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Author Topic: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING  (Read 9382 times)

daz

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Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« on: December 14, 2009, 04:23:40 pm »

Hi,
    whats the best tug for TUG TOWING. ???????????.
is it all about POWER or AGILITY.???????????????????.
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daz

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2009, 04:43:05 pm »

Or is it layout.
                   singal or twin prop
                   Bow thruster may be stern thruster or is that an overkill.
                   to winch or not to winch.
Daz
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norry

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2009, 04:46:30 pm »

...Hi Daz...

It was nice to meet you at Xmas Bonanza...Another Face to a Name...

Anyway...Personal Preferances will play a major part in every ones answer to this one...

Me Personally...I like Short Beefy Hulls like NANGEE , NANTU or DUTCH COURAGE with my now famous Cut & Shut hull...The most recent tug that i am building for Tug-Towing is only 26" long x 11" wide but will be Single Screw with a Bow Thruster...

I personally dont like the hull to be any longer than is necessary to hold your running Gear...Thats why I am into producing purpose built boats for the job...

No Doubt other members will say different but as i said earlier, this one is down to each Skippers personal Preferance...

If you dont currently have a tug, Ask about for a go with other peoples tugs...Most of the Guys will be only too happy to let you have a go andgive you any help that you need...

The Basics in a Tug-Towing should be Twin independantly controlled Motors... Steerable Kort Nozzles...Bow Thruster...Working Winch...

...Best Regards...Norry...


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daz

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2009, 05:07:15 pm »

Hi Norry,
            It nice to meet yo at MMM xmas bash.
I'm off to MMM tomorrow to order my Xmas project.
But there i 3 hulls i like, 1) Nange/Nantu
                                 2) Eurogirl
                                 3) Stan
Still undersided as to wich it will be.
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norry

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2009, 05:19:49 pm »

...Hi Daz,,,

I would thoroughly recommend "NANGEE / NANTU" or" EUROGIRL" but for Tug-Towing Stantug1906 is a bit on the small side...

...Best Regards...Norry...
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2010, 02:18:52 pm »

Hi Daz,

All I can say is small is beautiful!  I have tugs down to 14" which I tow with very well.  Ideal length you should be looking at is 26-30".  If you are just starting out in this I would go for single screw and a steerable nozzle.  A bow thruster and working winch to control the length of tow wire out is also of benefit.

For good towing performance you need to swing a big prop, not to over pitched, with a geared motor, I would recommend the Robbie navy motor at 3-1 on 6 v or 6-1 on 12v.  Good starting place, a combination which has worked well over the past.

What you should avoid in my opinion is over powering the vessel with huge bow thrusters and so much power that you can turn your tug into a hydro dynamic diving submarine, keep it realistic.  The biggest thing that I have towed in competition was the Hudson Bridge at Ellesmere Port, she is 14 ft long so in scale terms the tugs which would be handling her would be somewhere between 16-20” in scale terms.  When you see 40” plus boats dragging her around like an inflatable dingy something is really lost.

I know that it is a bit of a whine but the way that the tug towing was going when I last was involved was getting a little silly in scale terms and not really keeping things in scale terms which at the end of the day that was what I thought scale modeling was all about!

I'm sure I will get some comments back on this one, but these are just my personal thoughts on the subject.

Cheers.

Darren Gennings.
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norry

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2010, 10:10:33 pm »

...Hi Guys...

Its good to be back after a while out due to internet problems...(Virgin, customer care is absolute non existent unless you speak Indian & can understand what they are saying...)

Anyway I was discussing the perfect Tug-Towing boat with my mates as we travelled  down to the M.M.M. Xmas Bonanza...

The one thing that I have noticed about most of the top performance boats is this...

The Bow Thruster is far too big & powerful...In the rules it states that your actions should be as Life Like  or real looking as possible...
I have never seen a real tug push up on a ship using only its Bow Thruster...
The Bow Thruster should be used to position the tug and not the tow...

I agree with Darren about the size of a tug 26 - 30 inches  Long is perfect...

...Best Regards...Norry...

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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2010, 07:25:26 am »

Morning Norry,

Glad that someone agrees with me!  This really come to light when we had the tug towing finals down in Southchurch park Southend a number of years back, we had two judges one being my dad and one being a close Friend and also member of the model club, between them they had over 100 years of experience as tug or vessel masters and all as I kept hearing them mutter is “you would never seen that being done like that!”

Here needs to be some sort of ‘realistic use’ mark brought into things.  The bow thruster on a normal harbour tug is normally in the 150-450 horse power area and as you correctly say for moving the tug not the tow, this business of falling alongside the tow and pushing it round with a scale bow thruster of about 5000 horse power is nonsense.

Another item which in my opinion should be raised is tug positions and connections to the tows, we sea some weird and wonderful connections or bridles, cross bridles, towing on chains etc.  This again is nonsense, 99% or harbour towage (which we are supposed to be replicating) is done on a single rope, this should be the same in our hobby.

With regards to tug positioning how often have I seen an omni directional tug on the bow of the tow and an old single screw boat being dragged round the course gogged down, again nonsense.  Points should in my opinion be deducted for all non realistic acts weather it be with the set up or maneuvers on the course.

I agree with the single screw class, this will show who really can drive a boat but this needs to be kept simple with it single open or in a nozzle (fixed or steering) allowed.

The only way that this situation will ever be controlled is with a bollard pull limit being set.  Some years ago I built a Wyeforce (named her Flying Breeze) and she pulled 7.5 lb at the time that was a huge amount, the biggest in the club (my regular boat for tug towing and adapted Yorkshireman pulled only 3.5 lb) now my friend Ray is building Canadian style logging tugs pulling 15-17 lb’s abate he has the sense not to use them for tug towing!

Again another mail which is food for thought.  Our hobby is sadly mostly enjoyed by wonderful gentlemen in there more senior of years and the idea of humping a 40” model about with a 200 a/hr batter in it is not a realistic proposition, just getting these things in and out of the water is an effort for the younger chaps, a smaller more limited class would I am sure open this wonderful area of our hobby up to more people, and by Christ does it need that!

Cheers.

Darren.
(From a very cold and snowy Aktau, Kazakhstan. Most certainly not boating weather today).  :police:
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daz

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2010, 11:40:25 am »

Well Santa gave be a"NANTU" hull for xmas with twin 60mm kort nozzles.
I just have to make space in the workshop then i can get started.

Yipe Yipe   :} :}
Best Regards
Daz
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Patrick Henry

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2010, 11:57:19 am »

Somewhat off subject, but when I built U-117, we towed a pedalo across Princes Park Lake in Eastbourne with my son sat in it. Even when he pedalled backwards U-117 still had enough oomph to keep the pedalo moving.

She was 9' overall, weighed in at 3 hundredweight ready to dive and was powered by two 12volt car heater motors ( I think that's what they were) run off a couple of car batteries.

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ray123

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2010, 07:54:50 pm »

that should be a good tug for the job  ''if it were mine  ill put a pair of robbe navys  3:3:1  on 6volt  running 60mm props   :-)))  you could go for a bow thruster but the choice is yours    get the biggist battery in as you can would also help  1 with the running time  2 the weight  take the batt out  then you have a lighter boat to haul around! :-))     

my ideal tug i use is a 23inch twin screw  (robbe navys 3;3;1)  on 6volt) 50mm nozzels & props  ''no bow thruster''    and  has a towing winch 

 regards ray
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2010, 05:57:18 am »

Hi Ray,

The combination that we had with your Smit Clyde class hull ‘Galewind’ aft with her twin screws and my sister hull ‘Salvision’ single screw with thruster on the head is about the best set up I think we have found, do you agree?  Size wise we have been in scale and even on that very windy day up in Ellesmere Port a few years ago I cannot ever remember lacking power even with the biggest of tows on offer.

 I hope this year to get the new Smit Clyde built and I think that this will be the ultimate combination, ‘Galewind’ on the head and then the new ASD Clyde on the stern.  Twin screw boats work well on the stern towing over the bow but do struggle to get on the beam if the tow has too much head way, I hope with the twin schottels this problem will be alleviated?

Time I guess will tell, I hope to get over to more events this year and prove my point that small is indeed beautiful!

Darren.
The ‘Small Southern Tuggies Association’ LOL!
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ray123

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2010, 08:10:07 am »

 yes they did work together 'very well''   ken  ''brick' boat  wasnt to bad eather  ;)  maybe we might get a chance to have another ''go' {-) 

regards ray
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2010, 10:50:59 am »

Hi Mate,

I hope so too.  have you got any photos that you could post of the three of us in action to put our point accross.

Some great photos of scale shown at; http://www.tugspotters.com/dev/index.php?itemid=21725#more I understand that the ship is not dead but just look at the sizes!

Darren.
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norry

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2010, 11:53:12 am »

...Good Morning Guys...

...Why not push the boat right out & Come Up to The 4th Annual Scottish Tug-In in June...

The proposed date for this event  is Sunday 13th of June 2010...Venue still to be confirmed...

...Best Regards...Norry...
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #15 on: January 05, 2010, 11:48:09 am »

Hi Norry,

I will try my best to get home for that date depending on how my leave works out.  Bloody long drive for me all the way up from southern Spain!

Darren.
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #16 on: January 05, 2010, 12:23:20 pm »

Some of my fleet.

Darren.
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #17 on: January 05, 2010, 12:29:49 pm »

Ray Malone's beast of a tug, the Freewinds.

Darren.
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ray123

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #18 on: January 05, 2010, 12:47:07 pm »

hi  daz  i  have any photos of us 3 towing   i did lose a lot of pics when my computer decided to ''throw a wobbler''  a while back   i remember that car load   full to the brim  %) %)   a nice couple of shot of freewinds there  look on here under wings& wheells & water  theres some of freewinds doing its ''wheely'' & some of my other boats   regards ray
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poll

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2010, 01:42:43 pm »

Hi Ray
         Who's this then.?     Balne Moor towing finals.

  John
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poll

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #20 on: January 05, 2010, 01:48:56 pm »

And an other
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2010, 01:58:52 pm »

hi  daz  i  have any photos of us 3 towing   i did lose a lot of pics when my computer decided to ''throw a wobbler''  a while back   i remember that car load   full to the brim  %) %)   a nice couple of shot of freewinds there  look on here under wings& wheells & water  theres some of freewinds doing its ''wheely'' & some of my other boats   regards ray

This is one of my favourite tug models of all time.
Strong, reliable, compact, clever and great scale features.
And as many people know, I have a passion against model boats with gearboxes but this one works perfectly!  :o

Well done Ray.


http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/Shows2008/wingswhhels2008/imagepages/image230.html



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ray123

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2010, 06:07:05 pm »

hi poll  thanks  im in the red  (the mechanic for the weekend lol)    i dont know who the  ugly one is on the right {-)

thank you martin    regards ray
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poll

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #23 on: January 05, 2010, 08:38:41 pm »

Hi Ray
         I heard some one say it was jinxy Jennings. {-) {-)

 John.
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TugChief

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Re: Whats the BEST TUG for TOWING
« Reply #24 on: January 06, 2010, 06:55:32 am »

Hi John/Ray,

Jinxy Jennings, that is a new one!  LOL!  Thanks for the photos it was a good day out!  I must admit that I was  freezing that evening and then we had the pleasure of a 5 hour drive back home!

I will try and get over to some more events this year but it is a  long way from Kazakhstan!

Darren, or Jinxy if you prefere!
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