TowBoatU.S. New River
Begins Construction of a New Yacht Towing Tug

March 2010 was an exciting month at TowBoatU.S. New River! The company embarked on a project that will transform a trusty towboat that the company has owned for nearly 5 years into a powerful tug designed for the demands of their South Florida Yacht Towing business. The Fleet Maintenance staff at TowBoatU.S. New River undertook the task of disassembling the entire boat down to the stringers; shortly thereafter she was delivered to a local yard where the fabrication process began. Jeff Hamilton, the company's Fleet Maintenance Supervisor noted "We have plans to build new engine beds to support the twin John Deere Diesel Motors. 2.75:1 reduction gears have been selected while shafts, struts and rudders will be custom built for our application. We talked a lot about the best way to cool the engines and have settled on keel cooling. This method will greatly reduce the risk of overheating a motor due to debris being ingested into a typical raw water strainer...a risk that our yacht towing supervisor Mike Knecht urged us to avoid. We are all looking forward to adding this purpose built tug to our yacht towing fleet!"

Dusky Marine built many of these boats back in the seventies and eighties; the hull is nearly 1" thick and constructed of solid fiberglass laminate providing a great base to build a heavy duty tug. Future issues of the New River Navigator will include progress updates and photos of the entire construction process. Contact TowBoatU.S. New River for more information or if you are in need of the companies assistance.