Nordic Tugs Adds To Its Family With A Boat That Can

here may have been a few giggles in
January, 1981, when the doors swung
open at the Seattle Boat Show and
shoppers caught their first glimpse of
the new 26-foot Nordic Tug. It was so
darned cute.
TIte little pilothouse cruiser Was called Red
Apple. A workboat version was named Cricket.
T
Despite the names, many boaters were
impressed with the little yacht that looked
like a tug and, according to company lore, 54 ~
people signed order forms. About thirty of ~
those first buyers followed through, bought ~
little tugs and drove them home, launching a ~
fleet that continues to grow today.
,
~
The Nordic Tug 26 was sort of like the §
Nordic Tugs Adds To Its Family With ABoat That Can
110 PASSAGEMAKER· Summer 1999
V>
Volkswagen beetle of the early 1960s. It
was small, powered with diesel engines of
30 to 50 horsepower, slow (six to seven
knots) and cheap to buy and operate.
People loved them..
Today, Nordic Tug is a major builder,
producing a family of yachts to 42 feet in a
cluster of buildings surrounded by farm
land (including a small herd of buffalo)
about 70 miles north of Seattle. The
company expects to launch 44 yacht tugs
this year, and is seeking ways to
reintroduce the 26 (on the shelf for some
time because of high construction costs). It
may also be thinking about introducing a
new, larger NT.
by Robert M. Lane, photography by Bill Parlatore
Summer 7999 • PASSAGEMAKER
111
Since its first introductio n to the boating
wo rld , Nordic Tug has sold and built about 320
of the tug yachts. Just Iil<e its early boats, the
company keeps chugging alo ng. It survived the
industlY recession caused by the luxUlY tax and
inflatio n early in this decade, and outlasted
competitors that introduced similar craft.
Along the way it has also gained a re putatio n
for building boats that are sturdy and ca pable of
serious coastal cruising. During the cruising
season, you'll find them along the Inside
Passage between Seattle and Southeast Alaska,
on the Great Lakes and a long the East Coast, in
Florida and Texas- anywhe re serio us boaters
are fo und .
Soon afte r that first successful boat show it
became o bvious a 26 was not eno ugh. In 1985,
the company sent a 32' versio n of the ordic
Tug to the market. It, too , was a slow boat that
was happiest putting alo ng at hull speed . And it
ca ught o n.
Late r, sensing that boaters wanted faster
boats, the company was ready. The semidisplacement hull design by Seattle's Lynn
SenoUl' would allow the tug yachts to o perate
effiCiently at higher speeds. Just add
horsepower.
So the Nordic Tug fa ctolY bega n sticking
bigger e ngines in t11e 26' and 32'- a 11 5 hp
Cummins in 1989 and the 210 hp turbocharged
Cummins in 1994--a nd marke ting peopl e
began ad vertising them as boats that would go
slow , with great economy, o r go fast fo r a lot of
fun . Today, the tugs cruise velY nicely at
displacement speeds of e ight to te n knots, o r
they'll to usle your hair at 18 knots or mo re.
(This is not sometl1ing unique to Nordic Tugs.
Othe r manufacturers have also added
horsepower to boost speed from eight knots into
the teens to atisfy market demands witho ut
majo r design changes.)
In 1995, Nordic Tug took a huge lea p and
began building a 42' yacht tug. Its lines leave no
do ubt abo ut its parentage and it maintains the
go fast/ go slow nature of the smaller boats in
t11e family. Its standard engine is the 330 hp
Cummins 6BTA diesel.
Almost Simultaneously with develo pment of
the two-stateroom 42, company offi cials sensed
a market demand fo r sometl1ing smalle r a nd
cheaper, but with gene ro us living spaces fo r
mom, dad and the kids. Sometl1ing bigger than
the Nordic 32.
"There was a demand fo r two cab ins," sa id
Jim Cress, chairman and CEO of the company.
But the demand was for a boat that didn't
cost $425,000, the price tag o n the 42.
The result is the new 37' Nordic Tug, a
$294,000 boat with maste r and guest state rooms
112 PASSAGEMAKER- Summer 7999
t11at remains absolute ly faithful to the lines first
drawn by Senour in the late 1970s. It uses the
same 330 hp Cummins as the Nordic 42.
The 37-foote r may be t11e hottest se lling
Nordic Tug ever offered. Mo re than a dozen
sold before the first hull was even built and
w hen it launched last fall at a Seattle boat show
crowds lined the dock to see it.
There are expectations that ove r time it will
eve n surpass its smaller siblings in market
po pu larity. Orde rs o n hand toda y, fro m
individual bu yers and fro m deale rs bu ying
boats for inventolY, will keep the 37 productio n
line full until mid-2000.
Befo re we to ur t11e 37, let's look at how it all
bega n fo r Nordic Tug.
The Beginning
In t11e mid-1970s, Seno ur was a respected
designe r with decades of wo rk re pairing,
building and designing boats behind him . He
drew t11e lines fo r Grandy's Marlineers, a run of
fast, spo rtfishing boats, and fo r De lta Marine
hulls to 50 feet that became yachts and ocea n
charter fishing I oa ts.
In 1975, he bega n a seri es of tests o n ea ttle's
Lake Union that would late r he ir sha pe every
o rdic Tug built.
"I didn 't believe what I had bee n taug ht, "
Seno ur recalled in a recent inte lv iew. "And that
was that a boa t couldn 't be e ffi cient at low
speeds and at faste r speeds, as well. "
So he built several sma ll models, and tow d
them around Lake Unio n at va rio us speeds and
analyzed the ir pe rfo rmance.
"It turned o ut t11at, yea h, you could make a
boat t1ut wo uld do six: o r seve n knots ve ry
eaSil y, and that could then be pushed to 17 o r
18 knots."
During this sa me time pe riod , Je ny Husted ,
his brother Jim , and Ga il Davis own d Blue
Water Yachts, and were building abo ut a dozen
do uble-ended Ing rid ketches each yea r in
Woodin ville, Washingto n, the n a rural area but
now a Seattle suburb.
Husted was inte rested in t11e powe rboa t
busin ss, but he also was worried abo ut the
po litically-contrived o il sho rtages th at le ft
mo to rists waiting in lo ng lines fo r a few ga ll o ns
of fu el.
He talked about it with Senour, an old fri e nd .
"He wanted a 26-foot simulated tow boat,"
Senour, now 83, reca lls. "At first, he wa nted
hand tarring, a hand-cranked diesel of five to
ten ho rsepowe r, and a ro und-botto med rollypoly boat.
"I to ld him the market would be saturated
afte r a dozen had been sold. I also told him that
the market fo r a boat that could do eight knots
or 18 knots would increase astronomically. So
he allowed me to play with the concept. "
The result was a tug-yacht with a pleasant
sheer line, a slightly flared bow and a semidisplacement hull form, happy at tUltle speeds
or blazing along at a dizzying pace. It had a
raised pilothouse with tug-like windows, a
saloon with more big w indows and a fake
smoke stack on top . There's no question that
daddy was a Foss tug.
"] eny listened. And they built it and it worked
beyond their fondest dreams," Senour said .
Later, when he was designing the 32 and the
42, SenOlll' wanted to do something new. "I
wanted to change the style and they wouldn't
let me . I think they were right. "
Nordic Tugs displaced Blue Water Yachts and
powerboats succeeded sail boats o n the
production line, which soon moved to an
industria l park on farm land at Burlington ,
Washington.
On The Water
We were aboard VjJ Da, Nordic Tug Hu ll
#3701, the first of the new line, sli ing across
flat ca lm Lake Washington in a downpour.
Vi! Da is Norwegian-speak, ow ne r Ron
Giard told me . Asked what it meant, he
laughed and sort of shrugged his sho ulders.
exp e rt, a
native-born
(My
language
NOlwegian, says it's clean and benign, and is
sort of a universal exclamation.)
The Cummins was turning 1,100 rpm,
propelling the boat at about seven knots. The
sound level was just 68 dB and conversation
was easy. (One source compares d1at dB level to
being in a departme nt store on a non-sale day.)
Giard handed me the wheel. It was his baby.
But I had driven 26, 32 and 42 Nordics over the
years and , having a good idea what would
happen, I shoved the d1rottle to the stop and
cranked the wheel hard to me right.
Th e o nl y thing that happe ned was that [jfJ
Da quick ly started go ing faster. She was
p laning at 10 knots a nd soo n, at 2,600 rpm ,
she was do ing about 16 knots. We were still
turning, but the boat was running flat and
stabl e, and produced a wake to sma ll to
notice by the tin1e we fini shed the circl e and
crossed our origina l course line.
Going hard and fast at wid e ope n th rottle, the
e ngine noise level reached 83 decibels in the
pi lothouse. We could still ta lk and be hea rd .
(My source, an e ngineering text, compa res 80-
The Nordic's
roomy helm
features excellent
visibility.
Bob lane drives
the boat across
lake Washington.
The angled
surface of the
console is good for
mounting visual
instrumentation.
liveaboard interior
lavout of the Nordic 37
0', . · ·
114 PASSAGEMAKER· Summer 1999
plus dB to be ing on the curb of a busy street or
in a school cafe te ria.) .
The so und le vels prove that good e ngine
room insulation does work.
Gia rd obviously is in love with the boat. A
building contractor, he plans to takes his
buddies fi shing in the Pacific Ocean along the
Was hingto n coast. At othe r times, he said, the
boat w ill be pe rfect fo r him , his wife De bbie,
a nd the ir two dogs.
"She rea lly wa nted this boat," Gia rd said. "We
wrote th e de posit check a year befo re it went
into th e wate r. They we re just sta rting work on
the p lug . We had no practica l idea o f w hat it
would look like ."
Jim Cress, alo ng for th e ri de, sa id the Giards
he lped seule ma ny design issues. The hard top
exte nsio n ove r th cockpit is short, to allow
fis he rme n to ha ul back to set a hook, at Giard 's
ins iste nce.
The gene ral layo ut of the ga lley and saloon,
the des ign o f the he lm statio n's instrume nt
pane l, and even the locatio n a nd shape of the
transom door we re influ e nced by th e Giards.
With UJ/ Da still in its go-fast mode, Giard
shuffled thro ugh his boa t pa pe rs and found a
Cummins' re po rt o n fu e l consumption. At 1,100
rpm , the Cummins 330 diesel burns slightly
mo re tha n o ne ga llo n pe r ho ur. At 2,600 rpm,
fu e l burn is about 13 GPH. A good cru ising
speed of 1,800 rpm and 10 knots would
consume abo ut 5 GPH.
We had been sucking fu e l at a hea rty rate, but
seve n-knot speed limit signs a ppeared a nd I
pulled the throttle back to a thrifty setting as we
left La ke Washingto n fo r Sea ttle 's La ke Unio n.
Gia rd let me ta ke th e boa t throug h rraffi c,
unde r a co uple o f bridges a nd a lo ngside a fl oa t
at Tva r' s I~esta u a ra nt o n La ke Unio n. We didn 't
need the sta nda rd bow thruste r to make a n easy
la nding.
Aflexible (fast or
slow) performance
envelope means
the Nordic 37 is
The Boat
well-suited to a
Fro m a distance, it's ha rd lO te ll o ne o rdic
Tug fro m a no the r. First, you might see that the
37 has a deck ho use roof th at exte nds partly
over the coc kpil. The 32 d esn't, but the 42
does, so that's nOl a sure way o f te lling the
diffe re nce.
The n o ne might begin counting deck house
w indows. Th e 37 has two o n a side, the 42 has
three , the 32 has two , as does the o riginal 26.
Still nOl a sure way or ide ntification.
The sw im slep thal is bo lted o nto the tra nsom
o f mosl Olhe r o rdi c Tugs is molded into the
hull of the 37, g iving it a wate rline le ngth o f 39'
2" a nc! a d istincli ve s hape aft of the transom.
Eliminati o n o r trad itio nal tea k pilotho use a nd
cockpil doo rs, a nd the substitution o f glass a nd
anod izecl alu min um doors may be the besl
fa cto r fo r qu ick ide ntification fro m a distance.
That w ill work as an ID , at least until they
appea r o n othe r Nordic Tugs .
I think the besl way is to ste p o nto the boat,
thro ug h a tra nsom gate, a nd into the sa loon.
He re the 37 is its own boat.
The cockpit is 5' 2" d eep a nd 10' 4" wide ,
certa inl y big e no ugh for a couple o f guys to
fish , o r fo r a couple to relax a nd admire the
sunset afte r a day of cruising . The new
variety of cruising
situations.
Summer 7999 • PASSAGEMAKER
115
Looking forward
in saloon.
Open interior
arrangement
is a standard
Nordic Tug
feature.
aluminum-framed door is heavy, but it opens
easily and closes with the solid thunk of a bank
vault.
Inside, the saloon is spacious and flooded
with light from four large w indows. The galley
is to starboard . The three-burner stove (gas or
electric) is beneath a window that looks onto
the cockpit. Sink and cabinets line the outside
wall, and the refrigerator is in the divider
separating saloon and pilothouse.
A settee, convel1ible to a double bel1h, is to
port. Below the deck is what Cress ca lls the
tank room. It offers access to fu el and water
tanks and provides some additional storage
space .
The saloon has generous space for lounging,
cooking and foot traffic because the boa t has a
beam of 12' 8" and side decks barely boat shoe
w ide.
Saloon headroom measures 6' 5", in the
pilothouse it is 7' 2", and in the forward qual1ers
it is 6' 8" .
Walls and ceiling are covered with a foa mbacked vinyl. There is carpet underfoot and the
cabinetlY is trimmed w ith teak and Formica .
The amidships pilothouse is three ste ps up
from the saloon. A molded notch in the
overhead above the steps allows the crew to
dash from the helm to the ga lley or cockpit
without banging heads at the point w here the
ceiling height drops over the stairs. VelY smal1.
116 PASSAGEMAKER· Summer 1999
The helm is to starboard, with a pilot's seat.
At Giard's suggestion, the instrument panel
slo pes slightly upwa rd from the he lm ,
providing a better view of ga uges and controls.
The rada r platform is elevated above and
fOlward of the panel, giving the pi lot an easy
view of the screen, but w ithout blocking his o r
her sight ahead.
Another settee, with space for several guests,
is on the POlt side of the pilothouse.
Typical of Nordic Tug, the pilothouse is not
wa lled off fro m the sa loon and the helmsperson
has a good view aft. Both stern quarters are in
Sight, which makes backing into a moorage
much easier, and without having to guess
distance.
The exterior doors on the boat are untypica l.
All tempered safety glass , w ith aluminu m
frames, they give the 37 a contemporary feel
and the pilot a better view. It was a little
strange, however, to look through the lower
pane of the door and see water sliding by.
Cress sa id the change of door sty les was
pa rtly to eliminate exterior teak. But [he new
doors also are eas ie r to use, provide a tighter
weather sea l, and ca n be securely locked with
a key.
FOlward and down three steps are two
staterooms and a head and shower.
In many other ordic Tugs you'll find Vberths in the fOlwa rd sleeping area. But the 37
has an island do uble belth that is 54" wide and
74" lo ng. The maste r stateroom has two hanging
locke rs, w ith small drawers above. The re is
sto rage beneath the bed.
The second stateroom is o n th po rt side o f
the hu ll , opposite the head . It has stacked
bunk . The upper belth is 25" wide and 74"
long, while the lower bunk is 41" w ide at the
head and tape rs to ward the foot. The re is a
three-drawer bureau in the guest stateroom and
a hangin g locker.
The head has a separate shower. Access to
helm wiring is through a panel in the aft head
bulkhead .
The Holy Place
Access to the e ngine roo m is th ro ugh a hatch
in the pilotho use. It is huge, white and brightly
lighted.
The big six-cylinder Cummins (a 6BTA 5.9M
Diamo nd series engine), the stand ard fiveki lowatt orthe rn Lights gene rato r (i n a sound
shield) and an Ard ic diesel-fired furnace do
nothing LO d iminis h the sense of space. Daily
checks, even major work , will be easy he re.
Gia rd sto res too ls and othe r gea r in the
e ngine roo m, aga in wi thoUL crowding or
limiting access for e ngine and batte ry checks.
The engine space is we ll insulated with lead foam ,
w hich explains the good
rea d ings o n the sound
meter w hile we were under
way.
"I've so ld two of the 37s
just for the e ng ine room,"
length Overall
Cress sa id .
Beam
Access is
excellent in
engine room
Ibelow).
3r Nordic Tug
Specifications
The Future
Boat bu ild ing is o n a ro ll
in the U.S. beca use o f
continuing good econo mic
times. Many eXflect it to
continue inde finitely.
Max. Draft
Displacement
39' 2"
12' 8"
4'
20,000 pounds
Fuel Capa.city
Water Capacity
350 U.S. gallons
140 U.S. gallons
Cummins Engine
6-cylinder
diesel,
rated at 330 hp
Comfortable
guest cabin
arrangement
(right).
Saloon features
large windows
(below).
"The commitments we have made (for space
and equipmenL) are on the expectation of good
growth for three to fi ve years," Cress said.
The 37' Nordic Tug is an example of that
confidence. The company has produ ced a
comfortab le, seawo rthy yacht that ha s
demonstrated strong market appeal. Fiberglass
work is exemplary and the shipwrights' skill
with tea k is to be e nvied . Carpeting and vinyl
wall cove ring a re acceptable cost-cutting
substitutes for even more teak.
Cress and his dealers obviously w ill have to
sell a bunch more to cover the statt-up costs,
including the long and tedious development
of the plug from which molds were made. It
takes time to turn a new boat like the 37
into a profit center, and to then prepare the
firm for other future projects.
Nordic Tug is building for the future.
It had 26,000 square feet of construction
space in its farm-countty, metal-sided
buildings back in 1996. Today, it has
63,000 square feet of factoty
space and is looking at more.
At the end of 1996, NT had 41
employees. Today it has more
than 90 people. There are five
dealers across the u.s. and in
Alaska
The company bu ilt 26 boats in 1996,
33 were launched in 1998, and Cress
says 44 will go out the door this year.
However, the economics of boat sales
have been tough on smaller craft.
Nordic Tug has put the Nordic 26 o n
sabbatica l, as Cress describes it; Grand
Banks has quit building its 32 and 36foot trawlers for the same reason.
The explanation is that it costs a lmost
as much to bui ld a Nordi c 26 as a Nord ic
32. The o nly difference is in qua ntities of
fiberg lass-not a big dea l. The re is just no
profit in the market price that ca n be
charged fo r the sma lle r boat.
For more information
Nordic Tugs, Inc.
11367 Higgins AirpOlt Way
Burlington, WA 98233
800-388-4517
But the Nordic 26 will be back, Cress
pro mised. "We have not taken a chain saw to
the molds," he told me .
But in o rde r to revive its first and most
pop ular boat (with 164 so leI) , Nordic Tug wi ll
need to cut constru ction costs. It will need to
re place ils Slick-bui ll inle rio rs with modu lar
construction, and find other ways to pull the
cost down without destroying the quality and
image that made it such a popular small yacht.
At the same time, the company continues to
focus on the more profitable and popu lar
bigger boats.
During an intelview in Cress' factory office, I
noticed line drawings for a 52-foot Lynn Senour
Nordic Tug hanging on the wa ll. Is this next
boat in the family?
I repeated the question during de mo runs
aboard Uff Da. Cress sa id that each of the
previous general managers at Nordi c Tug were
instrumental in introdu Cing a new boat- the 26,
32, 42 and the 37 (the last unde r Cress'
manageme nt).
Now, he sa id , it's time fo r Tom Nelson, the
new company preside nt, to put his name on a
product. Will that boat be a Nor ic 52?
Stay tuned. •
The Nordic's
spacious head
includes a
Skipper Cress Yacht Sales
P.O. Box 726
AnacOltes, WA. 98221
800-996-9991
360-293-9411
separate shower.
Ed Shelton
800 Hallsboro Road
Midlothian, VA. 23112
804-378-2885
Traditiona l Yachts
1046 Route 12
Westmoreland, N.H. 03467
888-245-1535
Nordic Tugs of Alaska .
P.O. Box 020006
Juneau , AK. 99802
907-586-2844
Nordic Tugs Midwest
18312 Split Rail Lane
Kiel, WI. 53042
920-894-2632
Summer 7999 • PASSAGEMAKER
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