I appreciated reading and seeing others' ideas, particularly during the long winter months waiting for delivery, so happy to share my own.
The enclosure was built by Canadian Yacht Tops, in Lefroy, ON, right next to the Ranger dealer. There is an album dedicated to it. It works quite well, though I will admit there are a lot of snaps. That's the price to be paid for expanding the diminuitive interior space. We can't imagine not having it, and it's awfully nice to sit in the cockpit during a rainstorm. The only panels I can't roll up are the corner pieces, but we haven't felt the need to remove them even on very hot days. For most of the first couple of months with bugs we kept the screens in place. With the panels rolled up entirely it's a different experience, being only inches from the water.
I leave the table in place all the time except when accessing the engine. It's more useful than in the way.
Crawling around the 21's storage areas would not take much time. Every stowed item has to be carefully considered, even a length of PVC pipe. The lifejackets take up a lot of room in the stern locker but I haven't figured out anything better other than keeping them on the V berth. I envy those with a cave.
The Index Seahawk dinghy cost me $30 (Canadian!) from Amazon. It deflates to a very small size and weighs little. I bought it on a lark (and to keep up with the Joneses on my dock) after seeing YouTube videos of owner mods. While more of a toy than a real dinghy, it's heartier than I expected and even takes a small motor mount. Ridiculous to row, but super comfortable to lounge on and a piece of cake to lift onto the dock or bow up on the stern fenders for towing. (It tends to submarine otherwise.) If it lasts the summer, I'll be delighted.
I've just hit the 50-hour service interval. Changing engine and gear oil and filter, and installing a Speed Seal on the impeller are quite easy. The only new boat issues I've encountered have been hatch screens that warped--Ranger suggested turning them upside down which seems to work, though they fit a little tight that way--and a battery charger that died, or possibly never worked. It took until now to discover the fault, and both Ranger and the charger manufacturer (Kisae) have been attentive--a new charger is en route. I've ordered a remote display for it since it's hard to see in the stern locker and the out-of-sight out-of-mind location caused me to overlook the dropping voltage on the house battery until it got so low that everything shut off. Naturally, I checked all possibilities before coming to the realization that the charger itself was defective. While I'd read on Tugnuts that the ACR will not pass voltage to a depleted battery, I learned from my dealer that even after the battery is charged you may need to jump the relay for a few minutes to start the flow of current. In any case, a short jumper cable is clearly a good thing to have aboard.
As I'd hoped and expected, the boat's namesake has derived much more pleasure from the tug than the small sailboat she replaced. The jury is out on whether a good night's sleep is possible for both of us on a 21 foot boat, but if she remains a daysailer that's fine for now. (I showed her a video of the 25. She rolled her eyes and said "this is how it starts." Baz is the expert when it comes to moving to or from the 21.)
