Considering a move up

[colvosview]

The only boat I have ever owned is our current '87 22 Angler. We have enjoyed a lot of weekends in the south sound, and have gotten it pretty nicely equipped for that function. But still, it involves only a 5 gallon water jug, porta potti, igloo, and coleman stove, in addition to the motors.
As we near retirement, I'm starting to consider a move to a Ranger Tug 25, to give us a bit more room and comfort for longer trips. How much of a learning curve is there in getting up to speed with proper maintenance and operation of the various systems that are part of a nicer vessel? There would even be a bilge, for goodness sake! And how does one learn? School of hard knocks?

[Kushtaka]

This is a great question, and one that needs to be addressed as we have an increase in the number of retirees asking similar questions.

I would direct you to the National Safe Boating Academy, or the USCG Auxiliary. They have classroom and on-water training that may be helpful.

However the most beneficial thing for you is likely to be hiring a good skipper for a cruise or two, and getting them to both take you out on your boat, and show you what you need to know to be safe and have fun.

This is something you might want to repeat periodically. If you aren't sure about the maintenance, you might hire a private marine mechanic (or a mobile call out service) to do your maintenance at your place, and "help" realizing that you helping may actually slow the work down and cost you a little more. If you are up front about wanting to learn how to do this work yourself, most will accommodate you. If you hire someone to simply do the work and you just insert your nose into the work, you won't likely have as good a result.

Realize too that your ranger tug, while a pretty good upgrade, is not the Queen Mary, and you aren't running a ship. You still have a "Small Boat" and not a very large small boat at that. You will probably find that most of your current skills will translate well once you get used to your Ranger Tug and how it handles. It will not be nearly as nimble, but will provide a more stable platform.

Good luck!

[rogerbum]

I'd also post this question to the Tugnuts site. There are several there who can answer your questions also. The Ranger Tug factory provides A+ support through the tugnut site and they also provide an option for a fairly long check-out ride/intro to the boat. That would very quickly get you up to speed on the required maintenance needs. You might also attend one of their gatherings and talk to other owners.

[localboy]

[JamesTXSD]

More room, more systems, more liveability. The Ranger Tug folks have gatherings much like the C-Brats (except the factory is often involved). You will find a bunch of friendly people on the TugNuts site who will be just as generous with sharing information as the good folks here.

Yes, there will be a learning curve, but most of the same boating skills apply. Single screw handling with a shaft/prop/rudder is different from an outboard, but with a bit of practice, you will be good to go.

Good luck with this next step - I have no doubt you will be ready to spend lots more time on the water with more liveability.

Jim

[Larry Patrick]

The site ,Tug Nuts has a lot of info on Ranger tugs, I view it often,boats for sale there also,maybee your already familiar with site? Just mentioning incase you didn't know. Im also curious how you learn when moving up to larger boat,everything you need to know,maintenance everything else. Maybee years from now we might do the same. When I posted it said 0 responses ,somehow I missed it .

[thataway]

First I think that the Ranger Tugs are fantastic boats. But…Every time I look at one, it harkens me back to: inboard engine, hard to get to and access parts of the drive system, starter, water pump, shaft log. Look at each of those, and see how easy it will be to access. Then how easy it would be to repair.

Lets talk about the thrusters (by the way, these boats handle very well without the thrusters (I have run almost all of the models at one time or another). There are occasionally issues, and the thrusters are not easy to access.

Do you want that high RPM generator running close by--or would you rather the Honda EU 2000 or even 1000? How about air conditioning on the trailer? Are they easy to "trailer Camper"--if you do that.

What about tow vehicle--weight? One of the reasons we left the Tom Cat fold, was the weight towing--and we went back to…the 22, good compromise.

Of the bunch, I like the 27--it combines the size of the original 27, with the cockpit size of the newer 25.

They are expensive, and repairs can be expensive. Can you turn a hose on the inside after a month on Lake Powell, to get rid of all that fine red sand?

In fact how many Ranger Tugs do you see on Lake Powell? How about going stern to the beach, so you can step right off? Not possible.

All of that being said, the are the best of the lot of the small trawlers. If you are going to leave a boat in the water, for the same price, you can by a used much larger (if you wish) diesel trawler. There are some real margins in the a bit older, lots of life left in them, sun deck motor yachts (trawlers, with twin diesels)…

So that is the reason I have stuck with the C Dory 22, vs buying a Ranger Tug.

[Sunbeam]

[Easyvictor.14]

My .02,
I've owned 2 stern drive boats, a 34 Silverton with twin V Drives, a 1977 Albin diesel straight inboard and 3 different outboard powered boats not including my current 23 Venture. What I have found is, that I sleep better at night knowing that I have exactly 1 thru hull fitting in the bottom of my C Dory!!!

Every boat that I've owned has developed at least one leak thru either a drive bellows, exhaust elbow, shaft log, stuffing box, air conditioner intake/drain or head plumbing. All of the items that make for a more comfortable cruising experience have at one time or another, caused me a considerable amount of insomnia.

That said, I think the Rangers are beautiful. I don't know if I'll ever go back to an inboard powered boat, but if I did; I'd look hard at the Ranger.
Good luck, you'll be happy either way.

[nimrod]

Having "moved up" to a 26' Nordic Tug from a 22' Cruiser, I can tell you that everything is more complex, harder to get to (nearly impossible sometimes), and more expensive to fix. I can echo all of both the pro & con comments already stated.

I like to do my own work. Instead of working in my driveway, I have to drive 20 min one way to get to my boat. If I forget a critical part or tool, I'm done for the day. But I've adapted, and I still enjoy it. I enjoy the learning process as well as the challenge. I don't enjoy having to do "boat yoga" to get to hard to reach stuff, however.

We bought the NT for a specific purpose, to cruise comfortably up the inside passage to Alaska. We'd never have gone in the C-D, or I would have had to fly solo, without the Admiral. As someone said, with the hassles comes the comfort. At this point in my life at least, the tradeoff has been worth it.

Another big deal has been the diesel engine. Totally new experience for me. I'm very comfortable and confident with gasoline engines. The diesel has been a learning curve, and again everything is difficult to get to. I plan to take a recreational boaters diesel mechanics class this fall.

If you like the Ranger, you might want to consider a NT. Like Bob said there are some great deals on used NT's for significantly less than a similarly sized RT. And they're sturdy, well built and very comfortable.

jd

[starcrafttom]

how does one learn?/ that's the question at hand. Well today I was crabbing out of Everett and watched a new 30 ft cut water launching along with the trainer. thats right when you buy a ranger tug or a cut water from the factory you get a Mac. mac is a old cbrat that used to be on this site a lot but bought a ranger tug many years ago and wiggled his way in to the dream job as the trainer for new owners. If you buy used I am sure you can get him on a side rate. Call the factory and ask for about him. Point is that you can hire some one to go over all the systems and the better points of driving and docking.

[Pat Anderson]

Well, everything plus and minus has kind of been said! We cruised our CD25 from Blaine to Ketchikan in 2006, and cruised around Misty Fjords National Monument. We would not likely buy either a RT or a NT for any future crusing, Inside Passage or Great Loop, simply because the CD25 has everything we need, and we feel it would be a waste of Anderson family resources at this stage in our lives. YMMV.

[Will-C]

If your looking for simple the C-Dory's are great for minimalists. We loved ours as a entry level (for us) into cruising to see if we actually liked cruising our boat was great. As we got older a C-Dory can be a pain in the ass to get on and off of especially when dealing with fixed docks. Our friends who we met on the Erie canal in 2009 had moved up to a Ranger R-27 from a 22' C-Dory. We had stayed on our C-Dory for a month at a time. My wife put up with the porta Potty thing with a little grumbling. But the big thing was the lack of storage. Everyday moving stuff back into the bunk area and then back out when we wanted to sleep. We opted for a roof top A.C. unit on our C-Dory as I watched others toting around window A.C. units to deal with the heat.
In April of this year we opted for a 2014 R-27 that came with A.C. and heat, defrosters with heat supplied from engine heat. A factory installed solar charging system. A water heater that the engine also heats along with an electric water heater. We have a built in Mase 2.7 diesel generator that pulls it's fuel from the boats 100 gallon fuel tank. It's nice as we can have A.C. while cruising if it get really hot. The generator is fairly quiet and you can start it from the helm. You don't have pick it up and move around. We don't have the need to carry gasoline unless we have the dink motor along. Even so Ranger has a nice factory installed propane locker that comes complete with a 1 gallon gas can that fits into it's own cutout inside the propane locker. I won't miss having to refuel the generator.
But the biggest thing for us is the amount of storage. Everything can have it's place. No more finger printing everything you carry constantly.
Coming from a C-Dory the systems at first can be over whelming. But the level of comfort is worth all that IMHO. Oil, filter for both fuel and the oil changes every year or at 200 hours. I intend to do myself. Just like I do with our cars. My intention is to have a dealer do impeller changes once a year and to check over the things that are in places I can't fit into.
The R-27's are about 10,000 pounds and I pull with the same truck I pulled our C-Dory. A 3/4 ton Duramax diesel Chevy 4 x 4 pickup.
They are two different styles of boats. The C-Dory is faster unless it gets rough and then the Ranger seems to handle heavier seas a little better. I have traveled in some nasty seas going from Block Island to Montauk been there done that traveling in our C-Dory while following a R-27. The Ranger draws 2.5 feet instead of seven or twelve inches.
You can get a nicely equipped Ranger 25 for less than a 100k. It's about what you want and can afford. We loved our C-Dory but the Ranger is more like a summer home. I am more than willing to deal with all the systems. The factory provides unparalleled service and the Tugnuts are full of almost any information that could possibly need. They seem to hold their value pretty well. It's an investment of sorts. Being more comfortable isn't that hard to learn to live with.
D.D.

[c-ness]

The pros and cons of owning a larger, more complex boat are well detailed here, so I will simply address the learning curve associated with moving to a larger boat. Nearly three years ago we went from our c-dory to a 32 foot single diesel boat. As far as maneuvering the boat we started out by hiring a captain for two days of on the water handling. That got us started and with a little practice it's not a difficult transition. As for the systems in the boat, that has taken a bit longer. I did hire my mechanic for a two hour training session and that was extremely helpful. I still hire out most of the complex work, but at least I know what is going on. One thing to learn to do by yourself is to how to bleed the diesel if you need to change a filter or an impeller.

Overall the boat costs more to operate but the learning curve is not all that difficult.

[bshillam]

Much has been said here, I would suggest looking at other 25-28' trailerable boats as well. There are some that might fit the bill and be similar to the systems you already feel comfortable with. I will also tell you, depending on the type of person you are, that you will lose that apprehension very quickly. Put on a set of overalls and get your hands dirty. You learn from time spent with the systems, reading the manuals, going on line and reading/watching videos, hire a mechanic and what him/her perform what task(s) you might not have been comfortable with and then next time you'll have a better understanding.
My first complex vessel had not one, two or three but four motors. Two mains, a gen and a kicker motor. All had to be maintained. The more time I spent on the vessel in the ER learning and getting to know them all the more comfortable I was. I know I don't know everything I need to know and because of that it makes me an explorer and student.
If you are drawn to a RT or NT or the likes, dive in, get on the water in something you enjoy and you'll use it more. The great thing is - both of these boats have stable market values. If later down the road you change your mind you won't lose your shirt.