug Rendezvous

About 50 boats cruised up to the recent Ranger Tugs rendezvous in Poets Cove resort and marina on Pender Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands, one of the most beautiful cruising destinations around. Poets Cove, nestled inside Bedwell Harbour Bay, is a great destination in its own right, or a convenient stop on the way to or from the Inside Passage. (I’ve stayed there many times over the years and have always wanted to go back.) The Ranger rendezvous was a major success, filled with families, pets, kids and good times. The highlight was the blindfolded dinghy race (pictured above);…

Boat Reviews
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New 2018 Ranger Tugs 27 with 300-hp Yamaha Outboard Power

As more evidence of the increasing move to outboard power, Ranger Tugs just introduced its 2018 R-27 with a single Yamaha F300 outboard, opening up the cockpit a bit, adding to the boat’s overall length, and certainly producing a bump up in speed. We don’t have any performance details yet, but we do know that the shift to an outboard will appeal to a portion of Ranger’s potential market that wanted some more juice. The Kent, Washington-based company will still offer the popular R-27 with a standard 200-hp Volvo D3 diesel. Over the years, I’ve cruised on Ranger Tugs in…

Cruising Life
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A Well-Traveled Couple Cruise to Cuba on Their Ranger Tugs 25. Read Their Report

Cheryll and Rich Odendahl from Algonac, Michigan, have the travel bug. So far, they’ve visited 47 countries, including the usual suspects – France, England, Mexico – and some more exotic spots – the Mount Everest base camp, Iceland, Fiji. Then there are their boating trips. In 2011, Odendahl retired after 30 years at General Motors, and he and Cheryll wanted to spend time cruising. They bought a trailer to tow behind their Chevy Silverado and drove to San Diego, where they bought a 2008 Ranger Tugs 25. Ranger Tugs, of course, are designed as trailerable cruisers for a couple. And…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

A Look Back at Miami: Let’s Hear It for the NMMA and Virginia Key I haven’t seen such an upbeat boat show in many years – probably before 2008, in fact. At the Miami International Boat Show last week on Virginia Key the docks were crowded, people were having fun, taking demo rides, buying boats. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have enough to choose from. Indeed, the show had 1,300 new boats for sale, including 550 in the water: big boats, small boats, outboard boats, inboard boats. If it floats it was there. And people were happy. Several told…

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