See my book at Amazon.com: Finding Serendipity, A Boating Adventure on North America's Great Loop. You will know what it is like to do the 6,000 miles on a Ranger Tug. If you have thought about cruising the Great Loop, this may nudge you into doing it. If you have done the Great Loop, this may re-kindle great memories. If you are new to boating, come along with us as we learned more about boating and the wonderful people we met. CLICK HERE
Tribute is a 2004 Kadey Krogen 39 Pilothouse and is hull 43. A total of 51 hulls were built of this single engine, one stateroom, one head, full displacement hull trawler. Half of these boats do not have stabilizers and Tribute is one of them. The boat is moored in Everett, Washington and has cruised the Salish Sea and the Inside Passage to Alaska. We have not missed having stabilizers because this is an ideal boat for inside coastal cruising with an amazing range because of the twin aluminum fuel tanks that each holds 325 gallons of diesel, the 300-gallon fresh water tank, a big house battery bank and the Northern Lights generator. The John Deere, 135 HP engine is perfectly matched to the hull and the propeller. It delivers maximum torque when the boat is cruising at 7 to 8 knots and uses about 2.5 gallons an hour.
We have owned nine boats and the Kadey Krogen 39 has the best combination of design, engineering and craftsmanship. We are the third owners of Tribute and are selling her because of a new chapter of our lives. When we bought her 6 years ago, there were 600 hours on the engine. Now, there is over 1,600. This trawler can be piloted from the pilothouse or the flybridge. The full walk around deck makes docking safer. The 24-volt bow thruster makes docking much easier. Anchoring with the Ultra anchor and 300 feet of chain has been worry-free. The Avon Rover dinghy (RIB made of Hypalon) with the Honda 9.9 outboard can be deployed from the roof on either side because of the electric winches on the mast and boom.
The pilothouse is up three steps from the salon and is where we did 99% of the piloting because it was warm and comfortable and made year-round use in the Pacific Northwest possible. Heavy duty storm doors are on each side of the pilothouse. A raised bench that is nearly 7 foot long makes it very comfortable. The pilothouse bench seat also makes into a double bed. The 2004 Furuno electronics are perfectly adequate. We did add a Vesper AIS transmit and receive that uses an iPad. The Simrad autopilot is reliable and easy to use. A Splendid washer/dryer that is vented is in a cabinet near stairs to the salon.
The salon and U-shaped galley are level with the cockpit and has lots of storage. Hot water is created in the 11-gallon water heater by 120-volt AC or the Hurricane Hydronic system which can use the heat created by the engine. The stove and oven use propane from a pair of five-gallon aluminum tanks located in the flybridge. Cabin heat is created by the diesel fired hydronic system or portable 120-volt space heaters. Fresh water comes from either a shore connection or the 300-gallon tank. The salon has an L-bench seat that can seat 4. We used an additional two folding chairs and sat 6 around the table. The salon has a built-in couch that makes into a queen size bed for the occasional visitors. An entertainment system (flat screen, DVD/Blu-Ray, Sirius XM) uses part of a built-in bookcase. Under all of this seating is storage.
The master suite is forward and down a curving stairway. It has a walk around queen-size bed with built-in drawers and large storage area. Two built-in closets, mirror and dresser complete the master suite. The head is next to the stateroom and includes an electric toilet/macerator, a separate shower stall and single sink and vanity. The stand-up engine room is two steps down from the master suite. Clean, bright and spacious, all the systems are easy to access.
ABOUT US
John grew up in San Diego and learned to sail in an 8-foot long Sabot at the San Diego Yacht Club before that club was cool to be a part of.. We had two sailboats at the marina in Everett, Washington for 10 years, had a Bayliner 24 foot cruiser for 10 years on a trailer at their house and then owned two Ranger Tugs for a combination of 9 years. The Laurie Ann was a Ranger 25, CLICK HERE to see the website that describes the adventures this great tug took us on. Inspired from experiencing a portion of the Great Loop, we bought Andiamo, a Ranger 29 tug, and took that fabulous boat on the 6,000 mile adventure from Florida, to the Great Lakes, to Chicago and down the inland river system to the Gulf of Mexico. CLICK HERE to see photos and excerpts from our journal. That 10-month long adventure hooked on us the notion of living a larger portion of our lives on a boat but Andiamo was not large enough.
We live in central Puget Sound and call Everett, Washington our homeport. We have retired from one chapter of full-time work and are working part-time in another chapter. We intend to divide our lifestyle between Tribute, our Ranger Tug 27 "Trilogy" that is kept on its trailer east of the Mississippi River, a house on Hat Island (formally called Gidney Island) and our 21 foot long Escape Trailer.
John grew up in San Diego and learned to sail in an 8-foot long Sabot at the San Diego Yacht Club before that club was cool to be a part of.. We had two sailboats at the marina in Everett, Washington for 10 years, had a Bayliner 24 foot cruiser for 10 years on a trailer at their house and then owned two Ranger Tugs for a combination of 9 years. The Laurie Ann was a Ranger 25, CLICK HERE to see the website that describes the adventures this great tug took us on. Inspired from experiencing a portion of the Great Loop, we bought Andiamo, a Ranger 29 tug, and took that fabulous boat on the 6,000 mile adventure from Florida, to the Great Lakes, to Chicago and down the inland river system to the Gulf of Mexico. CLICK HERE to see photos and excerpts from our journal. That 10-month long adventure hooked on us the notion of living a larger portion of our lives on a boat but Andiamo was not large enough.
We live in central Puget Sound and call Everett, Washington our homeport. We have retired from one chapter of full-time work and are working part-time in another chapter. We intend to divide our lifestyle between Tribute, our Ranger Tug 27 "Trilogy" that is kept on its trailer east of the Mississippi River, a house on Hat Island (formally called Gidney Island) and our 21 foot long Escape Trailer.
The Inside Passage, is a trip from Seattle to Glacier Bay National Park in SE Alaska that included British Columbia is chronicled in photos and text on the pages the follow by sections of the trip and back, and are labeled BC-AK. Click HERE for the first page of preparing for this 93 day long trip of amazing scenery and wildlife and the lessons learned along the way.
The additional pages are intended to share our lessons, what has worked for us, and some of the adventures that Tribute has taken us. If you would like to contact us and send a comment, please use the "Contact Us" page.
IF YOU LIKED THIS WEBSITE, PLEASE SEE OUR OTHERS:
www.captainjohngray.com (includes Trilogy, a Ranger Tug 27, boating skills, maintenance, modifications and other information)
www.laurieann-ranger25.com
www.andiamo-ranger29.com
Follow us on Instagram at captainjohngray
The additional pages are intended to share our lessons, what has worked for us, and some of the adventures that Tribute has taken us. If you would like to contact us and send a comment, please use the "Contact Us" page.
IF YOU LIKED THIS WEBSITE, PLEASE SEE OUR OTHERS:
www.captainjohngray.com (includes Trilogy, a Ranger Tug 27, boating skills, maintenance, modifications and other information)
www.laurieann-ranger25.com
www.andiamo-ranger29.com
Follow us on Instagram at captainjohngray
