So What Did You Do On or With Your Ranger Tug Today?

Hooray!

Took Island Ranger out yesterday from Sandy Hook (Cultus Bay, Whidbey), and cruised over to Edmonds to pick up our granddaughter for her first over night cruise. Ran into a large pod of Orcas on the way (just south of Foul Weather Bluff), first ever for us in Puget Sound. Spent the night in Port Townsend - and came back today. After dropping her off in Edmonds, we proceed to catch our first keeper (coho) salmon on the way back (in Browns Bay).

Soo... we can troll slowly enough for silvers with the Yanmar at 600 rpm, but it really feels too slow for the engine. I ordered a kicker mount today....

I think the mid cabin berth is just the greatest. We converted it to a berth for this weekend, but it is once again the most versatile storage locker around..

Mac
 
We took advantage of Sunday's mild weather and made our first venture beyond Harbor Island and the bottom of Elliott Bay and down the Duwamish River. We've crossed bridges over the Duwamish countless times, but this was our first view from water level.

We were captivated by the well worn industrial surroundings, the little neighborhoods tucked in along the water, and fascinated by the number of bald eagles perched on light stanchions, and the several sea lions we watched fishing - and catching - salmon. The seagulls made them easy to spot as they scrambled (do birds scramble?) in for scraps.

Moondance, our R-25, was a head-turner, and it appeared many folks along the shore, in marinas, working barges, etc. hadn't seen such a boat before. Vicki was feeling right proud as she piloted us back up to Elliott Bay while folks tracked us.

We followed a large motor yacht most of the way in and felt even bigger that we usually do when the double draw bridge at 99 went up to let her through, with Moondance trailing a few hundred yards behind, making it under while both were still open. We followed her as far as Delta Marine where we watched her do a 180 and sidle up to the dock with her thrusters. Feeling somewhat full of ourselves, we spun a 180 in place with our thrusters before heading back out.

We hit Elliott Bay and enjoyed the last stretch of some great urban boating on our way back to Elliott Bay Marina.

I'll post some pictures in our album.

Cheers,

Bruce
 
Bruce,

How do you like that Livingston catamaran dinghy? How does it do with the Honda 2? That Honda 2 is a great little engine!
 
Neophyte boaters that we are, we don't have too much experience with it, or any experience for comparison. We've tooled around the marina a bit, and it seems fine. The dinghy is plenty stable and has lots of room. The engine seems powerful enough for our needs, but is noisier than I expected. I've been told that's to be expected with a 2HP engine, and they get quieter as they get bigger.

We chose the Livingston dinghy for a variety of reasons. I'm a photographer and wanted a stable tripod platform. We wanted something which would track well for rowing. But mostly, I was into the notion of having a Dave Livingston designed dinghy on the back of our Livingston designed boat.

Cheers,

Bruce
 
Had 50 hour service at North Island Boat Company at Skyline Marina near Anacortes, Wash. $411.91 included check valve clearance, valve cover gasket, fuel filter, oil, ATF transmission fluid. Did not check alignment. Bob B
 
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