Single-Handing Great Loop in 25-27 RT

[CaspersCruiser]

I'm going to retire in the next year or two, the sooner, the better. One retirement goal is to complete the Great Loop. The boat I have in mind is a 25' or 27' Ranger Tug. I like the size, layout and trailering potential.

Over the last seven years, I have cruised over 2,000 miles of the western rivers (Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Cumberland, Monongahela) in my trusty 1984 21' Sea Ray cuddy on 125-650 mile segments. About one-half of those miles have been solo. I expect three-quarters of the loop will be solo.

Obviously, the biggest issues single-handing are going to be close-in maneuvering-- locking and docking. With the open cockpit of the cuddy it's mostly no problem. The enclosed pilot house of a Ranger Tug seems to present challenges. How do you solo tug nuts handle these issues? Remote thrusters appear to be a handy item.

 

[BradOwens]

Having both bow and stern thrusters with the remote hung around your neck makes single handing easy. We have an R-29 which has a starboard side door adjacent to the helm. It's easy to handle mooring lines from there, but it's a bigger boat and not as good for trailering. (Really comfortable though! ) With a 25 or 27, you can handle lines through the side window or from the cockpit. The cockpit however, doesn't give you engine control unless you get a second control station. I'm not sure that's an option on the 25 or 27. If it is, you would have the ultimate single handing looper boat. Either way, with a little line handling ingenuity, you can do it. Have fun, and good luck.

 

[Red Raven]

A trick I use on our R27 when single handing is to keep a line tied to the cleat outside the helm window. When approaching dock I can often use that line to lasso a cleat and tie the line back to the boat to secure It temporarily. If that doesn't work and there is no one on the dock to help that the thruster remote is indispensable.

 

[Spinner]

Lead a line back from your bow cleat and tie it off near the stern (try a thieves knot). That way you can step off at the stern and will also have a bow line handy. I always single hand (R-29 and R-31) and find these boats easy to handle. Have fun!!

 

[CaspersCruiser]

Thanks everyone. After watching some videos of the two boats today, it appears I will be able to use the same procedure for locking as I do in the cuddy by leaning out of the helm sliding window. For docking, I'll have to work on my lasso. If the boating gig doesn't work out, maybe I'll join the rodeo!

When I upgrade vessels from cuddy to tug, it sure will be nice to have amenities, but I do like surprising people with the trips I take in the cuddy.

 

[Red Raven]

We cruised (and camped!) in a 19' cuddy all over the Salish Sea here in the northwest for many years. While the initial handling differences are a bit of a shock, (it took us a few months to feel comfortable. Practice, practice, practice!) I think you will get the hang of it and find that a 25/27 Ranger Tug is just as easy (if not easier with the thrusters!) to dock single handed than your cuddy.

 

[S. Todd]

My first new boat was a 1983 18 1/2 foot Sea Ray. I had four other Sea Rays thereafter, up to the 2010 240 Sundancer that we sold last year when we purchased our R25SC. It took just a few attempts to get the hang of driving an inboard and turning it on its axis without the aid of the thrusters. Ah, but with the thrusters and the thruster remote, one can make single handed docking look easy. The one option I purchased that I was not sure I would use, but now that I have it would never do without, is the autopilot. I live in Indianapolis so I suspect I have cruised some of the same waters you have over the last 30 years (although the northern end of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are our favorites). The midship cleats are right outside the pilot house windows and within easy reach. You know how difficult it is to deal with docking with the canvas up on those rainy days. Those days will be over and you will love your tug! We loved our Sea Rays, their rough water handling ability, and the dependable dealer network, so it was with some second thoughts when we decided to slow down. After three weeks on the water last summer we have no bad things to say about the R25SC.
Mileage on the highway will be less than your cuddy and watch out for low tree branches in the neighborhood (I had to trim some on our dead end street) but that and no more water skiing are the only down sides to the change. You can wake surf with the tug at about 11 miles an hour without any fancy ballast tanks.

 

[CAPTCRUNCH]

A word of warning if you plan to do much deck work by leaning out the helmsman's window in an R27 with a Volvo Penta throttle/shifter mounted just below it: watch where you put your elbow or it'll be full speed ahead or astern at the least opportune and most embarrassing moment. I have the mangled swim platform railing to prove it.

 

[CaspersCruiser]

The one option I purchased that I was not sure I would use, but now that I have it would never do without, is the autopilot........The midship cleats are right outside the pilot house windows and within easy reach. You know how difficult it is to deal with docking with the canvas up on those rainy days.

Definitely looking forward to an autopilot. I shoot a lot of pictures on my trips and sometimes eat lunch underway.

And I've leaned out from under the canvas and over the windshield on those rainy days. A sliding window will hopefully be more graceful. If I don't bump the shifter, CAPTCRUNCH.

 

[Red Raven]

Another caution. Don't put your thruster remote in your pocket. You may get a surprise when you bend down to tie a cleat or do some other activity on the dock.

The other day I was adjusting a fender I have tied tie in front of the boat to protect from over travel when the bow thruster fired startling me and smacking my head into the anchor! :lol:

 

[tlkenyon]

A word of warning if you plan to do much deck work by leaning out the helmsman's window in an R27 with a Volvo Penta throttle/shifter mounted just below it: watch where you put your elbow or it'll be full speed ahead or astern at the least opportune and most embarrassing moment. I have the mangled swim platform railing to prove it.

I usually put the throttle in the "throttle only" mode when handling line out the window. I have hit the throttle by mistake several times...it is pretty easy to do.

TK

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

For single handling the great loop....I've seen Ranger Tug owners who set there fenders up so they are always tied in position to lower over the side, saving time for one person coming into dock or into a lock. Having auto pilot I think would be a must have for getting away from the wheel in open water to stretch your legs, check on the engine, a quick trip to the head, etc.

Jim F

 

[Pourhouse]

We met several people who were single handing their trip and got along just fine. I can only think of just a couple of times when there was no one at a marina to help us. We kept our fenders at different levels because one was never certain about what height locks or docks would be at. I would recommend fender boards. And don't tie to floating bollards in the locks.

 

[Alibi27]

One issue which presents some difficulty single handing is anchoring, namely retrieving the anchor on a 27.
Dropping and temporarily setting the anchor is easy with the station windlass controls, a Rocna will self launch if the bale is angled correctly.
However,on retrieving because of the short drop from the windlass to the anchor locker floor, I find it necessary to go up to the bow to knock down the chain pile several times. If you are in deeper water needing more than the 100' of chain, the rope rode presents the same issue.
I don't like to use the windlass to pull the boat up to a vertical position over the anchor, so I motor up from the steering station, pull in chain with the windlass then hustle out the aft door, and along the side to the bow, and take in as much rode as I can before the boat falls back and puts a strain on the line. Also it is hard to tell when you are about to get a jam because of the unseen pile.
Also I will try a new system when grabbing a mooring. I am going to attach a good sized swivel block to the outside of the anchor roller. A line ( 3/8s floating polyprop) will be clipped to the aft starboard rail, then lead forward thru the block and back to the cockpit with a heavy carabiner on the free end. Will pull up to the floating mooring line, hopefully nicely buoyed, walk aft to the cockpit, maneuver the stern with the thruster remote, clip the carabiner into the mooring loop, and pull it forward to the pulley on the anchor roller, tying off the line. This should hold the boat in normal weather until I can walk up to the bow for a permanent hitch.
This also makes it easier to get back to the controls if more maneuvering is needed than with just the thruster.
I have tried driving up close to the mooring, hustling back thru the aft door, along side the cabin to the bow, to grab a mooring. If you miss more than a thruster worth due to current or wind, its all the way back to the aft deck, and into the boat to the controls.
Sounds OK on paper, will see the summer if it works well. Would like to hear how others handle it.

 

[CAPTCRUNCH]

I keep my boat on a mooring in sheltered, uncrowded water. I simply coast along until the mooring buoy is alongside the cockpit, hook the eye of the pennant on my "aft" elbow and walk it forward to the bow (with both hands free for the grab rails). Since I almost always have a dinghy tied to the buoy, the initial step is to move its painter to a stern cleat on the yacht.

 

[CaspersCruiser]

Thanks for those ideas. I would rather not single-hand, but circumstances will make it necessary for much of the loop. I'll just have to develop a system, practice it to see what works for me and then try to perfect it.