SO WHAT DID YOU DO WITH YOUR RANGER TUG TODAY ??

Tom,

Table is true 2 person job. Give Andrew a ring for procedure, but the 1 time I took the table out, I vowed NEVER to do it again. It works, it just takes more work than worth!

Good luck!
Drew
 
I seem to be the one with the most questions:

We have not used our holding tank much, but i want to pump out this weekend.

What is the procedure...i have a macerator switch and a pump out switch on the console . What is the step by step for pumping out.

If you are in a legal zone and can pump overboard, what is the procedure for that? My hull is number 52, so people around that number might be best for advice since Ranger changes stuff often.

terraplane tom in rock hall md.
 
We have hull #46. To pump out while underway, you have to flip a "switch" that is located under the access panel that is in the cockpit and inside the teak doors. Our tug came with the switch open and ready to pump out. We keep it closed while underway because of Coast Gaurd regulation, although Ranger Tug says it is safe to leave it open. You will have to excuse my technical ingnorance, because Kerry is not here to help me explain this! I believe this "switch" opens the seacock. It is a bit hard to find because you have to reach down and back. Then you simply flip the pump out switch on the electrical panel until the holding tank is empty. You may have to monitor the holding tank as I don't believe there is any sort of sensor or alarm that lets you know when the tank is empty.

Hope this helps and I hope you get more technical responses from R25 owners!

Nancy
 
If your boat is set up the same as ours, you have two options to "pump out".

Preferred is to find a pump out station, set the Y valve (under the rear cabinet) in the direction that connects the holding tank to the pump out fitting (on the stern). Unscrew the cover, connect the pumpout hose and let her rip. I refill the tank with a little fresh water, and pump out again.

I don't have a chlorinator/macerator (waste treatment for a marine head), the pump out on the boat is raw sewage. Legally, if I remember correctly, you can pump directly overboard if you are three miles offshore. In this case, you can set the Y valve to connect it to the pump, flip the switch and pump away.

I believe you are legally required to keep the Y valve in the position that does not allow pumping out overboard - at least that is the law here in Washington (and I thought it was Federal). Some Inspectors will require it to be "locked" - a zip tie will suffice. It is to prevent a guest from accidentally discharging waste over the side.

Mac
 
On Wednesday and Thursday i have a music job in Annapolis, across the bay..plan to go by b oat, tie up at the city dock.(four hours) I will play a noon concert, maybe from the cockpit of BANJO, my R25. Then a night concert from the deck of a tour boat...6 to 8...overnight in Annapolis, then breakfast at 6am at Fred and Ruth's Deli, on West Street. Then a four hour trip back across the Bay to home.

All this could be done by car in a total of about four hours on one day...but where is the fun in that.
 
We have not posted for awhile but we have followed the threads. We have had the Laurie Ann for 12 months now. We have 140 hours on the 110 HP Yanmar and are still turning heads in the Pacific Northwest. We spent last week in the Canadian Gulf Islands including Butchart Gardens near Victoria. Because you can boat to the gardens and tie to their mooring buoys, thousands of photographs were taken of the Ranger 25 in this setting. We felt like we were on display!

We cruise at 2800 rpm, 10-11 knots, burning 2 gallons an hour. We anchor as much as we use marinas, prefer cooking and BBQ than going out, spent 42 nights aboard in the last year. We trailer the boat and keep it in our driveway in Marysville, WA. This is our fifth boat having owned two sail boats and two other power boats over the past 20 years.

We have done a long list of personal improvements and if you want more information on these, let me know. From bow to stern:
shelving in the master berth on both sides-for clothes and stuff
3 inch memory foam in the berth (overstock.com for the best deal)
CO2 detector
12 volt fan mounted between the center windows
Dedicated depth sounder
added water and holding tank gauges
additional VHF radio speaker
shelving for plates and cups
all cabinets have additional shelves and some have modular plastic drawer units
moved the Wallas stove tank inside a cabinet
fry pans that fit the stove effectively
indoor-outdoor thermeter on the spice rack
teak holders on the spice rack shelves
chamois cloth towels, face and bath, that dry very quickly
carpet runners over the teak floor
head door stop that holds the door open
transom door stop that holds the door open
added mid-fender cleats to put a third fender down
took out the cushion in the cave and added"action packer" boxes that fit nicely for parts, tools and the like
A modular three drawer plastic, vented cabinet in the cave for food and stuff. (The cat's litter box fits right next to it.)
table rocker-stoppers made from PVC that solidifies the dinnette table
starboard platform on the sports rack for the folding bikes that are in canvas bags
lined the "generator storage area" with starboard to protect wiring from stored items
canvas canopy over the cockpit with a rigid stainless frame with side curtains of musquito netting
labeled all the wiring and fuses in the battery boxes with gray-colored sharpie marker
removed the cushion from the cockpit bench and added a folding table extension to the top of the lid of the bait well
folding chairs that are strapped to the cockpit for storage
added tie downs to to the cockpit
rigid inflatable boat by Endurance with davits that fit the swim step perfectly and a 6 HP four stroke Suzuki engine
400 feet of stern tie line on a vertical hose reel that mounts and swivels nicely on the swim step. We use floating line.

We love this boat. The factory, John, Jeff and Andrew have been the best customer service providers that we have EVER experienced on any product.
 
Wow, thanks guys.
I'll be in touch about a few of your improvements. I'm at hour 54 and i agree..love this boat. It just feels right.

terraplane
 
Yep - we are still enjoying Island Ranger. I think we have a bit over 500 hours on our Yanmar 110.

Until now, we've also been cruising at 10-11 kts, 2800-2900 rpm. At that speed, we burn about 4 gallons per hour. That matches the fuel/rpm curve that Yanmar published. Could you check the 2 gph number? The fuel gauge on Island Ranger is pretty poor, I don't have a fuel flow meter and have been just tracking it by how much fuel it takes to fill up.

At almost $5/gal, lately we've started cruising at 1800 rpm, about 6 kts and burn in the range of 1 gph. We actually ran through 2 full tanks while cruising in Alaska last year at 1800 rpm 'cause we needed the extra range when there weren't any fuel stops. One tank was for data collection - to confirm we'd have enough fuel, the next was to cruise Tracy Arm and back.

Mac
 
Hi Mac, glad to hear you are doing fine with Island Ranger. We have seen you from a distance now and then. Our fuel calculations are raw: we note the number of engine hours at each fill up and note the number of gallons bought. Most of the time we fill it. Marina diesel is still cheaper than gas station diesel because of the road taxes in Washington State. We have done the math four times now and the number varies from 2.0 to 2.5 gallons per hour.

Our fuel gauge is nearly right on. When it is half, it takes a half a tank. By the way, Everett is the most expensive to get diesel that we have found and Cornet Bay at Deception Pass is the least expensive.

Thanks for the tip on cutting shade cloth material to fit the overhead hatch screens, that has worked really well.

We are also planning a trip to Alaska. We would love to hear more about yours.
 
Now that I think about it, I pay more attention to the nautical miles per gallon - not the gallons per hour. Each time I fill up - I check the miles covered with the gallons used. That's where my 2.5 nmpg number comes from - and at my old 10 kts typical cruising speed that would be 4 gph. I do also record the engine hours - next time I get down to the boat, I'll grab the log and calculate the gallons per engine hour.

I have also carefully calculated that the GPS log function on my C-120 is incorrect. During the trip up the Inside Passage, it was off by as much as 17%, and typically over 10%. I measure a distance on the chart, then compare that to the distance recorded in the log. The recorded distance is always much less than the actual distance.

I've contacted RayMarine - they said that's normal. Right.....

It looks like we're not heading to Alaska this summer - our longest cruise this year will be three weeks. Too busy enjoying Whidbey. Haven't decided how far north we'll head- maybe just the San Juans & Gulf Islands if we really get lazy. We do plan another Inside Passage cruise next summer - maybe the whole summer.....Be glad to share our trip experiences any time....

Mac
 
We're back.

We had an incredibly great trip - 4 weeks, a little over 600 miles, 111 engine hours up to the Broughtons and back home to South Whidbey. Great cruising at 1700 rpm, 6 kts - under 1 gph. (we did "zip" up the first couple of days to get through the Straight of Georgia, but the rest of the time we stayed at 1700 rpm and stayed there all the way home).

Weather was raining and cold in the Broughtons - that must be why they call it the Rain Coast. So we headed back to Desolation Sound and had warm sunny days. The place was empty - for instance there were only two boats in Melanie Cove when we were there. A great time to cruise!

We stayed on the hook almost the entire time. I learned / confirmed that the batteries do not get recharged when we run at 1700 rpm - (we did keep the fridge on the entire trip), but the solar panels worked like a champ - they fully recharged the batteries when there was at least a little sun. We did start falling behind in the Broughtons, and had to stop at Pierre's at Echo Bay for a night to recharge. That was the only time we had to plug in for the entire trip.

A couple of other items made the trip special.
- Freedom from the fuel dock stops. Once went 9 days and only bought 68 liters to fill up, and another time went 8 days and got 35 gals. Since we paid over $6/gal in Canada, that was fine with me.
- Linda made gourmet meals on the Wallace every day. We learned it doesn't like to simmer, and will shut down (over temp?) if you don't keep a pot directly on the stove top.
- We went with microfiber clothing - wash and wear, dries over night, so we never had to stop for laundry.
- We used salt water for everything we could, including dishes, only used the fresh water for drinking (used a water pitcher/filter), showers and the clothing wash so our 30 gallons lasted over 5 days. I had 10 gallons extra stowed but we never needed it. We made plenty of ice for martinis...but did keep running out of vodka and had a heck of a time finding more. We now know to stock up at Blind Channel.

It did get a little tiring finding a place for our three dogs to go ashore twice a day - gotta love that Portland Pudgy. And finding a place to stow our garbage got tough some times. (We didn't have the roof storage box this trip - it now has the solar panels). And on our very last night, our anchor line fouled on something at Hope Island / Deception Pass and I could not get it up. I think it got snarled on one of the mooring anchors that didn't have a float attached. I had to cut the rode (leaving the anchor, chain and 70 ft of line behind). I was tempted to dive in - but the water was 51 degrees. I talked with the Park Ranger - maybe they will find it when they do the maintenence on their floats - but who knows when that will be. I'm thinking of making a short dive trip to recover it.

Great trip, great boat, wonderful weather...now looking forward to our next trip..

Mac & Linda
And Porsche, Charlie & Obe too!
 
Mac and Linda

What a great trip. A special thanks for the vodka tip!
Seriously, appreciate all the great info. Will have to take a closer look at those solar panels. Have often thought of stopping at Hope Island. How protected is it? A good place to hike/walk around?

Nancy and Kerry
 
Hope Island / Skagit County is included in the Deception Pass State Park system. It is completely primitive - the only thing we found was a few picnic tables. There were a couple of paths - pretty overgrown. We were told they lead to the other side - not a great hiking island.

The Island appears to have at least a few coyotes. We watched one catch a river otter the morning that we left and they did get to howling at night.

There are supposed to be 4 (or 5?) mooring buoys on the north side - but we only found 2 when we arrived (both taken) on Saturday night. A third one popped up at low tide (I already called the Ranger and reported it. It is labeled to not use it). Our anchor is caught on the fourth one I think. The Park maintenance team will be fixing them this winter they said.
There was plenty of room to anchor, pretty good holding ground, and we were told there were additional good spots at the islands further north.

It was a very calm evening - anywhere would have worked. The spot is well protected from anything that comes from the south (or SE or SW). It is a little open to the north, but if it got to blowing, I'd move to the south side of the island. We did get a few boat wakes from passing vessels.

I would go there again - not just to get my anchor back

I am planning to procure a DC clamp meter so I can make some additional measurements with the solar. I think the fridge runs about 1/3 of the time, at 3+ amps so it uses ~ 24 amp hr/day. I am really curious what the electronics use - and how much the alternator produces at 1700 rpm. I think our notebook PC draws 100 watts (8 amps) so that's a killer too. And the anchor light is 10 watts - so that eats another 10 amp hours. I look forward to building a data base with real numbers...

Mac

Mac
 
Mac,
This really sounds like a great trip. Though i love being here on the Chesapeake, i sometimes long for your type of environment...wilder, more open..I don't trailer, so our Bay is it for me...of course it would take me a lifetime to get around it fully anyway.

I am not mechanically or electrically savvy. You mentioned that at 1700 your batteries don't charge..I also cruise at about that...6 to 7 kts. So how fast do you have to go to get a charge? I keep the boat plugged in ate my slip, but i am on the hook often...i usually shut off the refrig. when i turn in...on in the morning.

These boats are great...and the 110 Yanmar is a great engine.

terraplane (tom)
 
Here's my guess at this point.

The factory install was two house batteries on Island Ranger - each at 105 amp hour. If we only want to use a max of 50%, we have 105 amps to work with. I was guessing we use something in the 50 AH per day - running the fridge all day and night. 'course it is not very hot here. So that gives me 1-2 days. I have now added two additional house batteries, so have 210 AH to play with or 2-4 days. That seems to match what happened (on the low side). On many of our days we only went 10 miles (2 hours), so there was never time to recharge anyway.

The 80 amp alternator expects to run at ~2800-3000 engine RPM. When we run it at 1700, we don't get 80 Amps. I guessed more like 40 amp, but sure would like to know.

When runnning: radar, autopilot, C120, fathometer, vhf, and fridge are all drawing power. Intermittently running the pressure water, Wallas, radio, computer also takes power. I plan to measure soon, but it might be a significant share of the 40 amps (I think my notebook computer draws 8+ amps all by itself.

So, the alternator keeps up with the draw, but I don't think there is anything left to recharge the batteries.

The solar panels could be confusing the alternator circuit as well - as soon as the sun hits 'em, they are producing at a pretty high voltage. Suppose the alternator sees this high voltage, and decides the batteries are charged and regulates back to a trickle? I don't think this is happening 'cause I think we had this problem (not recharging at 1700 rpm) during our Alaska trip when we didn't have solar panels. But I wasn't sure, and had no way to check.

We don't plug in as a rule - I don't want my boat to be the anode for another boat in the marina (I do have the galvanic isolator but still eat through zincs pretty quickly). Plugged in, you only get the 5 amps/hr from the charger so it takes a while to recharge - but at least the fridge can run from AC and not draw on the battery.

I now have 756.7 hours on the Yanmar 110. Still doing fine. Mostly just changing the oil and filter & cleaning the raw water intake filter. I have been monitoring the oil with a test kit, so far so good.

Mac

Mac
 
Saw a west bound Ranger 25 on Highway 16 near the Tacoma
Narrows Bridge. Looked good traveling down the freeway and
heading for adventure.

Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa
 
My R21-EC, Machete Bettie just returned from the Lake Powell C-Brats gathering. She spent 10 days on the Lake under beautiful skies and perfect water temperature. She logged 350nm and although the slowest boat among all those supersonic C-Dory's (and 1 R-25 tug) she managed to hang with the group. There were a couple nights where we lost touch of the group but we just stayed along the main channel and sure enough they would come zooming by.

Anyway an awesome place to go if you haven't been there and an extremely great group of C-Brats. My hat's off to Chris for organizing and Bill and El for their hospitality and knowledge. They are truly a fine couple to know!!
 
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