The New Kismet Will Be A Ranger Tugs R25 Outboard

Ranger Tugs Have the Perfect Size Boat for Everyone!

When we put our Ranger Tugs R29S up for sale, at the end of last summer, our family, boating friends, and acquaintances asked us, “What’s Next?” as it relates to our next boat. Or, they’d ask, “Are you getting out of boating?” This situation also happened to a friend of ours, an avid boater, when he was in between boats. Someone asked him if he was finished boating. His reply was, “Did you hear I died?” He, like us, had boating in his blood. We also plan on boating until we can no longer manage it.

Lisa and I have been boaters our entire lives and have owned six boats together during our married life. We moved up from our first boat together, a 21’ Four Winns I/O Sundowner Cutty Cabin, to two Silverton Convertibles a 31’ and a 42’ followed by a 40’ Fathom Trawler, and onto our Ranger Tugs R27 and R29. Now we’re heading in a new direction, a Ranger Tug R25, but this time with an outboard.

The questions we expect we’ll be asked the most are, why a 25’ boat, and why an outboard engine?

For a quick minute, we (mostly me, Jim) thought of buying an older classic trawler or a decommissioned working tugboat. However, reality soon set in and we had to ask ourselves, would we then spend a lot of time, and money, fixing up, or converting an old boat instead of getting out on the water? It would require a lot of work to bring one up to our standards, dealing with mechanical and other issues that come with an older boat. Although we also wanted to reduce our financial footprint in our boating lifestyle, we haven’t ever done the fixer-upper thing and decided we didn’t want to start. After we got that idea out of our systems and we came back to reality, we turned our attention to what we know and love best, Ranger Tugs. It’s always nice to own a new boat, especially if you are particular about how it is maintained.

Over the years, we’ve bought cars, trucks, boats, houses, and more. In our ten-plus years of owning two Ranger Tugs, the factory always treated us with respect and took care of us above the call of duty on any warranty issues and we’ve been provided technical guidance as if we’d bought our boat the week before. We know what we are getting with a Ranger Tug. When one has this kind of relationship with a company, as long as they have the desired product, why would we ever consider another boat brand? Ranger Tugs (aka Fluid Motion), has always treated us like family!

We are happy to have enjoyed our Ranger Tug R29S for almost four years.

I learned a lot about the permit system and once you get set up to roll, it wasn’t that difficult. However, looking forward to and planning for our 70s and beyond, we felt we needed to have a boat that would be a little easier to trailer than our R29S but still have the amenities we’re accustomed to. The Ranger Tugs R25 fits our requirements. The window and interior design are like the R29, with lots of visibility from inside the salon. Moving the head down below allows more light inside. The R25 is 8’6” wide, so no oversize permits are needed. The styling and color on the R25 resemble our R29S, just a little smaller, but that’s about the only sacrifice we’re making to get to our stated goals.

About five years ago, we were attending the big Fluid Motion Rendezvous in Roche Harbor, Washington. During one of the evening events, we talked with Mark Mansfield, former Cutwater National Sales Manager. Mark was telling us about the new outboards being introduced in some Cutwater Boats. I recall him stating something to the effect of “Mark my words, you’re going to see outboard engines become a dominate force in the marine industry.” Fast forward to 2021 and you’ll find Mark was accurate in his prediction. Chris Craft, Sea Ray, Hinckley, and Tiara, to name, just a few, all offer outboard engines as part of their lineup of boats. Not to be outdone, Cutwater Boats and Ranger Tugs introduced outboards in 2016/17. Later the new Ranger Tugs R27 and just this last year the redesigned R25 hit the water with a 250HP 4-stroke Yamaha.

More Water Sports for the Family!

We have two grandchildren that we are introducing to boating at a very young age. Our plan is to continue having as much fun with them on the water as we can and feel the R25 will help facilitate that by being able to not only take them cruising but immerse them into water sports as well. Water sports require more speed. The R25, with the 250 Yamaha, fits that bill as well.

We like the outboard engine for its quietness, ease of service, and how it mounts onto the integrated walk-behind swim platform. In addition, Ranger Tugs has gone to six lithium house batteries in place of a generator option on the R25. The lithium battery bank will run the air conditioning at anchor, charge all the electronics, make coffee, etc. and keep a charge for up to seven hours–depending on the load. We like the idea that we can enjoy our anchorage without having to run, or even have, a generator. Not good or bad, just a quieter option. In addition, the outboard has an alternator that will recharge the house bank while on the move.

Last, but not least, we’ll be maintaining the Hero Red hull color, so keep an eye out for us in the PNW, with a planned delivery in August 2021.