Would you like to have a Bratt?

[Bajansailor]

No, not a stroppy child, but one of these wee Tonka Toy Tugs from Robert Allan :

http://www.ral.ca/designs/tugboats/bratt.html

All of 25' long and 14' wide, with 2 x 225 hp Cummins motors on 'Z' drives giving a hefty 3.6 tonnes of bollard pull.

I was thinking that maybe one of these could be the ultimate new toy for a large expedition yacht that has all the usual bells and whistles, and wants a tender with a difference......

And it would be useful as well, eg for those times when the bow thruster packs up and you have some tight manoeuvering in the offing - I have occasionally seen large yachts with their RHIB tenders trying to push them sideways, and the props on the outboard motors just spinning like egg beaters.
Could earn a bit of pocket money with it as well, doing the odd salvage or light towing job.....

 

[AndieMac]

I like it Bajan, if my son was describing it, he would call it 'choad', meaning short and wide in young people's language .

Wasn't there a similar tug concept shown here a while ago, but completely round like a bumper-boat that could go in any direction?

 

[Bajansailor]

Aye, that was a Ship Docking Module - more about them here at http://www.seabulktowing.com/assets/pdfs/sblk_tow_broch.pdf

I suppose that one could say that the Bratt is in many ways a smaller version of an SDM, except that it probably cannot go sideways as easily.

 

[Bajansailor]

The propulsion units in the Bratt are Olympic HD 3 'Z drives driving 2 x 225 hp motors - here is a link :
http://www.speedymarine.com/catalog/item/6825461/6754249.htm

There have been lots of discussions on here comparing the pros and cons of outdrives, shafts and IPS / Zeus drives - in light of this, I am wondering what the panel thinks about the Z drives mentioned above? They seem to be 'mini' versions of the Z pods that are very popular on much larger tugs.
I guess they probably wouldn't be very suitable for planing boats, but would they have a lot more resistance than an IPS or Zeus drive?
It looks like they should have a less demanding service schedule than conventional outdrive legs.
And they seem to be fairly bullet proof, if they are designed for work boat applications.

 

[AndieMac]

It could come down to price and aesthetics Martin. I would imagine a robust commercial grade drive unit would be priced accordingly, and visually it may not be as 'pretty' as the recreational versions.