R27 as a Alaskan photography expedition/tour boat

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bhh2212

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Tugnuts,

New to posting on here but have been reading for a while! I’ve spent the past 15 years working as a wildlife photographer / cinematographer and have spent much of my summers filming wildlife across SE Alaska. I’ve long wanted to get a boat to facilitate more remote and longer shooting expeditions as well as just enjoyment travel out of Sitka. Despite having spent literally months of my life filming on boats I’m new to ownership so any help is appreciated.

My primary use case would be to pull out my boats for the winter months in Sitka and then in the summer live aboard and conduct 3-10 day filming expeditions with 2-3 people (and filming gear) as well as using the boat potentially as a day tour boat for educational photography tours. I’m working on my 6 pack and hope to have it ready for next season to test out this model.

I see a lot of posts of people using these boats for recreation but I’d love feedback on work use for ranger tugs. The ranger 27 is the max budget I could swing and seems like a great size for what I’m thinking but would love input and thoughts on the entire approach as well as the following specific questions:

1. How many outlets are available on the R27 and how much can I have charging under way?
2. Without the lithium package can I comfortably charge batteries and run laptops overnight day after day?
3. I’ve spent a ton of time on small boats like hewscraft searching for wildlife, and I’m curious how good the visibility is from the captains chair for spotting wildlife. Seems like there are great windows in the photos but smaller boats often have much more usable glass for spotting wildlife and I’d love to hear folks experience.
4. What is the noise level at the front of the boat when running the 300 outboard for talking to guests. I’m curious how quiet or loud it is and similarly on the back deck. Can you have a conversation under way at cruising speed or do you need to yell?
5. Any suggestions for 3rd party options for rain covers instead of the optional sun shade. If weather is pretty rainy it might be worth it to cover up some days on the back.
6. Does anyone use their ranger for business and if so I’d love to hear how much and for what?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben
 
Bumping post delayed in moderation queue.
 
bhh2212":37zvc59t said:
Tugnuts,

New to posting on here but have been reading for a while! I’ve spent the past 15 years working as a wildlife photographer / cinematographer and have spent much of my summers filming wildlife across SE Alaska. I’ve long wanted to get a boat to facilitate more remote and longer shooting expeditions as well as just enjoyment travel out of Sitka. Despite having spent literally months of my life filming on boats I’m new to ownership so any help is appreciated.

My primary use case would be to pull out my boats for the winter months in Sitka and then in the summer live aboard and conduct 3-10 day filming expeditions with 2-3 people (and filming gear) as well as using the boat potentially as a day tour boat for educational photography tours. I’m working on my 6 pack and hope to have it ready for next season to test out this model.

I see a lot of posts of people using these boats for recreation but I’d love feedback on work use for ranger tugs. The ranger 27 is the max budget I could swing and seems like a great size for what I’m thinking but would love input and thoughts on the entire approach as well as the following specific questions:

1. How many outlets are available on the R27 and how much can I have charging under way?
2. Without the lithium package can I comfortably charge batteries and run laptops overnight day after day?
3. I’ve spent a ton of time on small boats like hewscraft searching for wildlife, and I’m curious how good the visibility is from the captains chair for spotting wildlife. Seems like there are great windows in the photos but smaller boats often have much more usable glass for spotting wildlife and I’d love to hear folks experience.
4. What is the noise level at the front of the boat when running the 300 outboard for talking to guests. I’m curious how quiet or loud it is and similarly on the back deck. Can you have a conversation under way at cruising speed or do you need to yell?
5. Any suggestions for 3rd party options for rain covers instead of the optional sun shade. If weather is pretty rainy it might be worth it to cover up some days on the back.
6. Does anyone use their ranger for business and if so I’d love to hear how much and for what?
Click to expand...

I just spent 55 days on an RT27-OB, in SE Alaska, photographing and video'ing a lot.

1) 2 outlet on the starboard side (though one is in the head). 2 outlets on the port side.

2)Not unless you're plugged into shorepower. To run the 120volt AC outlets you need the inverter running. The electrical system on the RT27-OB NW edition will give you about 100amp-hours usable. The boat itself will consume 3/4 of that or more daily. The solar panel helps, but it basically keeps up with your refrigerator. If you are running the boat a lot daily (underway time with engine charging) that would offer great benefit. Either way, you could easily solve this by bringing a portable power bank, something like Anker's 1200 watt-hour portable battery. We also brought with us a couple of their smaller battery banks, specifically used for recharging our laptops.

Anker Powerhouse 757 (1,229 watt-hours)
https://www.anker.com/products/a1770111?ref=pps_productBanner7_2

Anker 737 Power Bank (24,000 mAh).
https://www.anker.com/products/a1289?ref=naviMenu&discount=WS7DI558KR

I have 320ah of lithium (I converted my boat), I also have 400 watts of solar (another upgrade). The lithium lets me easily run the hot water tank and charge my laptop, camera batteries, etc... The 400 watts of solar helps put back the electrical we consume. With 400 watts in SE Alaska I'd say expect about 100 amp-hours a day. When it rains, I saw much less, and it rains a lot in SE Alaska. But we also had a lot of engine run time, which kept our electrical topped off most days.

3) Visibility is fantastic on the RT27 from the helm chair.

4) You will hear the wind, the waves, and the water over the engine. You can easily talk to passengers while the boat is running or listen to the radio also. The Yamaha F300 is really quiet.

5) We put on rain gear or stayed inside with the heater running.

6) We use our Ranger Tug for our YouTube channel "Lets go channel surfing".
 
If you take paid passengers on your boat are you ready to meet all the requirements?
 
It's super easy to add another battery in parallel to increase the size/capacity of the house bank. That's all you really need to add enough power to run laptops and charge camera batteries in the evening hours. Being diligent during the day to charge all spare camera/laptop batteries while engines are running will help.
 
NorthernFocus":3ir2v55b said:
It's super easy to add another battery in parallel to increase the size/capacity of the house bank. That's all you really need to add enough power to run laptops and charge camera batteries in the evening hours. Being diligent during the day to charge all spare camera/laptop batteries while engines are running will help.
Click to expand...

Having added a 3rd AGM battery to my RT27-OB, I would not say it's "super easy". It's 67 lbs of added weight. It's a 27 foot boat with an 8.5 foot beam. The boat doesn't come with positive or negative bus bars needed to properly balance the loads across all the batteries. The extra capacity would also require a larger battery charger as the boat comes with a 20amp charger that's sized for 200amp-hours. One additional 110ah AGM battery only provides another 50 amp-hours that are usable anyway. It's a lot of work and expense for a small return in my opinion.
 
Submariner":3eaym5n3 said:
Having added a 3rd AGM battery to my RT27-OB, I would not say it's "super easy". It's 67 lbs of added weight. It's a 27 foot boat with an 8.5 foot beam. The boat doesn't come with positive or negative bus bars needed to properly balance the loads across all the batteries. The extra capacity would also require a larger battery charger as the boat comes with a 20amp charger that's sized for 200amp-hours. One additional 110ah AGM battery only provides another 50 amp-hours that are usable anyway. It's a lot of work and expense for a small return in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I defer to first hand experience. To clarify it's super easy on any boat I've worked on in 50+ years of personal and professional experience. But I've never actually done it on an R27 OB. It may indeed be so unique as to make it just easy rather than super easy. 🙁
 
1. my r27 has 6 120v outlets in the cabin. 2 near the sink, 2 under the table, and 2 upfront that are easy to access. you can also use the electric grill outlet outside in the back but i wouldent underway to avoid water splashing in somehow.

2. i have the lithium battery and have been able to run off batteries the majority of the time. depending on the sun and if i am moving letting the outboard charge the battery, for a week or more without plugging in.

3. the visibility is incredible but you do sit lower compered to boats with a flybridge.

4. when going slow (5-8mph) the engine is very quiet. when going cruising speed you need to close the backdoor and speak a little louder to be properly heard. when going cruising speed you can also hear the water on the hull which can be somewhat noisy but not overly so. depending on the sea conditions you probably will hear squeaks and rubbing from the side panels. you can stop the worst of the squeaks with a hotglue gun when you track them down.

5. you can higher a local canvas maker to make a full enclosure on the back deck if you would like.

for 2-3 people the 27 would be cramped while sleeping. the forward birth is the only real bed on the boat so 2 people would want to share and the third would probably make the table into a bed each night if they are short. there is a quarter birth but it is like a coffin and in my opinion best used for storage. also you will want to consider that the fuel tank is 150 gallons so you cant go too remote. I honestly think it would make a bad tour boat. you can have 3 people sitting in the front looking out the big windows and another 2 sitting at the table. you could also have a few more outside but it would be loud if you were at speed and if the weather was bad it would quickly get cramped inside. its a great boat for cruising but not really designed well for multiple guests. i will also add that the boat likes to rock whenever you shift any weight (like walking from one side to the other at a dock) so if your using tripods or something that needs a stable platform this boat would not be the one for you.
 
Thanks for these replies.

Seems like a portable power bank might be the cheapest and best solution especially if I just charge that up while under way.

For sleeping that is good to know. I will have to weigh that against the large jump in price to a larger boat.

To the points about a tour boat, i guess it just depends what kind of tours I do. I was thinking 4-6 people for no more than 4-) hours which although cramped doesn’t seem terrible. If you limited that to 4 everyone would at least have a seat inside. That being said there is limited seating area with views that’s not outside. All of the small tour operators I know in sitka who do day tours are in 26ft hewscraft or similar boats but without a galley and head and v birth they have more bench seating.

I’m not worried about rolling while shooting as I don’t use a tripod on board. I often just shoot handheld or setup a gimbal with a hydraulic arm that removes all boat roll.

Thanks for all the other thoughts and keep them coming if there is other feedback.
 
If you are going to be recharging high end cameras and laptops you need to be concerned with how much amperage you will draw. A typical Ranger inverter can supply approximately 15 amps. Doesn't matter how many outlets you have. A break out box and clamp meter or a battery monitor will indicate how much a charger draws. With 4 to 6 people, could be a lot of power.

You might need a pure sine wave inverter as opposed to modified. Some digital devices require pure sine wave.

Be careful of heat. Camera lithium batteries have different chemistry than boat lithium. There have been some tragic fires associated with charging cameras on a boat.

I suspect you will need additional insurance for something like this.

-martin610
 
In addition to the boat you will need a captains license. Likely what is called a six pack OUPV license that allows you to take up to six people out on an uninspected boat. You will need 360 days of boating experience to meet the minimum qualification for the license. To carry more than six passengers you will need both a higher rated license and an inspected boat. Getting even a brand new Ranger through inspection would be quite expensive because a good deal of the standard equipment would not satisfy the requirements.
 
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