Ranger Tugs 2024 Rendezvous

Great Lakes Area Ranger Tugs 2024 Rendezvous – Traverse City, Michigan

GREAT LAKES AREA RANGER TUGS/CUTWATER BOATS 2024 RENDEZVOUS – Traverse City, Michigan – We just put a wrap on our eighth Great Lakes Area Ranger Tugs 2024 Rendezvous. It was again at Clinch Park Marina, in our hometown of Traverse City this year. It has been a couple of years since Traverse City has seen so many Ranger Tugs in one place at once. Seventeen boats of all sizes and 48 people joined us (some came by land) for social activities and presentations from sponsors, including a session by Jared Dunning from the Ranger Tugs Factory. Jared spent all three…

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Blackfin Resort & Marina

Blackfin Resort & Marina – Marathon, Florida

 Blackfin Resort and Marina, Marathon, Florida, is an island paradise and a welcome slice of old Florida. Jim and I have been wintering at this marina since 2013. Because of its old Florida character and its relaxed atmosphere, we keep coming back. In our minds, when we leave Traverse City, Michigan, for Florida, after the holidays each year, we head to a warm, friendly place where our friends are also returning. We look forward to soaking up the sun and ending each day with beautiful daily sunsets over Florida Bay. Blackfin is not a high-end, fancy place, and that’s…

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Grandkids Cruise-Big Chute

Grandkids Cruise-Big Chute—Trent Severn Waterway-Part-6

The Big Chute Marine Railway—One of the unique locks on the Trent Severn Waterway — Last leg of the Grandkids Cruise on the Trent Severn Waterway. Shortly after we pulled the boat out of the water and left Orillia, we arrived at the Big Chute Marine Railway, in Coldwater, Ontario. Had we stayed with our initial PLAN A, we would have started our trip in Severn, Ontario. The Big Chute would have been the first lock on our trip with that plan. However, in the summer of 2022, this lock was closed on and off all summer. The day before we would have…

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Grandkids Cruise–Big Chute

Grandkids Cruise-Orillia—Trent Severn Waterway-Part-5

The Stretch from Fenelon Falls to Orillia Was the Last Leg of Our Boat Trip. Grandkids Cruise-Orillia. We will pull the boat out here to drive to the Big Chute to see the boats being carried over land. If we had gone with PLAN A, the Big Chute would have been our first lock, instead of our last. On this day we had fun taking the Kirkfield Lift Lock (below). This lock is similar to the one in Peterborough. Look what we spotted today (above). We immediately stocked up on Butter Tarts, while exploring downtown and the big park by…

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Grandkids Cruise-Fenelon Falls

Grandkids Cruise-Fenelon Falls—Trent Severn Waterway-Part-4

Something for Everyone! Fenelon Falls, Ontario — Grandkids Cruise-Fenelon Falls. We have another fun stop today. Fenelon Falls has it all. The lock is right downtown and there is a magnificent park available within a short walking distance of the lock where we usually try to dock. We remembered from the last time we were here that there is a museum next to the park and they have lots of activities for kids. Grabbing a spot on the lock wall in Fenelon Falls means a chance to have water and electricity access. Sometimes Wi-Fi access is available at the park.…

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Grandkids Cruise–Bobcaygeon

Grandkids Cruise-Bobcaygeon—Trent Severn Waterway-Part-3

Bobcaygeon Is A Popular Town on the Trent Severn Waterway — Grandkids Cruise-Bobcaygeon. One of our favorite places on the Trent Severn Waterway (TSW) is the charming town of Bobcaygeon. A popular stop for Loopers, Bobcaygeon has many things boaters are looking for while cruising the TSW. We looked forward to visiting this town with the kids. The last time we were in Bobcaygeon was when we cruised from Orillia, Ontario, on the TSW to Montreal, on the Rideau Canal. After we went through the lock wall, we secured a spot on the park side of the lock.       I tried…

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Grandkids Cruise– Buckhorn

Grandkids Cruise-Buckhorn—Trent Severn Waterway-Part-2

Grandkids Cruise-Buckhorn, On the Trent Severn Waterway — After leaving Peterborough, we made our way along the waterway to Buckhorn, stopping at Stoney Lake to anchor for one night. On the first two days of cruising the Trent Severn Waterway, we traversed 12 locks. That’s a lot!!! Safety First! Jim and I discussed how best to manage the kids while locking through. For safety reasons, we decided they had to sit still, inside or on the “Queen Seat,” while Jim and I handled the mechanics of catching lock wall ropes and securing the boat in the lock. While launching the…

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Grandkids Cruise–Trent Severn Waterway

Grandkid’s Cruise to Peterborough-Trent Severn Waterway-Part-1

Grandkid's Cruise To Peterborough—First Leg of a 12-day Adventure The idea for the “Grandkid's Cruise” came almost a year before we actually set out on the road trip to Ontario, Canada with the boat in tow. We wanted the cruise to be educational by visiting somewhere, by boat, which had some historical content and some boating features. The Trent Severn Waterway (TSW) immediately came to mind. The kids would learn about how early commerce transportation came to be in Canada and the historical significance of traveling a waterway with a lock system in place. PROVISIONING AND PLANNING Our oldest grandson, Silas,…

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Great Lakes Area Rendezvous

More Photos From the 2022 Ranger Tugs & Cutwater Boats Great Lakes Area Rendezvous

Traverse City has never seen so many Ranger Tugs. All Saturday and Sunday, the boats slowly rolled in for the 2022 Ranger Tugs & Cutwater Boats Great Lakes Area Rendezvous. With 25 boats on the docks, and a total of 56 attendees, some arriving by car, this was the largest event we have hosted to date. A Big Thank-You to Our Sponsors ... Fluid Motion, Volvo Penta, Garmin, Reed Yacht Sales, Global Marine Insurance, and Chesapeake Jewelers. This event would not have been a reality without their support. Also, a big thank-you to Kim Russo, America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association (AGLCA) for coming…

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2022 Great Lakes Area Ranger Tugs & Cutwater Boats Rendezvous

2022 Great Lakes Area Ranger Tugs & Cutwater Boats Rendezvous — Traverse City, Michigan

Last Week was the Sixth Great Lakes Area Ranger Tugs & Cutwater Boats Rendezvous — Our last rendezvous was in Charlevoix in 2019, Covid prevented the possibility of a get-together for some time. Thank goodness we could organize the event this year as pent-up demand showed in the number of interested attendees to be overwhelming. With limited space, we had to turn many away. It’s called the Great Lakes Area Rendezvous because we like to host it in many locations around the Great Lakes. This gives attendees an opportunity to cruise or trailer their boats to explore different ports. So…

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Adventure Cruising With Kids or Grandkids

Adventure Cruising With Kids or Grandkids — Canada’s Trent Severn Waterway

Jim and I love to share our cruising experiences! Since 2005, when we headed out on our first Great Loop adventure, it was just the two of us. Our three sons who were engaged in their own adventures; college, jobs, and Marines, were too young to have kids themselves, which left us empty-nesters, and able to strike out on our own. When our first grandson, Silas, made his appearance, in 2013 (and subsequently, our granddaughter, Hadley, in 2016 and another grandson, Declan in 2021) our thoughts and energies eventually turned to how we could share our love of boating with…

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St. Johns River

St. Johns River—Deland to Silver Glen Springs, Florida

This was not the first time we have cruised the St. Johns River. We were living on our Fathom 40, finishing up our second Great Loop boat trip, when Kismet left Key West, Florida, heading north to the Solomon Islands. It was June 2009. Our goal was to spend the summer in the Chesapeake Bay area. That was a fun thing to do. Spending the entire summer in Maryland gave us more of an in-depth experience of another part of the country we knew little about. We made lots of side trips during our stay in the Solomon Islands, either…

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Women On Ranger Tugs

Women On Ranger Tugs

Just Released... Women On Ranger Tugs Women Ranger Tugs Owners Discover Boating As A Rewarding Lifestyle Choice 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, 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…

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Fort Myers

Legacy Harbour Marina – Our Winter Hot Spot!

We Have Been Going to Legacy Harbour Marina Since 2012 — The Legacy Harbour Marina staff, Harbor Master, Eric, and Office Manager, Sheila, are accommodating, professional and friendly. Over time, we have docked all three of our tugs there for at least a one, or two-month stay. While it’s nice to try out fresh places, and marinas, it’s also fun to go back to familiar marinas, where you’ve made friendships and feel at home. We like a combination of the two when we go cruising, we enjoy finding a balance in life and everything we do. We have not been…

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Colossal Road Trip

Colossal Road Trip – Part Two – Seattle, Washington to Fort Myers, Florida

It was a Colossal Road Trip — Don't Need to do That Again — Just before Thanksgiving 2021, we departed home in Traverse City, Michigan, to head west to take possession of our new Ranger Tugs R25. That was only the beginning. It was a major, week-long trek to reach our destination of Des Moines, Washington (blue line on top of map). We talked about that trip in a couple of older posts, along with our delivery experience and a brief trip to Gig Harbor, WA. We would have liked to spend more time in the Puget Sound area, but…

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Des Moines

Outfitting the Boat in Des Moines, Washington

Des Moines, Washington for Ten Days — When you buy a Ranger Tugs boat, Des Moines is one place you would take delivery. It is a great location to become familiar with your new boat and load your belongings. Outfitting the boat is easy, being close to shopping, motels, restaurants, etc. Ranger Tugs is generous with its dock space during this process. We took advantage of the proximity to shopping to outfit the boat with items such as storage containers, bedding, and miscellaneous items we could not plan for until we took possession of the boat. Many items needed to…

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Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor, WA – A Brief Trip to One of Our Favorites

Gig Harbor for a Pre-Christmas Cruise – The weather was iffy most days during our stay at the marina in Des Moines. However, we found a nice weather window to cruise to one of our favorite spots in South Sound, Gig Harbor. We took a three-day excursion to test out the boat and relax a little in Gig Harbor’s scenic location. We stayed at the town’s public dock, a magnificent spot, down from a city park. Downtown, restaurants, and shopping were all just a short walk from our boat. Arriving before the Christmas holiday, we were fortunate to be there…

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Factory Delivery Experience

Factory Delivery Experience On Our New Ranger Tugs R25

Ranger Tugs Offers A Two-Day Factory Delivery Experience We arrived in Des Moines, Washington for our Factory Delivery Experience, (formally known as Factory Orientation) late Sunday, but it was still light out. Jim had booked a room at a motel just up from the marina. First things first. Before we even checked into the motel, down to the boat to get our first look at our new Ranger Tugs R25. Because of Jim’s forward planning, the new Kismet already had her decal on the bow and stern of the boat. We had her hull ceramic coated, and the decal had…

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Truck

Is the Truck Full?

Our Truck Was Packed to the Gills For The Road Trip West. While the factory was building our new Ranger Tugs R25, Jim and I started packing the truck. Quite a feat, considering the circumstances. We sold our Ranger Tugs R29 about a year ago, in Anacortes, Washington. We packed up our boating stuff, all but a few things that were specific to the boat itself, or that we had promised the new owner we would include in the sale. That meant we packed up all our clothes, most of the linens, all the galley pots and pans, dishes, utensils,…

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Our Ranger Tug Family is Growing to Include a Cutwater Boat

I imagine our blog subscribers are wondering where all the summer posts are. Well, we are still waiting to take delivery of our new Ranger Tugs R25, so we have been taking a little hiatus from the blog during this time. It was a long, hot summer for Jim and me without a boat, but we found a few things to do to distract from our misery. Jim continued working on his house projects until just recently, while I have been working on a new boating book. To keep us sane, at the end of many beautiful northern Michigan days…

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boat accessories

Preparation is Key – Taking Delivery of Our New 2022 Ranger Tugs R25OB

New 2022 Ranger Tugs R25OB Thought our blog readers might be wondering what we have been up to as we await our brand new 2022 Ranger Tugs R25OB to be built. The factory scheduled delivery for the end of summer, in Des Moines, Washington. We are now in a holding pattern and it just feels weird not having a boat to hop on at a moment’s notice, especially as the warm weather hits northern Michigan. Jim and I have had one boat or another since 1995. We’ve had a good plan in place since before we sold our Ranger Tug R29 last…

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What’s Next?

One Thing Is Certain – We're Not Done Boating Yet!  – As many of you know, we sold our beautiful, hero red, Ranger Tugs R29 last fall while we were in the Pacific Northwest. We had a two-year plan with that boat, which turned into three exceptional years cruising in the USA and CANADA. No; we are not getting out of boating, just reevaluating and tweaking our boating lifestyle as we do every so often. Boat shopping is fun! We took our time deciding on" What's Next" for the crew of Kismet. Our boating needs have changed a little, so we…

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Blackberry Pie

Sweet As Blackberry Pie – Blake Island, Puget Sound

Itching to make some blackberry pie! We stopped at a few of our favorite spots as we worked our way south on Puget Sound. Port Madison was first, then we headed for Blake Island, always a favorite for the crew on Kismet. We are still on our way through Puget Sound to spend some time in South Sound. A new favorite for Jim and me. Blake Island sits across from Seattle. It always surprises us to find slips available when we arrive. Today was no different, It was busy, and we had to jockey a few minutes for one boat…

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Kismet Slider

Ranger Tugs – A Serious Choice for Cruising the Great Loop Adventure

Looking for a Worthy Boat to Take On the Great Loop Adventure? We received a comment on our YouTube Page, asking us why most people planning on doing the Great Loop Boat Trip look for and buy, “Vintage, 20-30-year-old planing hull, fly-bridge boats.” “Why not buy modern, semi-displacement trawlers, that portray a serious dedication to seamanship?” This comment caused me to ask myself the question of why we became Ranger Tug owners many years ago. If those boats had been on our radar, would we have gone with a newer, smaller boat to do the "Loop?" Jim and I did…

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Port Madison Anchor

Party Time While Anchoring in Port Madison Bay – Puget Sound, Washington

We Love Anchoring in Port Madison Bay –  Port Madison Bay is a quiet inlet off Bainbridge Island, on the northeast part of the island. Bainbridge Island sits northwest of Seattle across Puget Sound. We are making our way from the San Juan Islands to South Sound. Anchoring in Port Madison Bay was a simple decision for us. We love it, it is well-protected and scenic, and anchoring in the bay is always peaceful. Because of social distancing, we have been anchoring out a lot. We have everything we need on the boat to keep us occupied. After fifteen years…

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