Tug dreaming

Peter B said:

, but we do have to wash his mouth out sometimes.

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It gets washed out at 4pm most days
Single malt or martinis is the usual cleansing agent.

Peter B said:

Wow, and yes, welcome to the forum Pete, from another Pete. I think your intro post just set a record for the most responses to a simple "Hi, I'm thinking of a boat one day, and I like tugs..."

So much so I almost felt the need to move it from the 'Welcome Mat' section and put it with the Tugs..! Then I thought better of that. Don't take that other Aussie Simi too seriously, he's really just a big, cuddly, teddybear kind of guy, but we do have to wash his mouth out sometimes.

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That's what I thought... so I stayed out of the fray... being a tug lover and all

Simi 60 said:

It gets washed out at 4pm most days
Single malt or martinis is the usual cleansing agent.

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Not that there is anything wrong with that

There are those of us who dream of a real tug. Maybe Pete is one of them. I didn't immediately go to the new generation.

Speaking of which, how come nobody's bought this boat yet?

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1988/custom-echo-38-tug-trawler-3653194/

Jeff F said:

There are those of us who dream of a real tug. Maybe Pete is one of them. I didn't immediately go to the new generation.

Speaking of which, how come nobody's bought this boat yet?

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1988/custom-echo-38-tug-trawler-3653194/

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NOW that would be a fun name to repeat 3 times quickly over VHF

Pete (pjtemplin, OP),
Let's get your profile a proper avatar:

Knot Fast said:

Pete (pjtemplin, OP),
Let's get your profile a proper avatar:

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That's awesome!

That must be BoatyMcTugFace!

It's Theodore! Heard he's for sale.

I have an old friend who worked for years on the production set for the TV show. Much of the time he was in hip waders

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Tugboat

I bet there's a whole generation of Canadians dreaming of tugs.

Didn't consider a tug-like appearance as a boat-selection criteria, but instead 360-degree deck with solid railings, as well as a keel-protected propeller and rudder.

I have a 2009 Ranger Tug for sale if you're interested

pjtemplin said:

Howdy all...I've popped my head into a few threads and figure I should probably make an introduction. Call me Pete...I'm a 40-something guy doing computer networking at Microsoft plus several side hustles in networking, photography, and personal development. Dreaming of a tug in the near future...here to soak up what I can and chime in on rare occasion.

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Rather than one of the plastic boats that look somewhat like a tug, you might consider finding a real steel tug and redoing it. I took a 34 foot steel harbor tug, bought is for 8,500 and put about 60K in redoing the interior etc. Turned out a real head turner and great sea boat. It has a 6-354 NA perkins that came out of MasseyHarris 805 tractor. I bought a watercooled exhaust manifold, bolted right up and was ready to go. It had keel cooling so salt water was no problem. Ran about 6 knots, burning 1 gallon per hour.

Tug like?

When I was a lad of about 12 or so, growing up in Cleveland, my next door neighbor was a captain with Great Lakes Towing. He most often captained their tug Washington, and during the summer he would take me aboard to spend a shift (often 12 hours or more) with him. Kind of a take a neighbor kid to work day. The tug stoutness and style imprinted on my brain and my latest, perhaps last boat, is a Nordic Tug 32. Recently I found out that the GL tug Washington was at their docks in Cleveland- hadn't been there for a while, so I ran my Nordic over to have a look see and take some pics. Also there was the larger GL tug Ontario, which had some crew aboard taking a break. As I pulled alongside, taking pictures, they all complimented me on a real nice boat. I think a certain sense of humor has to be had no matter what boat you own; I call the decoration atop my sundeck my 'fakestack', and have been encouraged to get a bubble machine to blow bubbles out of it. I've heard that the fakestacks on other pleasure tugs have been used as coolers for beverages and converted to barbecues. Whatever boat floats your imagination..... everyone at my yacht club recognizes me as 'the guy that owns that tug'.

Gypsyjon said:

Rather than one of the plastic boats that look somewhat like a tug, you might consider finding a real steel tug and redoing it. I took a 34 foot steel harbor tug, bought is for 8,500 and put about 60K in redoing the interior etc. Turned out a real head turner and great sea boat. It has a 6-354 NA perkins that came out of MasseyHarris 805 tractor. I bought a watercooled exhaust manifold, bolted right up and was ready to go. It had keel cooling so salt water was no problem. Ran about 6 knots, burning 1 gallon per hour.

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If its a real harbor tug, It will be a head turner . What makes it a good seaboat?

Welcome aboard from another Tug Guy.
Mike Thorpe
Brigadoon NT-32 #219

Sailor of Fortune said:

If its a real harbor tug, It will be a head turner . What makes it a good seaboat?

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It has has a 4 foot tall oak pushing knee on the bow. Has 4x4 oak rub rails. This combination knocks waves right down. The rub rails act like spray rails so water does not climb the side of the hull. It does take green water over the pilot house when the waves are 6 feet or more, but none hits the windshield. The water dumps in the cockpit which has large scuppers thus it just runs out. No worries about getting the pilot house windows getting blown out. It weights 30,000 pounds and has a 4 foot draft.
Great sea boat, punches through waves rather then pounding. Hard chines I added so it does not roll much either.

This is a tugboat.
https://www.passagemaker.com/cruiser-reviews/refit-or-ruin-arthur-foss

There is a gentleman docked very near me who is "redoing" a former working tug that he bought off of Seaspan a large tug and barge company. He owns a diesel repair company and often uses his own people to work on it. Not everyone has an opportunity like this or the time or inclination to spend on transforming an older working tug into something they would like to spend "pleasure time' on. So far, over one year. OK, for those so inclined.

Finding ones previously completed would be difficult I suspect and probably for several reasons.

I don't understand the negativism to the "plastic tugs" (as some call them) or the fact that they are not, nor never were "real tugs" and or the upset over the fact that several companies (US manufacturers by the way) have chosen to use the "tug" word in their company name??? These boats have garnered good reputations and followings so they must be doing something right, I would suspect.

Now, if you don't like some of the features of those boats, or even the "tug" look (unattractive to you and you prefer the look of a Carver or SeaRay), then that is your opinion and I have no issue with that. Different strokes for different folks.
Some of us "tug" owners find Silvertons, SeaRays, and Carvers to be "unattractive", for example. That doesn't make them "bad boats", just not my (our) "cup of tea".

Carl Martin said:

This is a tugboat.
https://www.passagemaker.com/cruiser-reviews/refit-or-ruin-arthur-foss

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"the massive, mechanical, hand-oiled, six-cylinder diesel is the only one like it in the world"

I'm going to make a wild guess that West Marine won't be much help with engine parts. I'm further going to suggest that the skipper's wife better be a hearty soul, willing spend her transits in the engine room with her hand-oiler in hand.

The Nordic Tug 32 is my favorite trawler.

A 38 ft Benford Tug looks pretty nice. Also you might check out Michael Kasten tugs .

I like the Michael Kasten tug. Jay Benford has some tug inspired designs that are pretty cool too.
Working tugs make horrible yacht conversions

Looking stout.

Tugs and borders

hymm....what would we all agree to call a former real working tug that has been converted into a recreational "boat". My vote is "tug". I'm reminded of an old saying "if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck"....just saying.

My favorite, Devlin's Sockeye:

Another favorite, the Lord Nelson Victory Tug:

Here’s the Benford 38

Devlin Tugzilla 26: https://devlinboat.com/tugzilla-26/

Devlin Sockeye on YW for $625,000. Beautiful boat but...

WOW .. tugs to love.

I’d call the Benford 38 and the Devlin 26 tugs.
The LN Victory Tug is (I think) a bit flawed but I was seriously looking 10yrs ago.
There’s no superlative applicable word for the Sockeye though. +++

Mark,
Do you consider your Coot to be a trawler or a tug?
I consider her a heavy trawler.