Are Nordic Tugs worth the money?

Baker said:

The vast majority of you have totally missed the point...except David and Ranger and PSneeld. IMO.

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Or we just don't agree with you.

Baker said:

The vast majority of you have totally missed the point...except David and Ranger and PSneeld.

He mentioned how he was going to use the boat. You get the best boat for how you are going to use it.
I will say this. A Nordic Tug 32 is TINY!!!!....regardless of how well built it is. The Mainship likely has TWICE the space if not more!!! Is that important to you????? It is to me. And it likely is to most of you. I would not be comfortable cruising on any NT under 37 feet. Somebody using a NT32 as a retirement boat is likely a blind brand loyalist...or someone that does not value space!!!!
While the Mainship build quality is not as good as NT, it will absolutely positively serve the purpose of the OP. Main ships are fairly basic boats sourced with easily available equipment and easy to maintain. The thing is not going to implode and sink anytime soon.

If it is value we are talking, the Mainship wins hands down. If it is living space we are talking, the Mainship wins hands down. The only edge the NT holds is build quality. And just how is that going to make you feel while doing the Great Loop???? I don't know about y'all....but one of things about boating and cruising to me is enjoying the space aboard the boat. Where is that space on the NT??? A smallish salon and an even smaller uncovered cockpit. On the Mainship you have a much larger salon that opens up to a large COVERED cockpit. The Mainship provides very easy and safe access to the bow. While a nice thing to have it is also a safety issue. And finally the 34T has a HUGE flybridge. Look how the Mainship overhangs flare out. Yes it looks slightly odd....but that is because they carry the width of the flybridge FULL BEAM!!!! Anyway....I have made my point....opinion.

And this is with due respect to our NT32 owners out there. Not a bad weekend boat. But not a great retirement boat....IMO.

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That was a GREAT post!!!

In my opinion, unless you are crossing oceans, living space is the single most important thing for someone spending extended time aboard.

ksanders said:

In my opinion, unless you are crossing oceans, living space is the single most important thing for someone spending extended time aboard.

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Especially when you have a sled dog team.

AC weather in Southern BC yesterday. How is Seward's weather? We're headed to Glacier Bay soon.

WOW! Very good posts. Everyone sort of backs up what I was thinking. I love the the NT looks, but the NT32 has a Vee berth. If I go to a N37, that's another $40 - 50K. The NT is probably a better constructed boat, but like someone said, "It's not going to blow up and sink any time soon". I like the lines of the NT, but on the hook or at a marina, the interior space is most important. I still have 2 years to go. I will probably change my mind at least 25 times between now and "launch". I like the idea of chartering an NT. I believe the Chesapeake has a NT charter company around Annapolis. The good thing about Mainships, is there are plenty of them around and that keeps the price down. As far as the comments on resale value, well I think this boat will be part of my estate. Let my kids worry about resale. I do like the Cummins. I seem to remember seeing a Mainship with a Cummins? I have looked at so many, I can't keep them straight in my mind. All I know is I have to be a decent position. I'm worried about which boat to buy, not can I buy a boat. Life is good! Thanks to all that posted.

sunchaser said:

Especially when you have a sled dog team.

AC weather in Southern BC yesterday. How is Seward's weather? We're headed to Glacier Bay soon.

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Seward has had a mixed season so far, probably on par with Alaska. Some days are gorgeous, others miserable, but that's spring time.

Hope you have a blast in Glacier Bay. Are you coming across the gulf this season? You know Prince William Sound is calling your name!

For us, we'll be going out on a shrimping expedition as soon as I get off shift. Nothing like fresh Alaska Shrimp in the evening while watching the Sea Otters Play!

Mainship used Cummins in a few of it's boats, I've run both a 30 and 34 Pilot that had one.
The two "trawler" 34/35/390 models we cruised, one had a single Cat 3208 and another twin Yanmars. I personally wouldn't have any aversion to any of the three brands, though I tend to be a "buy American" type.

sunchaser said:

Or we just don't agree with you.

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And you missed my point!!! While his title may elicit certain answers, ultimately he stated the use of the boat and was basically asking which would be better ref his stated use. Quite a few people just answered the question of which is the better boat....PERIOD.....without referring to his stated use....which is about the biggest mistake you could ever make in buying a boat.

It also brings up another relevant point.....GEOGRAPHY!!! WHERE are you going to use the boat???!!!!!! I can tell you right now, NT are not at all very popular on the hot and humid Gulf Coast. Why??? Because there is no decent outside space. Picture the OP...at anchor....Marathon, Fl....in a NT32. It is at least 649 degrees with at least 400% humidity. Where is he going to go???? The only place TO GO is down below. And now you are faced with running a generator and A/C or stinking up the anchorage because your rotting carcass hasn't been found yet and you are no longer amongst the living due to heat stroke. In the MS you can open all windows....open the large sliding glass door making the cockpit and salon one congruent covered sheltered space. Add a breeze and all is right with the world.

Now put us up in the PNW. The argument for the NT gains some consideration. Outside space is not as heavily weighted because it is cool and drizzly most of the time. Even if it is sunny it is still quite pleasant. NTs are designed by people from the PNW....for people in the PNW. Anyway, my take on it as it relates to this particular person's purpose for the boat. The NT dealer in one of the largest boating area in the country(Clear Lake,Tx) went out of business. Nobody was interested in a boat that was that expensive and didn't offer outside space.

Again, please realize I am not hammering on the boat in general. As has been noted, they are very well built boats and fit a certain buyer. I just don't think it makes a good boat on the Gulf Coast(and Florida) and the market seems to agree...

PS....the Yanmar vs Cummins argument should not really be an issue. They are both excellent engines. I actually lean towards the Yanmar simply because they have offered me such excellent service in the past. Now I am married to a pair of Cummins and they are slowly winning me over.

Good luck!!! Exciting times!!!

FF said:

"or someone that does not value space!!!!"

A roomaran may have more empty space , mere volume , but the measure of an inteior is how well it functions , how comfortable it is , how it ventilates and admits light.

Being able to be thrown an extra 10 ft across a cabin may not be a great advantage.

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Paralysis by analysis, FF!!!! We aren't talking passagemaking boats here. I have a roomaran(complete with an elevated oxygen tent) and have never felt unsafe moving about. In fact, Carver, being a large American company where hungry litigation attorneys dwell, has to make sure there are handholds in the right place and they do a pretty good job.

PS...I have been on a custom 65ft sailboat and it is one of the smallest boat I have ever been on...for the reasons you stated. It is a proper yacht designed to circle the globe. And it has numerous times!!!

I have no experience with the Mainship, but I have quite a bit of experience with my NT 37.

First of all, the NT will not really do anything that the Mainship can't do. They're both coastal cruising boats and will take you anywhere within their fuel range as long as you keep a decent eye on weather.

A NT37 is closer to a Mainship 34 in size. The 37 is way more boat than the 32—an island berth in the master, a second cabin (either for guests or storage), a stall shower in the head, a much bigger engine room and standard generator, no step down into the salon. I know a really nice early model NT 37 just sold for $210k on the East Coast—it probably would have sold for around $250k in the PNW. That's a double edged sword—on the one hand, the price back east means it's not as desirable a boat for that area, and on the other, a NT 37 might not be out of reach for you.

With the dinghy on the swim step I have lots of space on the "boat deck" (above the salon) for entertaining. I've had 8 people up there for drinks, and routinely have 4-6. But when it's sunny in the PNW, I like to be outside in the sun. In hot and humid areas, it'd probably be nice to be under a bimini.

Build quality on Nordics is excellent, but they're certainly not maintenance free. While the factory mostly installed "best of breed" components, they all wear out over time, and they can be expensive to replace. Thankfully, I've found access to almost everything is pretty easy.

That said, I could have bought a very nice 4788 Bayliner (or many other boats) for the same money as I paid for my 37 NT and I'd have WAY more living space, both inside and outside. But for my use (singlehanding over half the time, about 700 hours per year, living aboard almost full time) the 37 NT struck the right balance.

Retriever said:

struck the right balance.

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Key words there no matter what the boat...

Baker said:

I actually lean towards the Yanmar simply because they have offered me such excellent service in the past. Now I am married to a pair of Cummins and they are slowly winning me over.

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Interesting! I now have a pair of Yanmars that I was really concerned about as I was a confirmed Cummins fan. I wanted a 42 OA sedan with a hard top, twin births in the guest cabin & Cummins engines. The boat I bought had everything I wanted except Cummins engines. I am slowly moving to the Yanmar camp as (so far) I haven't had a hint of trouble. Could it simply be explained as demonstrating a bias for what we bought?

I have read many anecdotal references about Yanmars in Mainships not always having the best exhaust elbow alignment with problems ensuing due to water in engine. That is not a fault of the engine. I have personally seen one 34 Mainship where the elbow was too low.

Codger's kudos are the same as I have heard from others including Tony Athens regarding most but not all Yanmar marine engines.

Codger, that's a very complicated-looking machine with all those tubes and roundy things. but it's still clean and spotless!





Makes my JD look like a simpleton:

markpierce said:

Codger, that's a very complicated-looking machine with all those tubes and roundy things. but it's still clean and spotless!

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Those were my thoughts, exactly, when I first saw the engines. Crawling around in the ER with the manual, however, reduced my stress level. They are not really that complicated.

There's a ladder in the ER.

One major difference in my book was the walk around designs.
We do a lot of locking and the lack of a continuous walk around on the smaller size tugs was a deal breaker. Having to enter the cabin go up/down stairs to get fwd or aft for lines, fenders, etc was a deal breaker.
But that's because of our cruising style... not necessarily others.

Good comments. I never considered the "comfort on the hook" argument. I like being outside whenever I can. I live in NY now. So, I do spend most of my time outside, so outside space is important. When I do end up in Fl., there is that 90+ degrees and the 400% humidity to deal with. My friends down there cruise in the "cooler" months and do (pay people) maintenance in the "hot" months. That opens a new door. Which boat suits Fl. better? OK. So now I have a bunch of questions answered and a bunch of NEW questions. Good thing I have a boat to use while I'm figuring this out.

chester613 said:

Good comments. I never considered the "comfort on the hook" argument.

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Comfort cannot be overstated if you are planning on extended time aboard.

For example those wonderful walk around decks. Gosh they are wonderful docking once or twice a day for all three minutes you use them.

The extra three feet in cabin width you'll get in a boat without them is something you'll use every minute you are aboard.

Lots of tradeoffs in a boat.

I would suggest that you see if you can charter a Mainship before your buy. We chartered a Mainship 350/390. Actually I liked the operational aspects of the boat. Thought it handled very well even in 4' seas. It was very responsive to the rudder controls. Can't comment on the autopilot functionality as these were disabled in the charter fleet we used. I only looked at the lower helm station. It was quite useless in my opinion as it was so cramped.

We didn't like the salon space and my wife didn't like the forward stateroom. In the end, we thought it was a good weekender or 1 week boat, but not as suitable for us for long duration trips.

But that's us. You should charter one and see if you like it for your purposes.

The two boats that we chartered made us realize that space and comfort were important requirements for our purpose.

Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

The extra three feet in cabin width you'll get in a boat without them is something you'll use every minute you are aboard.

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How so? Not when you are on the flying bridge, or down below, or in our case the aft deck. Or sitting on the foredeck bench or up on the forward sun pads. On many boats, it only affects the salon.

ksanders said:

Comfort cannot be overstated if you are planning on extended time aboard.

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That's certainly been my experience. I loved the 32' Havorsen but when we got Sandpiper and all that extra room, my wife fell in love with the boat. Sandpiper was supposed to be my "man cave" but such is not the case. She's on it more than I am.

After years of watching people with toerail boats gingerly creep aroun during docking, anchoring, putting out fenders, etch-- and seeing at least a few loose their footing and fall in-- there is no way in hell we'd ever have a boat without a full walkaround deck. Sure, we aren't on it all the time. We aren't in our garage at home much of the time either. But both things are fabulous to have when we need them. To be able to get from the bow to the stern quickly and easily even in rough water-- priceless advantage in our book.

A couple more feet of width in the main cabin is no trade off as far as we're concerned. It's not like were pacing back and forth in there all day. Mostly we're just sitting and an extra couple of feet of width would make zero difference to that.

But that full deck-- that's one of the best features of our PNW boat and after years of enjoying its advantages we insisted on it for our other one. We're we in the market for a boat today, new or used, we wouldn't even consider a boat without a full deck, no matter how clever and roomy the boat was otherwise.

Our boat's beam measures 14'4" at the water and it has a nice wide "walk around." The rails are quite high but they could use a cable life line between the gunnel and top rail. (Forthcoming)

I don't agree w Baker at all. His post #37 sounds like SOMBODY on food stamps buying cheap cereal at Walmart observing they get 8oz more cereal that the good cereal.

To me the most important part of a boat is the hull. First it's shape and then it's build quality. Mainship has built a boat that I belive is flawed in hull shape. Would'nt buy one .. the flawed one or annother because it may be designed by the same bloke. Tom's point re Baidarka I is excellent. The design quality of the NT 32 is insured basically by examples of this kind.

Northern Spy brings the point home about appearent build quality. Not much will be learned by walking the float looking at boats. But after looking at the hand rails of several larger boats some build quality can be seen. But the real build quality must be seen in the bilges where most people don't look. Or better yet at the plant where the boats are constructed.

Cheap boats will have faster depreciation and good boats tend to hold value. But the market is driven by "perceived" quality that may be valid or just market buzz or hype.

But for the OP if there is some reasons the NT 32 is lacking my advice would be to look at more boats to compare the NT with.

Older Nordic Tug 32s bottom out at 100K. I've only seen one (just the other day) at 89500. As the boats get newer the price difference gets smaller. The low end boats will drop out some day but so far their market value is as bullet proof as a yacht can get.

Gee whiz Eric, why are there so many decades-old Mainships out there? Hasn't someone told them they don't deserve to be afloat? And what on earth must their owners be thinking taking them out year after year on the briney blue?

The Nordic Tugs are excellent boats and very well built. But they may not be the best boat for the OP. The Mainship may be just fine for his intended purpose.

WRT space, the NT isn't as spacious as others in the same length-on-deck class. We found that the KK42 was by far the largest of the 42' LOD group. Much bigger than the NT, Nordhavn 40, the North Pacific Trawler and others. Our wheelhouse has floor space that is 10'6" wide and 4'2" deep not including the helm dash that is 34" deep and the watch berth that is 33 deep and 6'8" long.

Side decks...this docking newbie sure appreciates them as does his admiral and sometime crew!


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

This side deck issue and preferances are interesting

On my Bayliner we have no safely usable side decks in the salon area of the boat. That makes the salon bigger, no arguing that. How much depends on the design of the side decks but at least 2' and I think at least 3' for boats with really nice side decks inside the boat as opposed to the rail protected ones.

Docking is not the Goat rope some ellude to. From the pilothouse I can safely access the forward half of the boat. Three steps from the helm either direction and I'm tying up the boat.

The cockpit is large and provides a easy safe place from which to tie up the aft of the boat.

In our experience from a practical standpoint, having docked my boat many times in a variety of conditions, its a rare day that I wish I even have side decks. Yes occasionally when I single hand, if the wind is REALLY blowing me away from the dock side decks would be nice, but those days are rare and docking lasts but a few minutes.

At the same time sitting in the nice roomy salon I am very glad every day that I have that three feet of extra space inside.

Marin said:

...
But that full deck-- that's one of the best features of our PNW boat and after years of enjoying its advantages we insisted on it for our other one. We're we in the market for a boat today, new or used, we wouldn't even consider a boat without a full deck, no matter how clever and roomy the boat was otherwise.

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I think the KK48 North Sea

JDCAVE said:

The Nordic Tugs are excellent boats and very well built. But they may not be the best boat for the OP. The Mainship may be just fine for his intended purpose.

WRT space, the NT isn't as spacious as others in the same length-on-deck class. We found that the KK42 was by far the largest of the 42' LOD group. Much bigger than the NT, Nordhavn 40, the North Pacific Trawler and others. Our wheelhouse has floor space that is 10'6" wide and 4'2" deep not including the helm dash that is 34" deep and the watch berth that is 33 deep and 6'8" long.

Side decks...this docking newbie sure appreciates them as does his admiral and sometime crew!


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

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If I'm not mistaken the newer KK North Sea 48 has only a side deck at the salon on the starboard side, the 48 WhaleBack has no side decks. I have had two 48' pilot house boats with marginal side decks, 4788 Bayliner and the 48 LRC Hatteras. The only use I see for side Decks would be deploying fish. The advantages of the larger salon with it's larger entertainment area on the boat deck far out weigh any occasional use of side decks aft of the pilot house.

Nordic Tugs are cute

They are cute boats that do a poor job of providing and utilizing space. For their length they don't provide much living and entertaining area. the cockpit is small and uncovered, The salon roof is not set up for entertaining, most don't have a flying bridge, master stateroom is small, galley is not well laid out. They may be well made, however I just saw a rudder and rudder post being replaced and I wasn't impressed. They do provide character and an impression of being a rugged work boat. They are so cute they are hard not to like.