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 be measured and used before we could shop for them.

Jim and I stayed at the marina in Des Moines for about ten days. Before we knew it, we were driving the boat over to the boat lift to haul it out and load it onto the trailer. This is the second time we’ve taken delivery of a tug in Des Moines, so the process was familiar to us. (They did not have this set-up when we bought our Ranger Tugs R27, in 2011.)

We had spent the last day or two provisioning for our trip to Florida. We will be boaterhoming once we are on the road and are in warmer weather, using the boat as an RV, while towing, first south, to get to warmer weather, then east to our winter home-port of Fort Myers, Florida.

Kismet is snug in her trailer and raring to go, we are too. One more time we say goodbye to the Pacific Northwest.

The post Outfitting the Boat in Des Moines, Washington appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

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 the day of their Christmas tree lighting festivities, located right up from our slip. We could watch the crowd and tree lighting right from our boat.

We had hoped to spend more time cruising in Puget Sound, but it was just not to be this time around. After an entire year of waiting for our new Ranger Tug, we don’t care where we cruise. So, after our brief trip to Gig Harbor, we have our sights on a little more stable weather, winter cruising in Florida. It was a quick trip, but we were happy to get at least one in before we loaded the boat onto the trailer for our next cross-country trek.

The post Gig Harbor, WA – A Brief Trip to One of Our Favorites appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.