Experience with American Tug's

[N4061]

I had the opportunity recently to go aboard an American Tug trawler and was surprised at the nice size interior the 36' offered for its LOA. The boat also looked larger then many other semi-displacement boats of comparable LOA sitting nearby. I do not have any experience with Tug's except for a ride on a Nordic Tug many years ago and being docked next to one in Ensenada, Mexico back in 2005. I checked both websites and see that the AT offers a larger beam for comparable water line. The speeds and fuel burn are advertised as very efficient. Does anyone have first hand experience with the AT and be willing to provide their views on the boats Pro's and Con's? Thank you.

John

 

[jukesy]

There are a few of us on here and I'm sure they will chime in also. I have the 365 (34). and love it. They are well built, economical and very roomy for there size. Great boats all around...

 

[Nick14]

I've owned two American Tugs, a 2001 34 ft, and then after having a 36 ft Sabreline and a 42 ft Beneteau Swift Trawler, recently went back to AT with a 39 ft (395). I'm very biased and a big fan of AT, and absolutely love it (I thought the Sabreline and Beneteau were good boats, but to me, just weren't an AT, which is why I went back). I posted some comments in response to a post by juksey under 'Classifieds', which is copied below -
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American Tug and Nordic have more commonalities than differences. They were both designed by Lynn Senour, the legendary (and sadly recently departed) designer of semi-displacement hulls. There should be more Nordics around than ATs, as the Nordic company has been in business for a couple of decades longer (1980's I believe) than AT (2001).

The similarities are also due to common management backgrounds. AT was started by a group of Nordic executives who wanted to strike out on their own. Tom Nelson, Kurt Dilworth, and Mike Shoppert worked at Nordic for many years, and started AT.

In my humble opinion, both AT and Nordic are good boats, and both have their fans. The differences are more in subtleties and execution than philosophy. Nordic was designed from the start as a pleasure boat. The AT uses a commercial fishing boat hull, which I believe was formerly called the 'Bristol' trawler, designed by Senour in the 1980's (no relation to the "Bristol" trawler of the same name of the 1970's that I think was built in India). The AT group acquired the molds to the Bristol hull, and used that for the first model, the 34 ft American Tug (now called the 365). All of the other ATs since then have been based on the original Senour design.

AT still builds commercial fishing boats, in various sizes, based on the original Senour design and using the same hull molds as the pleasure boats (with a few being shortened to meet specific length requirements).

Again in my opinion, having crawled over both ATs and Nordics with a microscope, the AT is a little more heavily built, beamier for its length, greater freeboard (all reflecting its commercial roots). To my eye, the Nordic is a bit of a 'prettier' boat, and the AT more workboat like. Both perform comparably well, which is to say outstanding rough water capabilities (albeit both are coastal cruisers and not ocean crossers). I found the AT to have a bit better speed and a more level, smoother (albeit somewhat wetter) ride, and a heavier layup schedule in the hull and superstructure.

Probably not coincidentally, the AT and Nordic models do not exactly overlap in size (with the possible exception of the AT 41/435 and Nordic 42, which are very close). The size differences among the models give buyers a wider range of choices, and perhaps intentionally not directly compete with each other.

American Tug goes to great lengths to sweat the details of their boats. Anyone that has crawled through the machinery spaces invariably comes away impressed with how everything is built to commercial workboat standards. The whole boat is significantly over-built. Every important fitting, valve, and mechanical and electrical component is clearly labeled to make identification and service fool-proof. AT is also very willing to customize a boat and made customer modifications; there was a page of dozens of changes and custom features on my current boat that they were willing to accommodate.

It's a straightforward, very sturdy, extremely well-built, seaworthy, and reliable boat that just inspires confidence in its capabilities and construction. My wife (who is not much of a boater, but supports my addiction) compliments the boat in saying that she feels 'safer and more secure' on our ATs than any of the other boats we've owned or been on. It's certainly not perfect (what boat is?) and is not the boat for everyone, but short of spending far more money on a custom build, it's the boat that fits us best.
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[brian eiland]

Thanks Nick for that summation.

I visited a few of their vessels at this year's Annapolis powerboat show and was suitable impressed. I was looking for alternative vessels or ideas for my Pilgrim 40 redesign efforts.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/redesigning-pilgrim-40-trawler-canal-boat-11212.html

 

[OldDan1943]

What I have learned about the differences between the 34 and 36 American Tug.
They now count the swim platform in the overall length. They changed to sliding pilot house doors and now have a deck hatch to the anchor locker. I believe, on the 36 lights in the cabinets are standard. They, to my understanding, put a small A/C in the forward stateroom so I guess that freed up the space on the port (?) side of the pilot house for more drawers.
When I bought my 36, I down sized from a N46 so I now have a storeroom. Yes, the AT has a fantastic 'tank room, containing the 150 gal. water tank, 2X200 gallon cross connected (port/starboard) fuel tanks, 2X200 amp house batteries, a 200 amp main engine start battery and a generator group 27 start battery. I added a 3rd 200 amp house battery, (all 4D battery) moved the group 27 into the engine room port side forward. Added a 500 gpd water maker, in the engine room starboard side. The once spacious tank room is now filled with tools. I will sort through them so I have space for a small 12vt fridge/freezer.
I added 2 solar panels on the roof of the pilot house and a 1500 watt inverter serving, when necessary, the micro wave or the starboard 120vt outlets. The setup has "saved" my cooking skills more than few times. One cannot run everything with a 30 amp boat.
Still no matter how one looks at the stateroom, there is not enough closet space for 2 people. The port locker is filled with canned good. I had a small cupboard on the back side of the overhead of the house. I added a medicine cabinet in the head. Ah, I added a washer/dryer in the salon, an overhead book cupboard over the wash/dryer cabinet, a spice cabinet on the starboard side, aft of the TV and a small shelf on the counter to capture small containers such as sugar and butter...., an additional TV in the stateroom and almost forgot a cabinet for dishes above the cupboard on the starboard side of the galley. I cannot think of an additional place for a cabinet on the boat. The 4 drawers in the salon are filled with boat related parts.
I have a standalone depth sounder and rudder indicator, a fixed Flir IR camera pointed aft to warn me of the an approaching boat and an motorized Flir IR camera pointed forward. One trip down the IRC at night taught me the need and advantage of having an IR camera forward. Not all navigational aids are lighted and one can experience a great deal of light pollution from the cities along the IRC.
Yup, I have put a lot of perfume on the pig but, the next owner will be might happy.

 

[North Baltic sea]

I had the opportunity recently to go aboard an American Tug trawler and was surprised at the nice size interior the 36' offered for its LOA. The boat also looked larger then many other semi-displacement boats of comparable LOA sitting nearby. I do not have any experience with Tug's except for a ride on a Nordic Tug many years ago and being docked next to one in Ensenada, Mexico back in 2005. I checked both websites and see that the AT offers a larger beam for comparable water line. The speeds and fuel burn are advertised as very efficient. Does anyone have first hand experience with the AT and be willing to provide their views on the boats Pro's and Con's? Thank you.



hi,

I do not have experience with American Tug because they are not here in Europe, whatever the Nordic tug. I only have the experience to compare them in the pictures and test readings. Although the same designer of Lynn Senour hulls, I have not found the same economy of fuel consumption for any information sources as Nordic tug. Nordig Tug length width ratio is better in economy. Here's my NT 37 actual readings for 5 passengers, water and fuel tanks full and also a lot of food and clothes etc. About 3 months trip. wave about 3 feet and wind 4 bofors bow. compare these AT with the same size. 1 litres is 0,26 us gal
P.S Quality is also there that you can not always see if At is vinylester resin Hull for 10 years warranty against, for example, blisters?

It is not intended to offend anyone AT owner, sorry ... NT did not really know how to market their quality, from a client's point of view, AT realized that it is not worth building a better what the market wants and money solves when buying a new boat.This shows how NT lost its affairs AT.

If I am wrong, I will gladly see AT fuel consumption figures that tell it the more economical.

NBs

 

[OldDan1943]

I had the opportunity recently to go aboard an American Tug trawler and was surprised at the nice size interior the 36' offered for its LOA. The boat also looked larger then many other semi-displacement boats of comparable LOA sitting nearby. I do not have any experience with Tug's except for a ride on a Nordic Tug many years ago and being docked next to one in Ensenada, Mexico back in 2005. I checked both websites and see that the AT offers a larger beam for comparable water line. The speeds and fuel burn are advertised as very efficient. Does anyone have first hand experience with the AT and be willing to provide their views on the boats Pro's and Con's? Thank you.



hi,

I do not have experience with American Tug because they are not here in Europe, whatever the Nordic tug. I only have the experience to compare them in the pictures and test readings. Although the same designer of Lynn Senour hulls, I have not found the same economy of fuel consumption for any information sources as Nordic tug. Nordig Tug length width ratio is better in economy. Here's my NT 37 actual readings for 5 passengers, water and fuel tanks full and also a lot of food and clothes etc. About 3 months trip. wave about 3 feet and wind 4 bofors bow. compare these AT with the same size. 1 litres is 0,26 us gal View attachment 70670
P.S Quality is also there that you can not always see if At is vinylester resin Hull for 10 years warranty against, for example, blisters?

It is not intended to offend anyone AT owner, sorry ... NT did not really know how to market their quality, from a client's point of view, AT realized that it is not worth building a better what the market wants and money solves when buying a new boat.This shows how NT lost its affairs AT.

If I am wrong, I will gladly see AT fuel consumption figures that tell it the more economical.

NBs

The AT also has a 10 year warranty on the hull. Next year is the big 10 on this hull.