WOMEN ON RANGER TUGS
Women Ranger Tugs Owners Discover Boating
As A Rewarding Lifestyle Choice.
$6.99 EPUB
Way back, in the early 2000s, a boater inspired my husband, Jim, and me, to give adventure boating a try. Later, there were boaters who inspired us to push the veil even further and our gratitude to those individuals is endless. This book is another effort to pass that gift along to others by writing about our adventures.
During our trailering boat trips, over the last 11 years, along with many owner rendezvous’ on the West Coast, the Great Lakes, and Florida, I have met a lot of women Ranger Tugs owners. There are a lot of them.
I have never seen this phenomenon in the boating community. So many women owners cruising with partners, or solo. I think it has something to do with the well-thought-out design, by Dave Livingston, founder of Fluid Motion. Women like the fit and finish on the Ranger Tugs. They have the attributes of having a pleasant ride while providing the necessary amenities to provide comfort and shelter while out exploring. They are easy to handle, maintain, fix, and captain.
In addition, there is a growing community of Ranger Tugs owners. We can interact with each other either on the water, or on the active owner’s forum, TugNuts website and Facebook group, and a private Facebook group, Ranger Tugettes. After we bought our first tug, we realized that not only are Ranger Tugs well-made, but the community that comes with that boat purchase is invaluable to a boater. This boating community is a big plus for women boaters.
Sharing my knowledge of boating has been enjoyable; however, I have always thought multiple perspectives are better than one. I hope, our efforts to share will inspire more women to try boating. It really is something not to be missed.
UPSIDE OF DOWNSIZING
TO A TRAILERABLE TRAWLER
UPSIDE OF DOWNSIZINGThe Favors share Their research while highlighting
the inherent benefits of trailerable boating.
$9.99 EPUB
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REVIEW:
Passagemaker Magazine
By Milt Baker
Reading this e-book, I couldn’t help but wonder how many cruisers might be tempted to follow the example set by Jim and Lisa Favors, a couple with thousands of miles of Great Loop cruising experience who, after five years of full-time living aboard, gave up their comfortable 40-foot trawler for a trailerable 27-foot Ranger Tugs.
Like many other PassageMaker readers, I’ve gone aboard boats like this at boat shows, asking myself whether my wife and I might someday want to downsize and try to squeeze into a smaller boat. A trawler yacht that can be towed over the highway and cruised in many different areas each year, avoiding long passages over water. After all, it’s a whole lot faster and cheaper to cover the distance between, say, Ft. Lauderdale and Halifax or San Diego and Seattle at 60mph, compared to displacement speeds. “One of the beauties of this plan,” the Favors wrote as they were planning their move, “is that we’d be able to cut out a lot of long boat travel days by driving to the heart of a spot and dropping the boat into the water.”
If the idea of a trailerable trawler has appeal and you’d like to know more, the Favors’ e-book is a great place for answers. While making the case for trading a larger boat for a smaller, trailerable one, Upside of Downsizing to a Trailerable Trawler walks readers through the most important considerations, including what kind of trailerable trawlers make the most sense (and why), a look at highway height and width restrictions for trailering, and what kind of towing vehicle is needed to handle a liveaboard trailerable trawler.
The Favors see their new boat offering them flexibility, mobility, and economy in much larger measures. “Being able to trailer our boat across the country would give us the kind of mobility we didn’t have with our 40-foot trawler,” they write.
They’re honest about the downsides. They realized living aboard would be more like camping, for example. “We were surprised and happy to find some nicely appointed interiors that offered a level of comfort we could live with and felt would be more than adequate for the shorter-term trips we planned to do in the future.”
From there we look over their shoulders as they work their way up the learning curve and master loading, towing, and launching, then operating the new boat on the water. “We wanted to trailer the boat without great restraints and restrictions,” they wrote. “This decision limited us to a width (without special permits) of 8.5 feet and a length of 29 feet or less.”
“Trailerable boating is the wave of the future in boating and a choice more boaters will be making in years to come as it is a far more economical and flexible way to explore the myriad of divergent waterways in the United States and Canada.” – Jim and Lisa Favors
WOMEN ON BOARD CRUISING
Twenty-five Seasoned Women Boaters Share The Trials And Tribulation of Life Aboard
$9.99 EPUB
Twenty-five seasoned women boaters including editor, and long-distance cruiser, Lisa Targal Favors, of Traverse City, Michigan, are sharing the trials and tribulations of life aboard in the newly released book, Women On Board Cruising. Conceptualized, edited, and published by Ms. Favors, the book is designed to inspire and inform women and their significant others who are planning on or just considering spending an extended period of time on the water.
The contributors humorously recount their very personal experiences and openly share life lessons learned about this little-known lifestyle. Several women tell their stories with a rare, revealing vulnerability. Not all initially welcomed the thought of life within the confines of a boat but were cajoled by partners who had a greater desire and competence for this type of adventure. From doing the Loop (a boat trip circumnavigating the Eastern United States from the heartland rivers to the North Atlantic seaboard and Great Lakes) to sailing around the world, their stories are sure to warm the hearts of male and female readers alike.
The entertaining stories shared within this book would be of great interest to anyone who has ever considered a radical lifestyle change whether it s on a boat, RV, or other means of transportation. These women are actually living many people s dreams breaking away from a well-worn mold, they moved out of their comfortable homes and struck off for parts unknown enjoying all the surprises a long-distance adventure provides along the way. Surprisingly, it s not only women curious about this unique lifestyle, but interestingly enough, three-quarters of the people who signed up to be notified of the book s release were MEN, many are giving the book to their wives or partners in hopes of getting them on board with them to share an adventure of a lifetime.
QUOTE LIFT
“After we disposed of a lot of stuff, put the rest in storage, sold our house, and moved full-time onto our boat, Kismet, all of a sudden a tremendous feeling of freedom materialized. Wow! What a revelation! This new lifestyle was freeing in ways we never could have imagined. Suddenly, we found ourselves houseless, floating around on a boat. Now what?”
– Lisa Targal Favors, Traverse City, Michigan.
REVIEWS
Questions! Doubts! You have so many before you set out! Well, just when you d thought there was no one out there who understood you, along comes this awesome book, filled with warm women s voices offering clever advice, and helpful been-there-felt-that reassurance. It s like sitting down with a cup of tea and a support group of experienced fellow cruisers who can t wait to show you the ropes, and how cruising changed their lives and priorities.
– Bernadette Bernon, BOATUS MAGAZINE, and CRUISING WORLD
It is such a wonderful cross-section of women on boats – The stories address the common questions we all have; I well remember I had the same concerns and fears when my husband and I left our security to go cruising, and wish I’d had a book like this to ease the way for me. I really think this is a must-read for anyone who’s considering going cruising, men and women alike. These stories offer insight into and solutions for so many of the perceived cruising problems and show women that they’re not the only ones who have ever worried!
– Captain Patti Moore, SEA SENSE The Women’s Sailing & Powerboating School
From Mamas to tomboys, princesses to presidents, Women On Board Cruising opens a porthole for an inside look at how boating can create life-changing experiences for women from all walks of life. North, South, East, West… these are ladies from all corners of the U.S. and Canada that share the passion for cruising. With humor, emotion, and unique insight, Women On Board Cruising covers tips, information, and great stories empowering us all to say, I can do this.
– Christy Martin, LIFE ON THE WATER MAGAZINE
WHEN THE WATER CALLS…
WE FOLLOW
WHEN THE WATER CALLS…Reflections While Traveling on America’s Great Loop Boating Adventure
$9.99 EPUB
A few months into their first Great Loop trip Traverse City residents, Jim and Lisa Favors thought that a book by a group of boaters who were willing to share their personal perspectives about their own “Loop” would be a valuable tool for those either considering this trip or just plain curious about it. This book (edited and published by the Favors), When the Water Calls… We Follow, is a good read for anyone considering leaving the comforts of home to take off on an adventure of any kind.
The entertaining stories shared within this book would be of great interest to anyone who has ever pondered a radical lifestyle change whether it is on a boat, RV, or other means of transportation. This is a useful vehicle for people either considering this trip or just curious about it, to have a better sense of what a journey like this can entail in an untouchable sense. In Jim and Lisa’s opinion, the Great Loop Adventure is more about the day-to-day journey, relationships, and communing with nature, and most definitely not about the final destination or even the itinerary. If embarked upon, this trip would enhance and enrich the lives of anyone who has a taste for adventure, and a heart ripe for surprises, both large and small.
“We asked other boaters we met to share their varied and insightful experiences with us while keeping their responses more philosophical in nature with little stories that were still fresh in their minds, ones that had made their trip valuable to them,” noted Jim and Lisa in the forward of their book.
The Favors did not want a book on itineraries, destinations, facts, or figures. They wanted the reader to get a sense of what a “Looper” might experience, how they overcame obstacles, what they enjoyed, how they got along with their crew for such a long time in a small space, and, in a number of cases, how some Loopers accomplished the 6,000-mile trip mostly, or completely, by themselves. Even more importantly, they wanted to show why people left the familiarity of their long-time lifestyle to tackle a trip like this, and what they ultimately gained in return.
QUOTE LIFT – Jim & Lisa Favors: “People asked us, ‘Did the boat get a little small during your Great Loop boat trip?’ It was their way of asking if we got along in the confines of the boat. Well, I can’t honestly say that it was a piece of cake all the time, but after the first month and a half, we finally worked out some issues of space and togetherness. I guess we looked at it as a small hurdle in front of something even greater, and since this trip was so desired by both of us, we made a real effort to adjust.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Favors are members of AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association), They served on AGLCA’s Advisory Council for six years and have been writers for BoatU.S. Cruising Logs for five years. They have authored two other books on boating, Upside of Downsizing to a Trailerable Trawler (about trailerable trawling), and Women On Board Cruising (25 women share their experiences of long-distance cruising).
Lisa Targal Favors – a Michigan artist/writer/photographer, retired from her position as Art Director/Designer at Knorr Marketing in Traverse City, Michigan, to take off on a boating adventure of a lifetime – America’s Great Loop boating adventure (a boat trip circumnavigating the Eastern United States, from the heartland rivers to the North Atlantic Seaboard and Great Lakes).
What followed this adventure was a desire to share information about the joys of long-distance cruising through writing and photography. Lisa and her husband, Jim, completed almost two Great Loop boat trips (on two 40-foot boats), lived on those boats for five years, and later trailered their Ranger Tugs all around the United States and Canada to expand their boating experiences. For many years, Lisa, along with Jim, served on the Advisory Council of America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA), wrote boating logs for BoatUS for many years, and published a few boating books:
When the Water Calls… We Follow: Written by 27 boaters of their experiences while doing the Great Loop boating adventure.
Women Onboard Cruising: Written by 25 women, long-distance cruisers.
Upside Of Downsizing To A Trailerable Trawler: The Favors share insights on why and how to enjoy boating with a trailerable trawler.
Women On Ranger Tugs: Women Ranger Tugs owners share how they developed a love for boating.
The Favors also maintain two popular cruising blogs:
Trailer Trawler Life – https://trailertrawlerlife.com
Favors Great Loop Blog – https://favorsgreatloopblog.com
The Favors are members of AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association), They served on AGLCA’s Advisory Council for six years and have been writers for BoatU.S. Cruising Logs for five years. They have authored two other books on boating, Upside of Downsizing to a Trailerable Trawler (about trailerable trawling), and Women On Board Cruising (25 women share their experiences of long-distance cruising).
