Cruising Forums

MMNETSEA · 01-08-2008, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMNETSEA

Welcome Denny and Marcia,

I have always thought of a tug as a boat that I would have if I moved away from Multihulls.

Back in the 80's on a visit to Alameda CA, met up with a couple who were restoring a former steam driven Tug. They had been at it for some 7 years - I seem to remember that it was over a 100 years old .

Richard

Hello Denny,

I remembered the name of the couple - Joe Heinzman and Deb (now

married). They moved off the tug quite a long time ago - probably about 15

yrs ago. They have one or two kids now; Joe graduated from Maritime College

with a degree in Mech Engr and took a job with General Electric as a field

engineer in their static generator and gas turbine division. I still don't remember the name of the Tug.

Richard

Nausikaa · 01-08-2008, 07:19 AM

Just wanted to add a photo of the tug I was once engineer on (many moons ago). Not in the same class as Denny and Marcia's tug but still in good shape. She was used mainly for tiomber transport and ice breaking.

Aye // Stephen

imagine2frolic · 01-08-2008, 01:16 PM

Stephen,

Is that you at the rail?

......Good looking vessel!

Nausikaa · 01-08-2008, 01:55 PM

Am I hanging over the rail, suffering from seasickness?

No, before my time on board. I was just there "extra" when otherwise on leave from "big ships". When I was there we were doing ice breaking rather than towing. It was fun, well paid and a bit different to my "day job".

Interesting boat too. She has 4 Scania diesels driving 1 shaft. The shaft was belt driven so no gearing to cause problems. When there was no load, i.e. not towing or ice breaking, we could happily run on two engines. Under the aft deck was a huge fresh water tank which was used for cooling water to avoid ice blocking the sea water intakes. The deck was always nice and warm. Only problem was if the boat was not going to be used for 24 hours the tank had to be pumped out to prevent the water in it from freezing.

It was a nice little ship. I had a good time there.

Aye // Stephen

Tugtyee · 01-09-2008, 02:23 PM

[QUOTE=name='Nausikaa' date='Jan 8 2008, 04:55 PM' post='16718']

Am I hanging over the rail, suffering from seasickness?

Steven,

Thats a cool tug, very European in its design possibly dutch or scandinavian.. I can see that typical ice breaker type bow where it would ride up on the ice and use the wieght of the ship to crack the ice.

I have never heard of a cooling system such as you describe. But it sounds like it would make "working the deck " a little more pleasant, to say nothing of keeping the ice off the deck,

I worked on a tug in the northern part of Canada on the McKenzie river and I can remember during the last part of the season in late Sept when it was pretty scarry to walk out to the aft deck as it was all covered in a thin layer of ice. Our bulwarks were only a foot or so high it would be very easy to go over the side.

Looks like your tug had some manly rails to keep personnel on board.

Best Regards

Denny

Nausikaa · 01-09-2008, 07:15 PM

As you wrote Denny, she did have some manly rails. I always wonder why so many tugs don't at least have warship type rails which can be lowered if needed when towing?

Yes, it was great on that working deck. One could almost go barefoot in the middle of winter and, again as you wrote, no ice or snow at all. IMHO it was a pretty good cooling system. It also had the advantage of being able to fill the system with good clean water before entering any muddy spots.

The only disadvantage with the little ship was that to access the head one had to go out on deck. Not a problem for a younger man perhaps but nowadays it could be a bit of a hassle in the middle of the night.

She is a sweet little ship, built for icebreaking and timber towing although she has done her share of towing barges too. I often thought that she would make a nice floating home - although after having seen the pictures of your tug then I have to admit that I could never get her into such fine shape. When you get the chance, do post some more pics of your fine ship!

Stay well.

Aye // Stephen