Thoughts on R27

[jatton]

Hello!

New member here! We are a family with two young kids and are looking at making the transition from sail to power. We need something a little bit easier and more flexible to fit better into our crazy lives. We very much like the Ranger Tugs and are going through the pros and cons of the different models. At this point I am looking for some advice or insight from current owners regarding their impressions of their boats and how you think a small family would fare.

As we do with our current boat we are looking for something to spend weekends on and occasional "short" trips of up to a week along the Maine coast. I am very drawn to the R27OB due to its speed and "trailerability" but am concerned that it just won't be quite big enough. I want to be clear, we are not expecting a palace and we have two young kids who still get along well. We are very used to camping and having a small living space. But still the concern lingers... Will an R27 be too small for us? What I gain in trailerability and speed may not be enough to compensate for the reduced space.

Does anyone have any wisdom to pass on to me as we weigh the options? Tradeoffs all around us, just looking for some advice from those who know more than I do!

Thanks!

Jatton

 

[sportner]

I would think it is very doable. My wife and I spent long periods on board our R27 going across the US, from Florida to New York on the inter coastal, and two trips to Alaska. We had occasional guests and had plenty of room. We sold our boat two years ago to a couple with two teenage girls and they are still enjoying it. We kept a 12 volt freezer in the port cockpit storage locker which helped on extended cruises. Also, there is enough room to separate your little angels should they have an argument. Certainly your family should manage week long cruises without a problem. 😉

 

[TABublitz]

Jatton

We graduated to an R27 last Memorial Day weekend. We are a 3 person family with a 12 year old daughter, and have loved the transition from “camper/fifthwheel” to Ranger 27 classic. We have camped in a variety of campers for 11 years but found ourselves chasing camping and boating at the same time, and made the decision to combine the two desires the last few years. Our daughter loves the quarter birth, and I think with a second child it would be shared, or use the dinette birth for a second teenageer. We spent 4 weekends out on “the hook” and had a great time with the close quarters and enjoying the time together. With the upper Midwest we have had to take the winter off, but looking forward to a good spring. I personally think a marina or a good dinghy setup will be key to keeping them engaged. We are headed for a fun run on Kentucky lake for a Spring Break vacation. Let me know if I can be of further help or reference.

Tim

 

[ixlr8]

Have you, and the entire family, been to see a 27OB? It is hard to say if the 27OB is big enough without knowing how old/big the kids are and how well they get along. I would think a 27OB would be large enough for a family with 2 kids. It might require using the dinette 'berth' as well as the cave 'berth', but it should be do-able.
We have a 27OB on order and we are getting it with a full cockpit enclosure so that could be considered a separate 'room' if you need have some distance between kids. We should be getting our 27OB early in May and if you are still thinking about it then, we could take you for a ride and see how it feels to you. We are only an hour up the road from you. We opted for the 27OB as being able to easily trailer the boat was one of our requirements, our 2 'kids' are the 4 legged variety.
I have been on a RT-29, and it didn't seem much larger than the 27OB, not larger enough to me to justify the added costs and hassles with towing. Although I know some folks who would not agree with me. If I was going to go bigger than the 27OB, I would step up to the 31.

 

[jatton]

Wow thanks everyone. Thanks for all the thoughts. I'm not hearing a strong "no way!" so I'll investigate further. I would agree that if the 27 won't work, we'll probably look at the 31. For the amount of complication we would add with the bigger boat, we might as well make it worth it.

I like the idea of the full enclosure adding some more flexibility. Great thought.

Thank you for the offer Jim! I will stay in touch and would love to take you up on your offer! That's very generous of you. I look forward to hearing about your delivery and experiences.We have not taken a look at a 27 yet. I have spoken with a local dealer and we plan to head out to take a look next weekend.

 

[jagizzi]

Make sure and put a kid in the quarter berth while testing it! My daughter is not large, 5'4" and a fit 120 pound soccer player, and she could not sleep in that berth space. There just isn't room to get your hips around. If someone sleeps on their back they would be good, but it would pay to try it out first.

Note that this was with the cushion removed already. She sleeps on the table berth and is fine there. I just modified the seat bottom to eliminate the ridge that juts up into the space, and also made it so that the seat back can be easily removed with no tools to gain some extra length. there is more than a foot of space behind the seat back that makes that table berth much more comfortable.

We are in an R-23 but I am pretty sure that the vertical space in the quarter berth is the same in both boats.

Jim

 

[Red Raven]

In the Classic R27 there is additional space aft of the quarter berth to extend the sleeping area. We had an extra cushion made for that space that allows the occupant to sleep without putting hips under the dinette. Very comfortable. Don’t know if the R27OB has the same extra space.