What's the attraction..

It seems to me that people go long distances in all sorts of boats - you are a prime example - but you don't have one of these do you? Neither do I and I am very sanguine about going long-distance in my own boat, just don't have the time to do so at the moment. I envy you your free time to go long-distance and enjoy your write-ups when you do go.

There's no law about going long distance out of Poole or anywhere else - I was just idly wondering what was in the owner's mind to have a boat like this in the South. I hope to finally meet him sometime this season and have a chance to pick his brain over a beer or three...


I dont need the perfect boat
 
I dont need the perfect boat

I don't think such a creature exists. There's always something that bit bigger, or faster or whatever. No matter what boat you buy its always a compromise - but what you end up with is usually a reflection of what you intend to do in it, whether that's cruising long-distance, towing the kids on inflatables, day-boating, socialising or all of these. That's why it just idly crossed my mind as to what the owner had in mind to do in his boat when he decided this was the best vessel for him in this particular part of the world.
 
For the last 12 months or so I've had one of these

http://www.nordictugs.com/models/nt32_intro.html

berthed up next to me. In all that time I've only ever seen her out once and so far have yet to meet the owner.

Don't get me wrong she's a handsome vessel, but I fail to see the attraction of such a boat in southern UK waters.

Well I suppose our boat is possibly the closest thing you're likely to get to the Nordic being an American trawler yacht, pure displacement, slow, spacious, comfortable long range go almost anywhere boat. Beauty I guess is always in the eye of the beholder, but ours did accommodate us rather well for 4 months whilst cruising from Plymouth down to the Gironde and back without any problems and in great comfort. And the only thing that went wrong was a broken macerator impellor.

Seems to me that most American trawler yachts are built to a somewhat higher standard than many UK boats. In 2.5 years and about 700 engine hours on a 20 year old boat the only problems have been the macerator impellors and a leak from the genny water pump. I suppose having said that I hope I'm not tempting fate..........but I do expect the engines to run for another 20 years or more with no real issues. And if they do go wrong we have an engine room with standing headroom (almost 6') and Ford based engines which are easy to work on. And with Trac stabilisers there's virtually no rolling motion. So in my eyes we have almost the perfect boat for our needs, but no doubt for many others she would be bottom of their list. It's a good job we're all different!
 
Well I suppose our boat is possibly the closest thing you're likely to get to the Nordic being an American trawler yacht, pure displacement, slow, spacious, comfortable long range go almost anywhere boat. Beauty I guess is always in the eye of the beholder, but ours did accommodate us rather well for 4 months whilst cruising from Plymouth down to the Gironde and back without any problems and in great comfort. And the only thing that went wrong was a broken macerator impellor.

Seems to me that most American trawler yachts are built to a somewhat higher standard than many UK boats. In 2.5 years and about 700 engine hours on a 20 year old boat the only problems have been the macerator impellors and a leak from the genny water pump. I suppose having said that I hope I'm not tempting fate..........but I do expect the engines to run for another 20 years or more with no real issues. And if they do go wrong we have an engine room with standing headroom (almost 6') and Ford based engines which are easy to work on. And with Trac stabilisers there's virtually no rolling motion. So in my eyes we have almost the perfect boat for our needs, but no doubt for many others she would be bottom of their list. It's a good job we're all different!

Thanks for your input. Its good to hear of someone really getting some use out of their boat and having a good time.

One quick question though - when you were in the market for a boat, what was it about this particular style of boat that pressed your "buttons" and did you have a specific set of things in your mind that you wanted to do in the boat, or did you just fall in love with her lines and go for that?
 
It all boils down to.....

" Sport Boating/towing toys etc." Look at me................wheeeeeee
Everybody who starts boating starts with something that fits a 16 years old boys view of boating,be it 16ft with phut phut outboard if you are 16 with no dough or 35ft with tent and outdrives if you are 30or even worse ....older.
However most grow out of bang bang bang at 30 knots and get a proper boat at some point.


" fishing/sea angling."
Ideal boat for this purpose and excellent for southern english type climate and sea conditions,engines you can actually get at plus shelter from inclement weather.
Bascially the sort of boat which would predominate if sense prevailed over image.:)
 
So the gist of it all really, as far as the attraction goes, is that its an all-weather boat, rather than bought for a specific boating purpose, or to go long distance cruising. Or do you use her for long-distance stuff as well?

Mostly the attraction for me is the all-weather aspect, but some longer distance stuff, currently somewhat proscribed by trying to square the circle between free time versus work versus other family commitments.

PS I was sorry not to be able to say hello to you at the forum meet at Mercury last year. I was there on the Saturday afternoon, but had to leave before the party even started, let alone started to get out of hand.
 
Last edited:
Why dont you mind your own buisness? you are asking more questions about this guy than the cid.He may not wish to speak to anyone, enjoy your own boat and your own choices and let the other chap enjoy his lovely ship.
 
Why dont you mind your own buisness? you are asking more questions about this guy than the cid.He may not wish to speak to anyone, enjoy your own boat and your own choices and let the other chap enjoy his lovely ship.

That's a tad harsh isn't it? OP just idly wondering why folks buy a certain type of boat, nothing wrong with that is there?
 
Mostly the attraction for me is the all-weather aspect, but some longer distance stuff, currently somewhat proscribed by trying to square the circle between free time versus work versus other family commitments.

PS I was sorry not to be able to say hello to you at the forum meet at Mercury last year. I was there on the Saturday afternoon, but had to leave before the party even started, let alone started to get out of hand.

I know exactly how you feel - my own boating activities are severely curtailed by work and family too, but I still daydream of cruising grounds further afield than I've been able to get to for the last couple of years.

Sorry to have missed you at Mercury - you missed a good time, but hope that if we really get a proper BBQ summer this year there's a chance that we can get something informal organised for a mobo forum meet sometime in the summer. BBQ on the beach anybody? Grilled Seahorse at Studland could be fun. ;)
 
Why dont you mind your own buisness? you are asking more questions about this guy than the cid.He may not wish to speak to anyone, enjoy your own boat and your own choices and let the other chap enjoy his lovely ship.

Sorry - didn't mean to come across as either nosey or critical, just interested in the decision making process in acquiring a specific boat. As I said in my OP she's a handsome vessel - well looked after and always clean and shipshape - and as a neighbour I just wanted to know a little more about her, and the mind of her owner.
 
Why dont you mind your own buisness? you are asking more questions about this guy than the cid.He may not wish to speak to anyone, enjoy your own boat and your own choices and let the other chap enjoy his lovely ship.

Bit harsh i think,
I often wonder why someone chose the boat/ car / bike that they did, then have a good old chat with them about it and tell them why i bought the boat / bike / car that i did, you always learn something you never knew before, could even make a new friend :-)
Tank
 
I like almost all kinds of boating. - inland waterways, inshore pottering, long offshore cruising, loafing around in the nearest bay on lazy days, fishing, diving, long distance adventures etc etc. Unfortunately I could only afford one boat. So compromise is the order of the day, as has already been said, the perfect boat doesn't exist. Bought a semi displacement Haines Atlantic 38 which seemed able to do most of what I wanted to do although of course not the PERFECT boat for each activity. We were also based in Poole and strangely enough we found Poole was joined by sea to everywhere else in the world. We fancied the med and Rod Heikel in one of his books was asked the question "what is the best boat for going to the med?" He answered simply - "The one you have got!". Good advice, which we took - and are currently cruising the Ionian, based on Corfu. Getting back to the OP, I guess the guy with the Nordic tug bought it because it opened as many doors as he wanted open.
 
" Sport Boating/towing toys etc." Look at me................wheeeeeee
Everybody who starts boating starts with something that fits a 16 years old boys view of boating,be it 16ft with phut phut outboard if you are 16 with no dough or 35ft with tent and outdrives if you are 30or even worse ....older.
However most grow out of bang bang bang at 30 knots and get a proper boat at some point.

yep thats me, then ;) I guess some other people just grow old fast !

I think someone only has the "wrong" boat, if they think its the wrong boat.
 
Top