I really do love this boat. Even found the owner and sent him an email with some of his boat pictures for him to enjoy. The people at Tuggers want to put the picture on their newsletter, and the owner gave the OK.

BTW, the owner liked the pix, sent me a nice email back.



What do you think of it like this???

Seabuddy's other thread got me experimenting with some photo effects.

I don't get the whole refurbished tugboat as a pleasure boat thing. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful boat but wouldn't a cruiser be more comfortable and more efficient? That tug must burn a ton of fuel to go maybe 8 knots? Let a tug be a tug I say.

Is there anything FLAT on that boat? If it was mine, I'd probably name it WARPED ...

Andy, they are not refurbs. They were designed from the start as pleasure craft.

I don't know, they trigger something in me that gives me warm fuzzies.

You can see the history of all 76 hulls here.

There's alot to be said for the design. Get her in really rough weather and you will apreciate the high bow and low CG.

Actually from what I have read of people doing hte Great Loop cruise, a diesel powered tug is the most efficient way to do it. People are getting like 8mpg at 8kts. A planing hull cruiser would be lucky to get 1.5 at 25mph.
Now if you mean a displacement hull boat when you said "cruiser". well, then yyeah, their efficiency might be similiar, but I doubt better. After that, it's a personal preference thing. I do not like tugs, by the way.

Tugs are houseboats designed for bad water

A gent that has a Nordic Tug 26 here told me he burns 1 gal/hr with his at about 8 kts, if that helps. 60hp-ish diesel, I think.

But yeah, they sure are a matter of personal preference. I personally like them. A person spends their whole life going from A-B as fast and as hard as they can. Some day it might be nice to slow down and take my time.

I was chit-chatting with a looper in a small tug a few weeks ago, and I asked him something about going slow and relaxing. He held up both arms and said "You see any watch on these arms? Hell, I don't even know what day of the week it is!"

That's kind of what I'm talking about.

That means he's getting almost 10 mpg. Thanks 2Suns. I'm sure I've seen the exact boat you are speaking of, many times.

Can't say I'm eager to buy one, but the lines of that boat do make me smile. I like the dutch door at the pilot house, nice touch.

The 18"+ diameter smoke stack with the 1.5" diameter exhaust pipe poking out of it is funny. Being a "form follows function" guy, that bothers me a little, the same way a radar arch without radar on it seems pointless to me.

I like the looks of it. Kind of like a illustration for a pre-schooler book. There are some trawler designs I like very much. Tend to be more angular. I would like to see the layout of the cabins and such in the above boat.

If I were to retire onto a boat with the idea of traveling and living on the boat I would seriously look at this design. I understand they take rough water well and are fuel efficient.

I too would throw away the wrist watch.

I guess I have Georgia on my mind.

Troop, you sure picked a beautiful boat to fall in love with. I can see why the owner would enjoy the pics you sent him. That one is really nice. Great colors, very clear, sun's coming from the right angle to highlight the boat. Nicely done.

While I don't see myself ever owning a tug I can appreciate their lines and how seaworthy they are. In that pic he's running right at his hull speed (you can tell by the bow and stern waves) and it's very efficient at that speed. 8mpg or more would not surprise me.

Now, let's all join hands and sing..."Little Toot was just a tug..."

Nice touch Troop - very generous. I'm sure the owner got a real kick out of it.

I too, like tugs. Don't care a whit about the technicalities, I just think they're cool. I spent a half-hour on the Tugger web site looking at all their hulls.

troop, are you getting published now?

troop - not my cup of tea (and pudding), but i know others like it. i met a guy last winter who had his boat next to mine at the marina for winter storage. he's got a 1976 tug of some kind that looks brand new. he was working on it himself, which i was impressed with since he's 83 (or maybe now 84) years young. he was telling me about how he acquired and rigged an authentic steam whistle for the boat from an old factory. btw, you know the duck in the picture is carrying a concealed video camera, right?

Being a seafarin' man Bruce, I'd think you know that's not a duck. Looks to be a cormorant to me -- not too popular a critter in these parts.

Interesting statement GFC. I'd be interested in a brief explanation, por favor.

a cormorant. yeah, that's what i meant. although at first, i thought it was a tiny periscope with a snout, err bill.

excuse me while i cormorant and hide.

edited because I hit Submit too soon.

OK Phil, you asked for it, but if you fall asleep in the middle don't blame me....

As a boat moves very slowly through the water it creates a wave at the bow (logically called a "bow wave"). This wave is the boat's effort to push water out of its way. As it does this, there is a built up kinetic energy in that wave. The faster the boat moves through the water in displacement mode the larger the bow wave and the more kinetic energy that is created in the wave.

Sounds good eh? Well it isn't. As that bow wave grows, and the energy in the wave is increased, this takes away from the kinetic energy of the boat, taking power away that could be used to propel the boat forward and costing the boat efficiency. The result of this is lower fuel economy.

There is also a wave created that moves backward along the hull as the speed increases. This wave (which I’ll call a stern wave) is clearly visible in the photo that Troop posted. Look at the stern of that tug and you’ll see the wave. More on that in a minute.

Every boat has a Hull Speed, often called its Displacement Speed. This is the most efficient speed that that particular hull can move through the water. To find a boat’s hull speed, you take the square root of the water line length times 1.34.

Square Root of LWL * 1.34 = Hull Speed

To make the math simple, suppose a boat has a 36’ waterline length. The square root of that is 6, so the formula would be 6*1.34 = 8.04 kts

At that speed, the boat is moving efficiently through the water, creating a manageable bow wave and stern wave.

There is another number that comes into play at this point. It’s called a Froude Number which is a relationship between the speed and the length of the hull, and used in the comparison of boats of different sizes. As the boat’s speed increases, since the Froude Number is speed/length, the Froude Number will increase. When this ratio gets to about .94 the boat starts to outrun its bow wave which has moved backwards along the hull and is at the stern. This stern wave actually supports the weight of the stern of the boat.

As we outrun the stern wave and the stern wave moves behind the boat, the stern squats down in the water. We’ve all experienced this as we accelerate and our boat makes that transition from displacement speed to planning speed. When the boat outruns the stern wave and the stern squats in the water, the bow is pointed toward the sky and we’re running at our LEAST efficient attitude.

As the boat continues to increase speed and makes the move toward planning speed, we continue to outrun the stern wave. At this point it doesn't matter any longer because we have transitioned out of displacement mode. The bow starts to come down and when the boat is on plane we have completed that transition from displacement speed to planning speed.

So Phil, are you still awake? In the next chapter we'll discuss what effect water depth has on the amount of speed that is lost to the bow wave. We'll also take a look at how bulbous bows work to decrease the bow wave and increase efficiency.

Ding. OK class, there's the bell. See you tomorrow.

But can you tell us what that round, spinny thing under the boat is?

Good explanation, gfc. Too much math, but still good.

If my aim was good, it's the remaining parts of a PWC!

(My best Emily Litella) Never Mind.

JK, GFC. Thanks, that was actually understandable. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know wut I mean?

Good place to learn, this.

All I know is that if there are dolphins riding your bow wave, you are in the right place going the right speed.

Hey GFC --- where did you take your hydrodynamics - marine engineering courses -- (leading question of course) just curious --

Dale, no regular courses, just a lot of reading over the years about boating topics.

This spring I considered buying a 60' custom designed boat that was built with a bulbous bow. It's unusual to find a 60' boat with a bulbous bow so that got me started doing some reading on bulbous bows, their designs and purposes, and their effects on hull efficiency, etc.

That led to the reading on bow waves and what happens to the bow wave as boat speed picks up and the boat transitions from displacement speed up to planing speeds.

That led to more reading on the effects of bow waves in different water depths, etc., etc., etc.

Just my natural curiosity about how things work.