Hi all. We are new boaters

[Jeeves]

We just bought a Ranger Tug R25. We fell in love with the little boat—Feisty. This is our first boat ever.

We are looking forward to taking short trips around our home in Jupiter, Florida, Eventually, we want to spend a year or so cruising the Great Loop. We are trying to figure out how to do it and still work.

In the meantime, the learning curve has been steep. Our shaker cruise from St. Augustine area to Jupiter took 4 days of cruising, 10 days of time and 2 years off our life. We ended the cruise with a tow to our marina. Fabulous and terrifying all at the same time. So far the boaters we have met have been some of the greatest people ever.

We are very excited about our next chapter and looking forward to meeting all of you folks.

 

[Pau Hana]

Congrats and welcome!

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Tow insurance is a good investment and it's not just for newbies.

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. Congrats on your new boat.

 

[rsn48]

One of the boats I consider perfect for coastal Washington, British Columbia and South Eastern Alaska cruising. One day you could trailer it up here and cruise these waters.

 

[firehoser75]

Jeeves,
Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new Ranger, and your first boat!
Tow insurance is a good idea, as you never know when a "breakdown" could happen. Enjoy, post photos, and ask questions. That's how we all learn.
Tom

 

[Bacchus]

Welcome aboard TF and congrats on the "new" Ranger

 

[GFC]

Jeeves, congrats on the new boat. Either you did a lot of homework before you bought her, or you lucked out spectacularly. That is one STOUT little boat you bought.

 

[bogranjac1]

We just bought a Ranger Tug R25. We fell in love with the little boat—Feisty. This is our first boat ever.

We are looking forward to taking short trips around our home in Jupiter, Florida, Eventually, we want to spend a year or so cruising the Great Loop. We are trying to figure out how to do it and still work.

In the meantime, the learning curve has been steep. Our shaker cruise from St. Augustine area to Jupiter took 4 days of cruising, 10 days of time and 2 years off our life. We ended the cruise with a tow to our marina. Fabulous and terrifying all at the same time. So far the boaters we have met have been some of the greatest people ever.

We are very excited about our next chapter and looking forward to meeting all of you folks.

Welcome to T.F. and glad you choose a 'trailer trawler', a smart move for your first boat as you can take her ANYWHERE !!

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

welcome! You'll learn a lot on this forum. Best of luck in your new adventures

 

[localboy]

One of the boats I consider perfect for coastal Washington, British Columbia and South Eastern Alaska cruising. One day you could trailer it up here and cruise these waters.

Welcome. Your choice of boat is very popular up in the PNW and they have get-togethers during the summer months. We pass various Rangers on every trip.

 

[bogranjac1]

Welcome to T.F. and glad you choose a 'trailer trawler', a smart move for your first boat as you can take her ANYWHERE !!

Maybe even cross a continent

 

[MurrayM]

Maybe even cross a continent

Crikey! That's one loooong dusty portage!!

 

[OldDan1943]

Welcome the asylum. I do hope, the reason for the tow was not expensive to fix.

 

[Jeeves]

The Tow

Thanks for all of the well wishes. This is a great forum.

As to our tow, we were told that every shaker cruise ends in a TOW. We bought tow insurance and we used it. Thank goodness we had it.

As to the reason for the tow, I will try to keep it short.

About 3 hours into our first day of cruising, the engine just shut off. It started up immediately, no problem. On the 2nd day of cruising, the engine shut off at least 4 times. On the 4th time, it took about 5 minutes for it to restart but it did.

We had a mechanic look at the boat and the only thing that he saw was some loose battery terminals and tiny bit of corrosion which he fixed.

The 3rd day of cruising there were no problems. On the 4th day, the engine stopped after running about 6-7 hours and would not start again.

Every mechanic and boater we talked to (several worked on it) thought it was an electrical problem. We were looking at the ECU and other electronics--getting pretty complicated.

One day at the boat dock while the boat was plugged in, one of the batteries showed "all but dead" on the voltage meter. We found out that the batteries had not been replaced for FIVE years. Florida is not nice to batteries. We replaced all 4 batteries. That was all it was. No one even suggested that solution. It was just too easy.

That is the short story

 

[rgano]

Four batts, huh? What type and are they arranged with two banks or in one big one. If the former, was the parallel switch on the whole time draining them all? You won't find a better group of know-it-alls (meant in a kind way) about batteries and their associated complexities than right here.

 

[Mark P]

Welcome. If you don't already have one get a navigation App for your smart device. I have navionics and the Garmin app both with active captain. You will need it if you come to the low country on the ICW. Kept me from running aground several times since I am fairly new to this as well.

 

[Moonfish]

Welcome aboard! Be prepared, you're gonna have a lot of fun!

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Welcome Aboard!! Rangers are excellent boats for new boaters, very forgiving. From your description of the problem and the fix, I assume you have a gasser, nothing wrong with that for a smaller boat.

Tell us a little more about the boat and engine. year, hours, features, plans and pictures.

pete

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Welcome!!! As stated a great boat for SE Alaska.

Suggestion: Take a GOOD boating course to help you become familiar with the rules of the road and how to navigate.

 

[sp91]

Welcome! Can I suggest you to download the Navionics and Aqua Map apps? They make navigation in shallow water less stressful.

 

[Jeeves]

The "Batts"

Well, we wish we had known this group of experts before we went through the battery incident.

The boat has 4 - 12Volt 90 Amp Deep Cycle Sealed AGM batteries. Two are for the house; 1 is for the engine and the other one works for accessories like starting the generator; running the thrusters; operating the windlass anchor; and the raw water pump. This is the one that was completely dead.
We thought it was last to get charged and the last one that mattered. I'm not sure the intricacies as to what is in parallel or what is in-line.

The boat has a 150 HP Cummins-Mercruiser straight inboard diesel with about 850 hours. It is essentially a 35 foot boat stuffed into 25 feet. We have all of the features of a bigger boat minus the space. Quick list in no particular order: 75 gallon fuel tank; 30 gallon water tank; radar; bow and stern thrusters; windlass anchor; autopilot; queen berth forward; head with shower; propane fired stove top; air conditioner; heater; trim tabs; battery charger; chart plotter. It's a "boater-home".

We have both taken the boating safety course. We would really like to hire a captain to show us the ropes in the form of anchoring and running the generator and other things. We are learning more each day.

Anyway, thanks again for the well wishes. Looking forward to learning from this forum.