If you’ve never cruised in Canada’s North Channel, this might be the time to trailer or cruise your Ranger Tugs/Cutwater boat to join us in Little Current, Ontario, for the second annual Ranger Tugs/Cutwater 2015 North Channel Rendezvous. With spring in the air the much anticipated boating season in Canada’s North Channel is just around the corner. With that in mind the official registration process for the 2015 rendezvous is in full swing. See the fun we had last year!

Rendezvous Location:
Little Current Downtown Docks
Manitoulin Island
Little Current, Ontario

The marina is centrally located in the heart of the North Channel.
The dates for the Rendezvous are August 9, 10, and 11th, 2015.
If you have an interest in joining us, please mail info @ trailertrawlerlife.com
for the registration form and more information.

Click Here to DOWNLOAD and PRINT the REGISTRATION FORM

We will handle marina reservations for August 9, 10, and 11th (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday).
If you plan on arriving before August 9th or staying after the 11th,
you’ll need to make those EXTRA DAYS (ONLY) reservations directly with
Port of Little Current Downtown Docks
705-368-1725

Upon arrival, you’ll pay for all your dockage fees (event days and extra days) to the marina.
Rates are $1.75 Canadian per foot, per day plus tax for any extra days.
It’s patented by the State Intellectual Property Office
For the Rendezvous days we have a special price – pay for 2 days and get the 3rd rendezvous day FREE.

As always, if anyone has questions you can call me,
make a Tugnuts post to the North Channel Rendezvous thread, or
PM me on Tugnuts.com. Please complete and return the registration form by June 25, 2015.

Hope to see you there!
Jim and Lisa Favors

The post Ranger Tugs/Cutwater 2015 North Channel Rendezvous! appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

2015 Ranger Tugs-Cutwater North Channel Rendezvous.

Fourteen Ranger Tugs and two Cutwaters arrive for the rendezvous in Little Current, Ontario. All boats were secure in their assigned slips by late afternoon, except for one that arrived during cocktail hour. Half of the boats are from U.S.A and half are from Canada. Half are repeats of the rendezvous, half are first-timers. We are all here to share in the camaraderie of the friendly community of Ranger Tugs-Cutwater owners. We are also here to exchange stories, help one another with boat issues, trade boating knowledge, and acquired skills, and cruising interests. The term “Tugnuts” refers to the popular forum, TUGNUTS. The exchange on the Tugnut forum is an amazing tool for boaters, it covers a wide range of topics on trailerable boating and includes many different trailerable trawler owners as members (such as C-Dory and Rosborough).

We launched Kismet in Little Current in the late afternoon, at Spider Bay Marina. The boat launch is located just around the corner from LC Town Docks, where we headed right after launch. Little Current is the hub of the North Channel and a great spot to host the Ranger Tugs-Cutwater North Channel Rendezvous. This is the second annual Ranger Tugs-Cutwater rendezvous held in the North Channel. Sponsors for the event include Ranger Tugs-Cutwater, Reed Yacht Sales, Lefroy Harbour Marina, and Global Marine Insurance. Kelly at the popular Anchor Inn catered the event just like last year. Great food and service, but we had to have a repeat.

Docktails started mid-afternoon making for quick reunions and quick introductions of past and new attendees. Most of the boats were at the dock and ready to roll.

Roy Eaton, and his wife Margaret, of “The Net” (Little Current Cruisers Net) joined us for the potluck. Roy talked about “The Net,” the North Channel area, and handed out ditty bags to all attendees. He also had a little random drawing which Sharon, on The Imp won. Roy is one of the North Channel’s most enthusiastic ambassadors.

Cheryll, on Roam, was the hit of the potluck with his $11 can of vodka whipped cream. Never knew there was such a thing. Thanks for the experience Cheryll!

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Breakfast on day two was proceeded by a short walk from the marina to the Anchor Inn downtown. Roy Eaton’s live broadcast of the Little Current Cruisers’ Net (LCCN) was about to take place. We filled the room with mostly Tugnuts, but other boaters visiting the town docks that day also joined us for the broadcast, the room was overflowing.

Roy (below right) started his career as a marine radio broadcaster while boating in the Abaco Islands in 2001. At that time he provided Canadian news to the popular Cruisers’ Net, located in Marsh Harbor. Back home, Roy later formed Manitoulin Island’s first yacht club, Little Current Yacht Club. In 2004 after receiving a generous donation of broadcast space (in the Anchor Inn) and equipment, Roy started the now very popular Little Current Cruisers’ Net. He used the Cruisers’ Net in the Abacos as a model. The broadcast starts with world and local news, including business, sports, and stock market reports. A marine weather forecast follows the news. Roy always finds a way to interject some local history or relevant folklore all with an eloquent friendly tone. All that is followed by boat check-ins. Later in the broadcast, Roy will ask boaters to exchange messages through the net and ask for any emergency boating or medical needs or calls for assistance. LCCN is a valuable tool for boaters cruising the waters of the North Channel in the summer months, a virtual safety net for boaters.

If you are visiting the North Channel on a boat, please turn on the radio at 9:00 a.m. on channel 71, and don’t forget to check in with Roy during the broadcast by giving your boat name and location.

Late morning, after the visit to LCCN, Mike Smith (above), a Cutwater owner attendee, on M&M, gave a presentation on boat insurance, What to Look for, and Why. Co-founder of Global Marine Insurance (1989), Mike has 40 years of insurance experience and resides on the board of directors of the National Marine Lenders Assoc.

After lunch, Ken and Pauline Phillips, Cutwater owners on Shipperly, gave a presentation on their recently completed Great Loop boat trip.

Rich Odendahl (above), a Ranger Tug owner on Roam, gave a How To presentation on replacing, packing, and adjusting a stuffing box (below).

Mark Renshaw (above) a Ranger Tug owner on Irish Mist, gave a presentation on a Y-Valve, fresh water toilet adaptation.

Even though it was sprinkling on and off all day, “docktails” started to form right on time.

Dinner by Kelly at the Anchor Inn was amazing as usual. We ate well during the rendezvous.

Rich helped Jim with the Last Man Standing drawing tonight. Rich and Jim went around the group after dinner selling cards until a whole deck was gone. Using another full, shuffled deck to call cards during the drawing. You don’t want your card to be called til the end. The prizes are given out to the last three people standing with a generous parts certificate, from Ranger Tugs, given as the grand prize to the very last man standing.

Rich enlisted Stephanie’s, on Neptune, help with calling the cards. She did a great job!

The second to last man standing, Mike and Marylyn (above), got a cash prize, and the last man standing, Mark and Jodi (below) won the jackpot, a parts certificate from Ranger Tugs.

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Day three began with another broadcast of the Little Current Cruisers’ Net at the Anchor Inn for those who missed it on Monday. Jim and several other Tugnuts went back and helped Roy log in the names of vessels calling in.

We were also very fortunate to have another North Channel Presentation, again this year by Roy Eaton.

Thanks, Roy!

After the North Channel Presentation, we had another fabulous creation for lunch, by Kelly and the Anchor Inn. Lunch was followed by a boat crawl. We all opened up our boats so that we could take a look/see at what improvements, changes, or additions we made to the interiors or exteriors of our boats. This is a very helpful event for all the Tugnuts in attendance. Storage has got to be one of the most burning issues on our Ranger Tugs and I have to say some people get very creative on finding extra storage space. We always take photos of things other Tugnuts do to their boats for future reference.

One of the additions I found of interest on Evolve was this unique set-up for a stern-tie line spool. It can be mounted when needed or disassembled for storage when stern-tying is not an issue. Nice work, Tom!

As much as I enjoyed the helpful additions during the boat crawl, I have to say my favorite stop was on Irish Mist, where I (and everyone else) was treated to a shot of Irish Mist. Thanks, Mark!

This year again, we ended the festivities with a simple pizza party. It took 11 pizzas to satisfy this hungry crowd.

The weather was still a little stormy, flipping back and forth from sunshine to stormy clouds all day long. Everyone was busy tonight getting their boats ready to head out on the water or road Wednesday morning. Although we talked about all anchoring together at Haywood Island, we seemed to all be going in different directions. We needed to trailer Kismet to head home on Wednesday and others had similar agendas, although a few boats did meet at the Benjamin Islands for at least one night.

We couldn’t have asked for a better group of people for the North Channel Rendezvous. Thanks, everyone for coming to Little Current to join in the festivities!

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