Checking Out The Ranger Tug...

The other day while out and about on Wild Blue, I came across our friends Leonard and Doris in their Ranger Tug. They were coming in from the Gulf as I was heading out. We stopped to visit for a bit. Their tug, Gabriela, is a very pretty boat...

This morning, Leonard called and said, "Well, it's rainy and chilly - what do you think, a good day for a boat ride?"

"Absolutely," I said, and we made plans to shove off in about an hour. Their tug is about the same size as Wild Blue, even has a similar floorplan, but a completely different execution. Wild Blue is often described as "work boat-ish" inside; the Ranger tug has lots of warm wood tones, teak and holly sole, and even more height. Classy. It has an inboard diesel motor as opposed to an outboard. Since the inboard and rudder doesn't turn as sharp, the boat is also equipped with bow and stern thrusters - you can move the boat sideways or rotate it with just the thrusters. Very nice.


Leonard took the helm until we were out of the canal and then invited me to take it and see how the boat performs. I ran it forward, back, used the thrusters to turn and rotate, checked out the prop walk in reverse, then ran at different speeds to check out the engine volume in the cabin. I was impressed.

In the ship channel, we ran the boat to max speed (about 18 mph) and then set the RPMs to get to one gallon per hour fuel burn: 6.5 mph, giving a very efficient 6.5 miles per gallon at an easy cruise speed.

Shortly after that, a Coast Guard small boat ran by us, then made a sharp u-turn. Yep, we're about to be boarded. Leonard told me that he had never been stopped by the Coast Guard before. It must be me... I must look suspicious.

They came up alongside us, and asked the usual first question: "Do you have any weapons onboard?"

"No, sir," I said, "Would you like me to put out fenders for you to board?" It wasn't necessary - their helmsman put their bow alongside our cockpit and two men stepped aboard. They did a pretty thorough safety inspection, then we visited for a bit. Leonard got the "good as gold" sheet from them, and the two CG guys stepped back onto their boat.

It was getting increasingly foggy; besides the Coast Guard boat, we were the only ones on the water. It was a pretty sure bet that they were going to drop in for a visit. We chugged back towards home, then sat in his boat and visited for a while. Nice way to spend a drizzly gray day.

One of the particularly interesting bits on that Ranger Tug is the remote to run the thrusters. Leonard put the remote around his neck when he stepped off the boat to tie off to the dock. If I had one of those, I'd be showing off for the neighbors, running the boat from the dock, like it was a radio controlled toy! ;-)