R25 Factory Delivery Experience

Firestarter39

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2025
Messages
11
Fluid Motion Model
R-25 (Outboard)
Vessel Name
Field of Dreams
Hello fellow boaters! I have a new R25 coming at the end of this month.

The topic at hand: If you can not attend a factory delivery experience how would you recommend someone obtaining the information?

I am trying to prepare and educate myself about the boat as I have not been able to attend the orientation. I have watched a bunch of different videos on YouTube. I have my 100 ton masters certificate and know about boating. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance,

Firestarter39
 
If you already have a captains license you will be familiar with all the basics. The only thing that surprised me with our R27 during operation was it's sensitivity to the wind. I think it comes from it being a lengthy planing hull with a single outboard. Basically think of it as a windsock rotating on the outbound. The bow thruster helps but doesn't do much when over 10 knots of wind. The only other thing that still catches me off guard is the sensitivity of the digital throttles. I have to support my palm on the unit and only use two fingers on the lever.
My last suggestion would be to avoid buying all the boat gadgets that almost all boaters have aboard. For a few reasons, most of the items rarely if ever get used, they are expensive, there isn't very much room on these boats, and they add weight which slows you down and decreases MPG.
I predict you are going to be very happy with your new boat. No boat is perfect but I have been extremely happy with ours and it has exceeded my expectations.
Congratulations!
 
If you already have a captains license you will be familiar with all the basics. The only thing that surprised me with our R27 during operation was it's sensitivity to the wind. I think it comes from it being a lengthy planing hull with a single outboard. Basically think of it as a windsock rotating on the outbound. The bow thruster helps but doesn't do much when over 10 knots of wind. The only other thing that still catches me off guard is the sensitivity of the digital throttles. I have to support my palm on the unit and only use two fingers on the lever.
My last suggestion would be to avoid buying all the boat gadgets that almost all boaters have aboard. For a few reasons, most of the items rarely if ever get used, they are expensive, there isn't very much room on these boats, and they add weight which slows you down and decreases MPG.
I predict you are going to be very happy with your new boat. No boat is perfect but I have been extremely happy with ours and it has exceeded my expectations.
Congratulations!
Thanks for the advice! It would be interesting to hear what you believe as boat gadgets not needed. Different locations, different philosophies etc, I'm in SE Alaska as reference and I agree!
 
It is nothing in particular. When I sold my last boat, a 40 foot sport fisher, I took enough items off of her to fill the back of my pickup. I told the broker how much stuff I had to remove and he said that was the norm and he had seen many boats with lots more. Going through the stuff I realized that I didn't use or truly need most of it.

One thing I do like to have is extra fenders for if I raft up, so I have two regular fenders and two big inflatable fenders that use up almost no space.
 
Hi Firestarter,
I've been through two and for the second, the least important was how to drive the boat, the most important is where every thing is in these boats and how to turn stuff on. The factory has a lengthy checklist, I'd suggest getting that, grab a few beverages and invite other owners over to show you.
Enjoy your new boat.
 
Hi Firestarter,
I've been through two and for the second, the least important was how to drive the boat, the most important is where every thing is in these boats and how to turn stuff on. The factory has a lengthy checklist, I'd suggest getting that, grab a few beverages and invite other owners over to show you.
Enjoy your new boat.
I have tried to find the checklist for new r25ob with no luck. Can you provide a link to download?
 
You'd need to get that from the factory or a fellow R25 owner. I just have from my R29 and 43
 
Hi Firestarter,
I've been through two and for the second, the least important was how to drive the boat, the most important is where every thing is in these boats and how to turn stuff on. The factory has a lengthy checklist, I'd suggest getting that, grab a few beverages and invite other owners over to show you.
Enjoy your new boat.
I would love to talk to someone a out the systems and walk-through and get the checklist. However, no one else in the area that owns one.
 
Firestarter,
We have a 2025 R23 OB. I have a orientation checklist for the 2017 model year with inboard diesel. It does not tell you where anything is and not applicable for the new outboards. I may have a newer checklist on the boat but it is frozen in at the moment. I don't see where this site lets me upload a file though.
Bob
 
@Firestarter39, DM me, and I’ll send you a checklist I made. It’s definitely not the only one you will need - it just covers haul-out, but it does have some useful things on it.

Like @gswearin said, where everything is is the most important. I haven’t actually seen a checklist for the R-25. Presumably you have the manual though (https://www.manula.com/manuals/fluidmotion/ranger-tugs-r25/1/en/topic/ranger-tug-r25-owner-s-manual). That will tell you a lot. The big thing you need to remember is to ensure the seacocks are open when you try to run the heater/AC, or flush the toilets. They are in the bilge, under the center hatch in the cockpit. Also, when you turn off the heater, let it run for a bit to drain the water and cool down. The other thing that surprised me was the inverter. Once you flip the breaker for the inverter, there is an inverter panel in the mid-berth you have to turn on. It says Kisae on it. I have never seen a video of the R-25 training, but Bob shows it at 5:40 in day 1 of the training on his R-43 (
). It’s the same switch.

In terms of what you don’t need, the boats actually come really well equipped but it’s easier to say what you really do need than what you don’t. Here are a few things:
1. A suicide knob. It makes docking 100 times easier. @Submariner has a link to one in his Amazon affiliate store that works really well: https://www.amazon.com/shop/letsgoc..._sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_9P9N50Z1KMA9WM74C94Z
2. A pair of additional fenders. The boat comes with four. Six is really useful, especially if you need to raft. They are Polyform G-5, black. You said you were in Southeast Alaska, but not where. LFS Marine in Sitka has them, and I’m sure you can find them near you.
3. An extra dock line or two. They are 5/8” lines. I found a couple of extra 25’ ones were pretty useful to avoid having to move lines from one side of the boat to the other all the time.
4. Bedding. This is expensive, but the Yacht bedding is light years better than just the standard mattress if you are going to sleep on the boat. The mattress topper is well worth it. Other than that, standard sheets will work well.
5. AIS - Not really necessary, but a wonderful upgrade. It’s really useful to be able to see through fog and determine not just that there is another boat there, which the radar will tell you, but where they are going and how fast. The Garmin 800 works great and is easy to install.
6. A trash can. Always useful.
7. A remote control for the heater so you don’t have to duck into the cave every time you want to turn it on. This is the one you need: https://marinepartssource.com/wirel...nits-with-v30-control-panels-webasto-5012610a. Check with the factory though if they ship them with the R-25s now. They do with the R-43, so perhaps they do.

That’s probably the stuff we found most important, other than fishing gear or whatever you want to use the boat for.

Enjoy the new boat and welcome to the group!
 
Thank you for the information! I appreciate the details. Is there a ranger tug r25ob guide to setting up Garmin, correct for depth, fuel capacity, etc?
 
Thank you for the information! I appreciate the details. Is there a ranger tug r25ob guide to setting up Garmin, correct for depth, fuel capacity, etc?
Good question. I have not seen one myself, but there may be one that someone else knows. When we did our delivery training, Tim helped us set it. The fuel capacity was set to 95, although the tank holds 99 gallons. I think that was to have a slight buffer. IMHO, as long as you don’t get real close to zero, you can probably set it to true capacity. We set the draft to 3 feet - it is actually 34 inches - but that’s close enough. We also set a low water alarm for 10 feet, but it’s not unusual that you will have that alarm go off in marinas. I don’t recall anything else that we set up at that time other than a home port marker.

You may need to calibrate the heading sensor on the Garmin. Just google for it and you’ll find videos and guides on how. Apart from that, it’s mostly a question of setting it all up to your liking. You will obviously need to get an MMSI programmed into the radio as well but given your level of training I’m sure you know all about that.
 
I’ll speak to the Garmin functions that I use the most and forgot after training. And if you know all of this I apologize but I can’t think I’m the only one who struggled with this.

The factory guys can probably get on the phone with you and walk through the offset depth for the transducer and also the initial settings for auto guidance like preferences for distance to shore etc….

1. Telling the Garmin how much fuel you added. Seems simple but it is buried a bit.
From Nav screen press Options, then goto the left and press Settings
Press My Vessel and Fuel. You can now tell it how many gallons you just added

2. When wanting the Garmin to build the route choose Auto Guidance. At the first I thought the logical choice was Route To. But learned Auto Guidance is the choice for a route based on your limits you enter for depth, distance to shore etc….

I’m sure there some great videos on YouTube. Once I got these 2 things down I was able to figure out lots more cool things in the 8612 just playing around with it
 
Any further explanation on auto pilot remote for kicker? Ie. What can remote control do? Just stear kicker only?
 
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