The Chesapeake Bay is a vast and wonderful waterway, with more than 11,600 miles of shoreline, 4480 square miles of surface area, 50 major tributaries, and hundreds of ports and towns awaiting your visit—but if you cruise these waters on the wrong type of boat, you’ll be in for turbulent rides and rudimentary living conditions. You say you’d hoped to enjoy aquatic expeditions all across Chesapeake Country without roughing it? Then you need a boat like the Ranger Tugs R-31 CB.
The R-31 CB is one of Ranger Tugs’ midsize offerings, large enough to take on open waters yet compact enough that you can load it onto a trailer and haul it to waterways beyond the Bay. Wait a sec—the R-31 CB has a flying bridge with full controls and a dinette, so how the heck can this boat ever hit the highway? Ranger Tugs are known for their crafty convertible components and that includes up on the bridge. Everything up top folds down to get you to a 13’4” height (13’6” is the general maximum height for trailering), and air draft on the water is 10’3” folded and 18’2” fully erected. That means you could even take this boat for a Great Loop adventure.
Wherever you choose to cruise, there’s no doubt you’ll be doing it in comfort, too. Go for the Luxury Edition and you’ll have not only air conditioning but also heat (the NorthWest version has a diesel heater rather than reverse-cycle); the full galley includes everything from an oven to a wine cooler; and the interior is traditionally trimmed out with wood slat cabinetry doors, fiddle rails, and framing. As you check it all out, be sure to note more of those cool conversions. The passenger’s side seat, for example, folds up and back to become an aft-facing seat at the dinette. The helm chair swings up to expand additional countertop space for the galley. And when you enter the amidships cabin carved out underneath the dinette, flip up the seat and you’ll discover a second head. That means an occupant doesn’t have to disturb anyone else who might be sleeping by going to the full-sized stand-up head compartment in the forward stateroom.
Get ready to convert again when you step into the cockpit, and in this case, make the boat bigger at the very same time. The gunwales flip open and out to create center-facing seats that are outboard, so they expand the cockpit itself. There’s also an aft steering station in the cockpit, plus a refrigerator, a sink, a removable cockpit dinette table, a lazarette, and even a pair of fishing rod holders.
If a boat’s going to be capable of long-haul cruises, it needs to be efficient, and the R-31 CB is indeed designed to do the job. The single-screw straight inboard powerplant is a 320-hp Volvo Penta D4 diesel, which delivers an eye-opening 4.2 nautical miles to the gallon at 6.6 knots and a spectacular 9.8 nmpg at five knots. With a full tank of fuel and a 10-percent fuel reserve that puts range at over 1500 miles if you take your time and enjoy the cruise. Or, rev it up to 3200 rpm for a 17-knot get-home speed. You’ll still be getting 1.5 nmpg, and if you open the throttle up all the way, you can break 20 knots. Note that these are real-world numbers, measured with full fuel and four people aboard.
Uh-oh… handling a single screw inboard 31-footer around the docks is no easy task, especially when you’ll be visiting unfamiliar ports and mooring in unfamiliar marinas. Well, usually that would be true. But not in this case, because Ranger Tugs outfits the R-31 CB with both bow and stern thrusters. You also get a thruster wireless remote and a side door by the helm for quick access to the sidedeck when it’s time to grab a line.
If you want to cruise from Havre de Grace to Hampton Roads, go up all the tributaries in-between, and visit every Chesapeake Bay port of call possible, you’ll want to choose your boat carefully. And the R-31 CB is a boat you’ll surely want to step aboard before making any decisions—it solves so many cruising conundrums that there’s no doubt it will be a contender.
By Lenny Rudow
Ranger Tugs R-31 CB Specifications:
LOA: 34’10”
Beam: 10” 0”
Draft (min.): 2’6”
Displacement (approx.): 12,500 lbs.
Fuel Capacity: 180 gal.
Water Capacity: 60 gal.
Max HP: 320
Local Dealer: Pocket Yacht Company in Grasonville, MD. (888) 519-9120 x3