Onboard Living in R-23 or R-25

wabislander

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R-21 EC
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17' wilker
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I am looking at either an R-23 or R-25. I am a complete rookie in owning/using one of these boats. My initial goal was to have a boat with a) an enclosed cabin b) a good social boat that you can both drive and not be isolated from your on-board guests as I am with my other boat.

Once I came across the ranger, the option of taking "journey's" opened up.

These adventures will be with 2 people.
For those of you experienced cruisers using these 2 models, what is you max number of days that you have experience on these models before reaching your limit?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
You’re likely to get a variety of answers to this question. What’s good for one couple maybe too much for another but here’s my two cents. We have a R-23 and love it for just the reasons you mentioned. Staying on board for 2 days or 2 weeks or more is not an issue for us. We tend to anchor out for several days then go to a marina for pump out and exploring. It’s the type of boat you could live aboard indefinitely if you choose to. You’re only limited by the amount of food, fuel, water and black water tank capacity you have. The R-23 is easily towed as well opening up even more cruising possibilities. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Karl and Sara
 
We have the 25SC, love it for the extra cockpit space. Our record is 98 consecutive days and nights. There are folks that live aboard this model full time so it’s all up to your needs.
 
We lived on our 2015 R25sc for 11 months while doing the Great Loop. Only spent one night in a hotel due to very hot temps one night....like 90 degrees at 10 pm...just too hot with no A/C. Was sad when our Loop came to an end and looking forward to doing it again.
 
Thanks for the great feedback! Our plan is to take about 6 months on research and "forum questions". My main comparison on the R-23 and R-25 (please understand that we have only seen the new ranger configurations on-line as most boat shows are cancelled) is that the R25 has the enclosed head and shower. The transom grill is a nice option but that could be replicated on the R23 with a rail mounted grill.

I am guessing that many of you that have done long journeys have enclosed the aft section. If that is true, did you do it through the factory, dealer, or local boat upholsterer?

Thanks again.
 
I assume you are taking about the OB versions of the R25 and, of course, the R23.
If I may, let’s talk about the boats tank capacities. That will have a lot to do with how a couple can use the boat for extended cruising.
If you are in a marina with fresh water, fuel and pump out facilities every night, the fresh and black water tank capacities are not limiting in any way. But if you want to anchor our multiple days in a row away from such facilities then the tank capacities start to become important.
The R23 OB has a fresh water tank of 22 gallons and black water tank of 11 gallons. Our experience is that this would get you 3 consecutive nights away from a marina with facilities.
The R25 OB has a fresh water tank of 34 gallons and a black water tank that holds 14 gallons. Again, it’s been our experience that this would be good for 4 consecutive nights away from facilities.
Yes, you could extend these nights out on either boat by installing a composting toilet and really rationing fresh water consumption.
It all comes down to how and where you want to use the boat.
In the PNW, the main reason for a full cockpit enclosure is rainy weather, not bugs, so I can’t help you there.
As to the optional cockpit grill, remember it needs either shore power or the generator running to work. This could be an issue if you want to use it while on the hook and don’t want to annoy your boating neighbors with generator noise. I’d go for the Magma rail or rod holder mounted grill myself. We love our Magma grill and use it extensively!
PS: Another difference between the R23 and R25 OBs is the solar battery charging capability. The R25 features a 160 watt panel that should extend your time on the hook significantly. The R23 has an optional 90 watt panel that helps with 12 volt battery management but to a lesser degree. Both have an electric/alcohol cooktops which, in my 10 years experience with one, is not what a serious cook would want when away from the dock.
 
To scross:
Thank you for enlightening me on the tank capacities! Important consideration as you mentioned I hadn't considered. Also great call out on the transom grill needing shore power or generator.

We live in Atlanta but have a cottage on the St. Lawrence River in Canada (I can see the US from the porch). We are entering the retirement years that will allow us to be up north from April to October. The enclosed cabin was mainly for those cooler, rainy, buggy time in Canada (which is every month except July and August :roll: ). With our current boats, bad weather would exclude us from the river.

I would target many of our travels to be on the hook with going to marina for water, pump out and fuel so your comments were excellent, as well as notes on the solar capacities.
 
Since you’re going to be towing the boat a lot, you should also consider your towing requirements. There are literally dozens of long threads on this sight about tow vehicles so I just suggest searching for more info. But, you should plan on the all up weight for the R23 OB on the trailer to be close to 9,400 pounds. The R25 OB adds 500 pounds to that total. The weights would be even higher if you tow with full fuel, full fresh water and mostly full black water tanks. You can’t safely tow these weights with an SUV.
Also, plan on getting a good cooler for the cockpit. The little refrigerator is good but won’t hold more than about 3-4 days worth of food at best. The freezer section in the little refrigerator is pretty small. For us, when we are cruises with 8-10 days between provisioning stops, we actually carry two coolers in the cockpit.
And you need to figure out how you are going to get from boat to shore when on the hook. Lots and lots of threads on what folks have done to resolve that issue with the R23 and R25 OBs.
 
Recently the factory has added Lithium Batteries as an option on both the R23 n R25 for the house batteries. In researching the batteries I’ve found that they can be used up to 7 hours, that A/C can be run away from the marina and I’m guessing the electric grill could be utilized as well....away from shore power. The outboard engine does recharge the battery bank. Keep in mind this was done because there is no generator option. Personally I’d also go with a propane canister bbq on either boat. Lastly, if you are not close to a dealer to view a 23 or 25 I saw on the Ranger Tugs sight that you can arrange for a video tour of any of there boats with one of the guys. This sounds like a great idea as you can be conversing with your host, ask to see specific things that don’t show up in photos, etc.

Jim F
 
Exciting stuff ahead, wabislander. The tank capacities could be an issue on our 2020 R23, but we carry extra water reservoirs and toilet waste bags (gel dehydrating) to place in the head toilet, if necessary, but haven’t run into that problem yet. Our Magma rail grill has a surface piece that allows you to place cookware on it, which is very nice because to me a drawback on this boat due to its size is the single stove element and lack of galley work space. We supplemented the freezer space with a portable “car/truck” freezer that is just the right size to go under the dinette table against the “wall”. The shower set-up with head door and shower curtain enclosure is actually ok.

The cockpit canopy shades nicely but we are considering adding an enclosure to give more cooled or heated living space; haven’t done much research there yet, so I will follow this thread! We’d want to mostly be underway with no enclosure, though, so that begs the question of where onboard to store the enclosure canvas and etc.

Depending on your boat model .... by all means check out the towing threads. We tow our 2020 R23 OB at 70 mph behind a Nissan Armada 390 HP 4WD SUV with no trouble. Airless suspension support has been added to the rear axle to supplement the built-in airlift suspension. We run the water tank down in the boat first and have less than 1/2 tank boat fuel before trailering. Our figure, including trailer and stuff left on the boat, is under 8000 pounds; the vehicle has another quarter ton towing capacity, rated at 8500.

We’re also Georgia based; Southeast coastal waters are super to explore with a Tug, both inshore and offshore. We have a great time staying for 4-6 weeks at a time on the boat, so far mostly marinas with some overnights at anchor when exploring. Good luck with your decision; just do it ... whatever you chose!
 
We’ve had our 2021 R-23 for two months, and have spent 27 nights on board - in relatively cool weather (NC/SC). Mostly marina stays. Could have gone much longer. We love it. The lack of a black water tank sensor is the thing I wish was installed. Still researching options for that.

The head door split is standard now, as well as three house bank batteries if you get the A/C. We did a test a few weeks ago and got about 2 hours of A/C while cruising. We have a Honda 2200 companion generator for use when shore power isn’t available.


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More great feedback!

On towing my current guidelines are to find a vehicle with towing capacity around 10,000 lbs. We will at minimum be towing from Georgia to Canada once a year (2,200 miles), plus probable side trips. I will reach out to Ranger but what hitch type (and wiring configuration) is needed?

I am tentatively going to Florida in a couple of months to be able to actually see the boats in person.
 
The factory trailer uses a 2 5/16” ball and a 7 pin connector with EoH brakes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The two of us lived on our R25 for 3 months at Hilton Head. We are still together a year later.
jimbeam
 
wabislander":s5bfhfic said:
Thanks for the great feedback! Our plan is to take about 6 months on research and "forum questions". My main comparison on the R-23 and R-25 (please understand that we have only seen the new ranger configurations on-line as most boat shows are cancelled) is that the R25 has the enclosed head and shower. The transom grill is a nice option but that could be replicated on the R23 with a rail mounted grill.

.

The R25 grill is electric and requires shore power. I personally would not order it. Easy to add a BBQ to the rails. We have an R23 and do lots of cooking on the BBQ using small cast iron pots and pans. We recently see-trialed a 25 - stateroom is slightly larger than the 23- more sleeping room (anchor storage not in the way) and the bathroom is much nicer. However, we prefer the coziness of the decor of the 23. Additional cost of 25 didn't seem worth it (although we are Canada - cost differences not so much in US). The 25 does get on plane easier than the 23, if you have more than 2 people on board. As a compromise we decided to upgrade our Yamaha 200hp to a Yamaha 250hp V6 on our 23. That should be more than enough power now. Both are fantastic boats. You'll be happy with either.
 
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