Austinsailor
Veteran Member
While I was considering a Sea Piper I checked out some Ranger Tugs as some people suggested.
The R-29 was nice, but just too big for me to consider as a trailer boat. Then we looked at an R-25. I was impressed with that one.
I was shocked how much they could cram into a 25. There was no wasted space and it had a ton of equipment, I was really surprised. This particular one had a feature which caught me by surprise - it was advertised as coming with a kicker motor. In reality it had about a 25 hp Yamaha, mounted on a jack plate and ready to go. Big gas tank on the transom, controls right at the console next to the diesel controls. It appears if your diesel sputtered you could just reach over to the outboard controls and in very little time and effort, continue with the outboard. Seemed like a hell of a setup.
So, we drove away thinking about this boat. Not all we wanted, but it was trailerable, diesel, seemed safe to go offshore, especially with the “kicker”. Had nearly all the equipment we’d want - generator, air, radar, big inverter, solar - it goes on. But the much bigger motor, smaller tankage and being more crowded gave us pause.
We drove about 200 miles, weighing all it had - and a little it didn’t - available right then, against waiting maybe a year to get a new seapiper that matched our needs closer. We were still struggling with that decision when I got a call that the contract on the almost new Sea Piper fell through - were we interested? Available right then. Well, you can guess which way it went, but I still am not sure what we’d have done if I hadn’t gotten that call.
The R-29 was nice, but just too big for me to consider as a trailer boat. Then we looked at an R-25. I was impressed with that one.
I was shocked how much they could cram into a 25. There was no wasted space and it had a ton of equipment, I was really surprised. This particular one had a feature which caught me by surprise - it was advertised as coming with a kicker motor. In reality it had about a 25 hp Yamaha, mounted on a jack plate and ready to go. Big gas tank on the transom, controls right at the console next to the diesel controls. It appears if your diesel sputtered you could just reach over to the outboard controls and in very little time and effort, continue with the outboard. Seemed like a hell of a setup.
So, we drove away thinking about this boat. Not all we wanted, but it was trailerable, diesel, seemed safe to go offshore, especially with the “kicker”. Had nearly all the equipment we’d want - generator, air, radar, big inverter, solar - it goes on. But the much bigger motor, smaller tankage and being more crowded gave us pause.
We drove about 200 miles, weighing all it had - and a little it didn’t - available right then, against waiting maybe a year to get a new seapiper that matched our needs closer. We were still struggling with that decision when I got a call that the contract on the almost new Sea Piper fell through - were we interested? Available right then. Well, you can guess which way it went, but I still am not sure what we’d have done if I hadn’t gotten that call.