Hi,
My wife and I are new boaters, with a pre-owned 2017 R-25SC being our first boat. Our boat has a bimini cover, and we’ve been planning to add the common full camper-back style cockpit enclosure with zippered panels and plastic windows all-around.
My question to those of you with more experience than us, which is virtually all of you 🙂, and with full cockpit enclosures, is how does using the enclosure impact the handling of your Ranger Tug when docking, undocking, underway, etc.? It would be great to get feedback as to how the enclosure negatively impacts aspects of boat usage in ways we may not yet understand, as we already have a handle on the positives for our use.
A major consideration which was raised to us, and we had not thought of, is the wind surface area the enclosure would add. That’s a concern for us as we work to improve our boat handling skills—and perhaps even after we improve in that department. It seems we’d be throwing a big monkey wrench into the situation, particularly when moving through marinas at slow speeds, and docking/undocking.
If it helps:
We are moored in the Everett, WA Marina, and we intend to use our boat in Puget Sound only, year-round. We don’t intend to go out in really bad weather, unless by mistake or we get a change of weather while underway. We’re planning, for now at least, to only go out in no more than about 15mph winds with gusts up to 20mph, like we had in the local area this morning. We are currently in covered moorage, but may move to uncovered.
All feedback welcomed and appreciated.
Thank You!
My wife and I are new boaters, with a pre-owned 2017 R-25SC being our first boat. Our boat has a bimini cover, and we’ve been planning to add the common full camper-back style cockpit enclosure with zippered panels and plastic windows all-around.
My question to those of you with more experience than us, which is virtually all of you 🙂, and with full cockpit enclosures, is how does using the enclosure impact the handling of your Ranger Tug when docking, undocking, underway, etc.? It would be great to get feedback as to how the enclosure negatively impacts aspects of boat usage in ways we may not yet understand, as we already have a handle on the positives for our use.
A major consideration which was raised to us, and we had not thought of, is the wind surface area the enclosure would add. That’s a concern for us as we work to improve our boat handling skills—and perhaps even after we improve in that department. It seems we’d be throwing a big monkey wrench into the situation, particularly when moving through marinas at slow speeds, and docking/undocking.
If it helps:
We are moored in the Everett, WA Marina, and we intend to use our boat in Puget Sound only, year-round. We don’t intend to go out in really bad weather, unless by mistake or we get a change of weather while underway. We’re planning, for now at least, to only go out in no more than about 15mph winds with gusts up to 20mph, like we had in the local area this morning. We are currently in covered moorage, but may move to uncovered.
All feedback welcomed and appreciated.
Thank You!