I ❤️ My 37 Nordic Tug - Brick Sh#t House

Prepared the boat for Hurricane Irma with new 3/4" three strand storm lines. On one of the stern lines I did not take into consideration that the storm could, and did, completely drain the eight feet of water out of our canal. The inside stern corner cleat ended up with the line leading over the edge of our concrete dock straight down to the cleat. The weight of the boat, as the eight feet of water blew out to sea, came to bare on this one cleat.
Before the cleat pulled out of the stern or even flex cracked the gelcoat, the brand new 3/4" three strand line broke! Holy crap. Now that is a boat that is well built!
I will never make that storm tie mistake again.
I have to tell you Nordic Tugs are well built.
I really could not believe it.
Thank you Nordic Tugs!

Gayle's brother wants us to tow our Albin-25 down to Punta Gorda

It's a long tow from N Illinois in Feb for just a week on the water.

Moby Nick said:

It's a long tow from N Illinois in Feb for just a week on the water.

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Definitely a testament to robust design and construction. Also probably good that the concrete edge sawed off the line - think in the case of the 16k # tensile line suspending a good piece of the boat's weight by the cleat - the cleat would have eventually lost.

Wonderful boats. Glad you made out ok.

In a bad storm, internal friction in the rope can make heat enough to separate the line all by itself I have read.

I know lots of folks here on TF prepared for storm surge, but did anyone prepare for the "negative surge" event with all the water being blown out of the bays and canals?

Good job, both you and the boat.

Glad you made out ok . Love those Nordic 37's

We could not agree more even our little 26 is like a tank. Hope to see you we have a place also in PGI and hoping to come down this fall via the ICW

cardude01 said:

I know lots of folks here on TF prepared for storm surge, but did anyone prepare for the "negative surge" event with all the water being blown out of the bays and canals?

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The out flow was the biggest surprise. The wind blew out over six feet of water and left it out for several hours. Then the storm surge that was blown in was less than 3 feet.
Not the 8-10 prediction.

Pgitug said:

The out flow was the biggest surprise. The wind blew out over six feet of water and left it out for several hours. Then the storm surge that was blown in was less than 3 feet.
Not the 8-10 prediction.

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I thought that was strange too. My next door neighbor sent us a video of our slip at Isles Yacht Club and it was dry as a bone.

We were tucked in for the storm at Riviera Dunes Marina in Palmetto. Still there planning to go home in the next week or two.

BTW, this is my second NT 42 and a tougher boat is not built!

cardude01 said:

I know lots of folks here on TF prepared for storm surge, but did anyone prepare for the "negative surge" event with all the water being blown out of the bays and canals?

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I was watching WindyTV for three days prior to the storm hitting. The wind patterns definitely showed the possibility of lowering water in Tampa Bay and its tributaries. I brought my concerns to several boating locals as well as the guys at the shipyard. To a man they all laughed and said that doesn't happen and that I need to watch out for the surge.
I convinced the guy on the other side of the floating dock though. We came up with a plan to make fast to the dock and then strap the boats to each other over the top of the dock with the idea that our boats wouldn't list over if they sat on the bottom. So the evidence showed that the water level did drop to where we were on bottom then re floated once the wind direction changed after the storm passed through. When we returned both boats were afloat without a scratch. Several of my bow lines that I had tied to an oak tree were 30% abraded where they had led down over the concrete bulkhead though.

What would you habe done different? Longer lines your boat would have ended up aground, wouldn't she?

I did a lot of reading and preparation. I watched television in preparation. Not one time did I ever hear of negative surge until it started happening.

CaptnDen said:

What would you habe done different? Longer lines your boat would have ended up aground, wouldn't she?

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The only mistake was taking the inside stern line over the dock.
I should have taken it around the end or last dock piling to the left and then to the boat.

cardude01 said:

I know lots of folks here on TF prepared for storm surge, but did anyone prepare for the "negative surge" event with all the water being blown out of the bays and canals?

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One of the who knew consequences of all the water leaving Punta Gorda Isles is that without the push back of the water on the canal walls many seawalls collapsed taking big hunks of back yards with them. There was a front page article in today's Punta Gorda Bugle Crier newspaper saying that the city is going to have to bring in some outside help to do the repairs.

Punta Gorda Isles is sorta unique in that residents pay a yearly assessment of around $500 for canal maintenance. So, when this happens to you the city's contractor comes in with barges and crawler cranes and fixes it at no charge. This includes filling in with new dirt, re sodding the yard and replanting your usable plants and trees.

Can't recall any negative comments on Nordic Tugs: only good ones.

On my steel boat if expecting it to hang free, I'd attach lines to four permanently installed eyes on the gunwale using shackles. I'd be worried about the attachments on fixed docks, however.

The eyes are an integral part of the boat. They're intended for lifting the boat, and have been used several times in movement from shore to ship and and ship to shore for shipment.

Yep nothing like a steel or aluminum boat for hoisting points.

But then again, I have seen many instances of boats hanging from cleats in the salvage business...and those that have ripped out or bent and slipped off no matter the construction materials or price point.

Cleats should never be used as lifting points. They are not designed to support the vertical weight of a vessel. Using cleats to lift during a salvage operation would be a huge red flag to me that the salvor does not understand what he is doing.

McGillicuddy said:

Cleats should never be used as lifting points. They are not designed to support the vertical weight of a vessel. Using cleats to lift during a salvage operation would be a huge red flag to me that the salvor does not understand what he is doing.

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No one said anything about intentionally lifting from cleats. Psneeld was talking about those that were hanging from the cleats when he arrived. I've seen boats held up by the cleats lowering the entire dock and waiting for the tow service.

McGillicuddy said:

Cleats should never be used as lifting points. They are not designed to support the vertical weight of a vessel. Using cleats to lift during a salvage operation would be a huge red flag to me that the salvor does not understand what he is doing.

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Well, I guesx it depends on experience and knowledge.

While cleats are not necessaruly used in a salvage, that wasnt my real point.

It was how often boats are found hanging from them and not necessarily top of the line boats.

And like always, dont read into any method too far ....my salvage supervisor record stands on its own, your red flags or not....even my boss would agree in part with you, but he trusts me to solo salvage boats he usualky uses a crew for.

We spent the hurricane in a friends newer home with hurricane glass right on Pine Island Sound so we had a great if not a little scary view. The water was pulled out for about 6 hrs and when the wind direction changed it came back in very quicky..20 to 30 minutes!
The picture shows the bottom that would normally have 6' of water over it. The picture was taken during a lull.

Nimble1 said:

We spent the hurricane in a friends newer home with hurricane glass right on Pine Island Sound so we had a great if not a little scary view. The water was pulled out for about 6 hrs and when the wind direction changed it came back in very quicky..20 to 30 minutes!

The picture shows the bottom that would normally have 6' of water over it. The picture was taken during a lull.

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I am on slides all the way up in Gulf Breeze. We lost about one foot of water more than normal for our low tide. I had about two feet of travel left on my slide moors. Not sure what would happen if we lost eight. I guess I need to drop pilings down flat under the slip to ensure I cannot sink into the muck and come off the bottom of the slides!

My Mainship is no Nordic but I still love it.

My cleat didn't fare so well.

My Nordic Tug story. In 2006, the first year I had the tug, we had a typical October low pressure system come through, with winds and gusts over 60 knots, that lasted for 2 days. My tug is riding it's Dor-Mor mooring without any issues. The 40' Hunter Legend sailboat in front of me breaks off it's mooring (dual mooring lines parted, no chafe gear), and comes down on my boat. Hunter's bow anchor drills a hole behind my bow anchor guards, scrapes down the port side accent stripe, bangs and bends the frame of the back salon window, and impales the bow anchor into the transom of my boat. Boatyard crew goes out to free the Hunter from my transom, and ties the 9 ton boat on the 2 stern cleats on my transom. The Hunter spends the next couple of days bobbing in the wind off my transom cleats until the storm dies down and we move it back on its mooring. Damage to my boat was essentially cosmetic (bow and stern holes filled and painted, accent strip re-painted, salon window replaced). Cleats took the load, no problem. Speaks to the build quality of the NT's.

Mrwesson said:

My Mainship is no Nordic but I still love it.



My cleat didn't fare so well.

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Your lucky it was a clean break.
Go on you tube and find out how to use
West Systems Repair. It could be enjoyable.

Pgitug said:

Your lucky it was a clean break.
Go on you tube and find out how to use
West Systems Repair. It could be enjoyable.

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Already fixed it. Owning a Mainship means knowing how to do fiberglass work .

"Cleats took the load, no problem."

It seems sad that a properly installed cleat is so rare that it can be bragged about.