An email from Jon Ponder, R25 Snug Tug, about last week’s Tugnut postings regarding the sale of one Bay Ranger by Rich Merrill and ownership of another Bay Ranger by Steveoyce@ Yahoo prompted me to dust off my old password and dive back into the friendly world of Tugnuts! First, I want you all to know that THERE IS LIFE AFTER RANGER TUGS! Elaine and I retired to Annapolis, MD in 1999 and, like some Ranger Tug owners, bought a sailboat. We eventually took it down the ICW to Florida and enjoyed the cruise immensely. We know we wanted to continue to repeat this cruise to winter sunshine. We found ourselves motoring up to 75% of the time on the ICW with the sailboat, so we decided to ‘go over to the dark side’, as sailors say and buy a new Ranger Tug R25 and eventually a new R27, both named Bay Ranger. By the way, in Annapolis and no doubt elsewhere, those who have owned both sail and power boats are known as ‘transvesselites’!
We moved to a retirement community in our home state of Ohio (Go Buckeyes!) in 2020 but I still proudly wear my faded Ranger Tug hat with considerable pride. It has sparked many conversations with Ohio landlubbers resulting in both amazement and envy at the good times long distance Ranger Tug cruisers enjoy. We frequently refer to our cruising logs, reread articles we wrote for PropTalk Magazine, and look back to that chapter of our lives with fond and vivid memories and no regrets - well, maybe one regret. We thought long and hard about doing The Loop but we didn’t get that done. We’re sorry we didn’t. Our unsolicited advice to you is, if you are thinking about doing The Loop don’t wait too long. Time flies! Hopefully, your reasons for putting off this cruise will succumb to your desires to complete this adventure. We urge you to re-examine your reasons for delaying that cruise and ask yourself if there is a way around them to allow you to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity.
To Rich Merrill, we know you enjoyed R27 Bay Ranger which you bought from us in 2016. We know you enjoyed her as much as we did. To John and Susan Mc Cracker, congratulations for take over Bay Ranger’s helm. She’s a great boat who really knows the Chesapeake from her years with the Merrills and us. She also knows her way down the ICW to Florida, if you are so inclined. She would take you there in a heartbeat! When the sun shines on the gelcoat, I’ll bet you can see ‘MD2409BZ' ghosting through.
To Steve, who now owns the R25 Bay Ranger Tug we purchased new in 2008 - she took us to many nooks and crannies on the Chesapeake Bay, to warm Florida winters and north as far as Ottawa, Canada. We hope she enjoys the Pacific Northwest as much as she enjoyed the East Coast! I know she does. To Jon and Marilyn Ponder, R25 Snug Tug, thanks for literally leading us into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and sending us confidently on our way to New York harbor for the loop up the Hudson, Erie Canal, Lake Ontario, Thousand Islands, Rideau Canal and back down Lake Champlain following in your wake from your previous cruise in those waters.
To the crew at Ranger Tugs, thanks to the continued support of Jeff Messmer and the outstanding service and expertise of Andrew Custis. You two contributed greatly to the joy of Ranger Tug ownership for us. Thanks also to Sam Bisset for featuring our Bay Ranger ICW travels in a Ranger Tug factory video shot in Ft. Meyers, FL in 2015. We have referred to it many times. The YouTube link is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-E3tTQhZo .
Finally, a shoutout to the all the folks we met at Ranger Tug rallies on the Chesapeake Bay and in Florida over the years. It’s amazing how many great people you meet through the Ranger Tug family. We are still in touch with several after all these years.
Ed and Elaine Henn
Bay Ranger R25, 2008 - 2011
Bay Ranger R27, 2011 - 2016
