After spending this past winter holed up at home in northern Michigan remodeling our kitchen, we feel we’re more than ready for some new cruising adventure, so we are preparing, planning and packing to head west soon to begin another fun boating season. First we’ll visit the Flaming Gorge Reservoir…

After a few minor fixes and upgrades we prepare to depart from the Ranger Tug factory in Kent, WA. Kenny (below-left) helped us get on our way by checking tire pressure and helping with hitching the boat to our truck for the first time. We’ll be heading to Portland, Oregon…

We didn’t linger too long in Bremerton after the Ranger Tugs Rendezvous because we had a really interesting cruise planned for today. We said our goodbyes to new boating friends and shoved off the dock late morning. Just around the corner from Bremerton sits Blake Island, a 476-acre Washington State…

The People… We Love Our Tugs We arrived in Bremerton on Wednesday so that we could take care of some chores before the festivities began – we were the third boat to arrive in the harbor. Over the late afternoon and early evening, and the whole next day, the tugs…

The Boats… They’re Everywhere Sixty-eight Ranger Tugs and Cutwaters in one place, at one time. They were many sizes, from 21 to 29 feet. If set end to end they would have measured 1,768 feet or one-third of a mile long. A rainbow of colors were represented from yellow, dark…

Smooth sailing today on the Sound and LaConner Pass. Returning to Cap Sante Marina for one night before we head over to the San Juan Islands. As we were approaching our slip we happened to see Herb and Willie on Willie’s Tug, (above-left) we already feel like we know them because…

Port Madison is a very well protected anchorage, it felt more like being on a little lake. We are finding that the Ranger is not only easy to handle while docking but dropping the hook was almost effortless.

Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the country. It was formed around 15,000 years ago by a massive glacier moving south across the area. This glacier was over 3,412 feet thick. As it moved south, it shaped the land like a giant bulldozer, carving out the basins that make…

Our son, Ross, who lives in Portland, OR joined us for a few days. We explored Gig Harbor together he helped up get groceries and played a few games of Liverpool. Kismet, sitting pretty in Gig Harbor Captain Ross! Sarah’s (our son Skyler’s fiancé) brother Christopher (above-left), who lives south…

We saw the pictures, talked with the Ranger Tugs personnel, took tours at boat shows and visited owners forums, however there really isn’t anything like meeting the folks that make it all happen. In our case I’m referring to everyone at the Ranger Tugs assembly facility in Kent, Washington where…

Can’t think of a better location than Gig Harbor, Washington for PNW MTOA group of boaters to come together to laugh, share and learn. We never felt the “odd man out” (being from out of state) with this group of boaters, we got a big, warm welcome, right away, from…

The big day finally arrived, the one when we saw the results of our planned transition into being owners of a Ranger Tug R27 trailerable trawler. We were so excited to see our new boat we arrived an hour earlier than scheduled to start our new boat orientation and sea…

Thursday afternoon, after we provisioned the boat, Andrew drove us down to the boat launch in Point Defiance, waved goodbye and said to call him when we get back. We left the truck and trailer at the factory this time out. So, long story short, we’re off on our own…