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Reggie Smithers
 
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Default New trailerable tug a huge hit...........

Harry Krause wrote:
Reggie Smithers wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:
wrote:
NOYB wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Harry Krause wrote:
wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:
wrote:
I just heard from a local company that they took orders for 12 of
their
new 26-foot trailerable tugs at the recent Seattle Boat
Show........and
that was without a finished boat on display!
(They had a hull and liner to show)

It was just about 25 years ago that a little company called
Nordic
Tug
introduced a 26-foot tug at the Seattle show. Nordic did a little
better, taking orders for some huge number of boats (that I
will say
was in the 30's without going to the bother of checking my
notes for
the exact figure).

Interesting to see how well this concept has endured, and how
receptive
the public is to a small boat with some "appeal".

The new boat is built by a partnership formed between Ranger Tug
Company and C-Dory Marine. The Ranger Tug has been around for a
while,
(built by the Livingston fammily) but has been essentially an
open
boat
with no superstructure aft of an enclosed pilothouse. The new
boat
expands that original concept by extending the cabin well aft to
create
a boat with enough cabin that people can get out of the rain or
direct
sun.


At the risk of being tagged for SPAM, additional information
on this
new boat is available at
www.c-ranger.com (no link, to pacify the anti spammers).
Once on
the
site, all the specs and a conceptual drawing can be viewed by
clicking
on R 25 at the top of the page.

Cute boat, stupid name. It should be called Lil' Toot
Oh no! The "C" word. The guys over at Nordic cringe almost
everytime
somebody uses that word. As Jim Cress of Nordic Tug once commented,
"When we built 26-foot boats, OK, they might have been 'cute'.
We go
cruising in our 50-footer and it's just unbelievable how many
people
will come runing up to us at the dock to let us know just how
'cute'
they think it is".

I guess the women don't mind having a "cute" boat, and we all
know that
when a couple goes out shopping HE wears the pants in the
family, but
SHE carries the checkbook in her purse.

And "she" is more likely to approve a "cute little boat" with nice
creature comforts. It really is a nice, "cute" boat. You think those
speeds are do-able with that bitty engine?
I'm optimistic the speeds will be acheivable. This is a lightweight
boat without a lot of draft.
Lightweight. Little draft. Tall superstructure on top of the
hull. Sounds
tippy.

Potentially, I agree. There are some design compensations one can make
to reduce the tippy tendency, and it will be interesting to see how
stable the finished product it. Weighting down an unfinished hull for
initial trials can duplicate the weight, by won't always duplicate the
COG of the finished boat.

Parker makes a 25-footer with about the same superstructure. It
weighs about the same. It's the model with a larger cabin than mine.
I assure you, it is not tippy. Further, I've been on the flying
bridge of a 25' Parker, and it was not tippy, either.

But the little tug looks like it would be a handful to dock in windy
conditions.

Harry,
I would think your boat would be a handful in windy conditions. It is
a fairly large superstructure, relative to the boat size, relatively
light weight, without a keel. Perfect conditions for the boat to
sail while moving slowly, especially in close quarters.

Reggie


You would think...wrong.


Well, that won't be the first time I was wrong.

--
Reggie
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That's my story and I am sticking to it.

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