Thursday, March 31, 2011

manned or unmanned

NAVY_USV_Stingray.jpg
Stingray USV
(click to view full)
USVs are an interesting field these days. Both Singapore and the US Navy are testing the Spartan Scout, an unmanned rigid hull inflatable boat which may prove useful to in-shore ship protection and anti-piracy missions.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Real ride on tug


http://fremonttugboat.com/blog/?p=1695
1940's PICTURE OF TUG GLEN D ON LAKE PLEASANT. PHOTO FROM THE LUSHIN FAMILY COLLECTION .

LOG BRONC WITH 80 HP OUTBOARD ON LAKE PLEASANT. BOTH PHOTOS SENT BY JOHN HILLCAR - THANKS!

manned models a good look

http://gcaptain.com/manned-models-an-unusual-training-device?731
To the casual onlooker, it may look like a group of overgrown children sailing in rather extravagant model boats.
Manned Model Class - Mass Maritime AcademyBut, in fact, they are some of the shipping industry’s most experienced sea captains on one of the world’s most unusual safety training courses.
The lake in Marchwood, near Southampton, Hampshire, boasts a fleet of seven scaled-down model cargo ships on which veteran captains, pilots and senior deck officers can hone their skills.
The ships, which are big enough for two people to sit in, behave exactly like the real thing as they negotiate the 13-acre lake’s artificial channels and tides.
They range from a scaled version of a 300,000 tonne vessel that itself weighs in at six tonnes to a radio-controlled model tug.
So is this simply an excuse for taking some time off work to muck about on the water?

Good tug site

http://tugster.wordpress.com/page/2/

Turns out it is a model tug

Not a model but I like it. 

http://www.motorship.com/features101/ships-and-shipyards/floating-training-aid-for-tug-operation 


Tug masters may get trained by a little BRAtt


01 Oct 2009

The BRAtt training tug will be only 7.8m long. The BRAtt training tug will be only 7.8m long.
Training potential tug masters has become a major challenge for the ship handling sector of the towage industry worldwide. With large numbers of modern ‘ state of the art’ tugs with omni-directional propulsion systems coming into service, the ability to train up and coming tug masters effectively and in suitable numbers has become an increasingly difficult task for many tug owners.
The tugs are more powerful, extremely agile, and in many cases are operated by a smaller crew. A large majority of those vessels employ Azimuthing Stern Drive (ASD) propulsion systems, enabling the tug to be positioned quickly and precisely in response to the pilot’s orders. Sophisticated, high powered terminal tugs, carrying out ship handling and escort work, often in environmentally sensitive and/or exposed locations, require even greater skills and a higher level of qualification. Gaining the necessary skills to be able to operate these tugs safely and efficiently is a matter of training and experience. A mistake can rapidly result in disorientation and damage to the tug or its tow.
The subject of training tug crews is one that frequently crops up at conferences, towage association meetings and around boardroom tables. Operators with tugs operated by just two or three persons have very little opportunity to train crew members from scratch without creating supernumerary posts for training purposes. The traditional route of promotion through the ranks has become much more difficult. Using full size, expensive tugs for training new operators is inefficient, expensive, and exposes those vessels to significant risk of damage. Current options include the employment of highly skilled ‘training captains’ to carry out intensive training programe, and increasingly the use of realistic computer based simulators.
Vancouver based Robert Allan Ltd, in collaboration with Burchett Marine Inc, have joined forces to propose a unique solution in the form of a small scale, fully manned training tugboat which could ultimately be fitted with a variety of alternative propulsion systems, thus also qualifying as a legitimate test platform for proving unique new power supply technologies.
For a number of years the Principals of Robert Allan Ltd and Burchett Marine Inc have been discussing the potential for designing and building a lower cost, ‘drivable’ scale model tug to use as a training vessel. This boat would have to be large enough to be very realistic and fully safe in all training operations, large enough to have real time response actions, be powerful enough to perform some ‘real work’ where the situation warrants, be fully Class certifiable if required, and be small enough to be road transportable.
The result of those deliberations is the ‘BURCHETT-ROBERT ALLAN training tug’, hence the BRAtt. The standard vessel is currently at an advanced stage of design development and will measure 7.80m in length with a beam of 3.60m. A representative ASD hull form will be used, with twin fully azimuthing ‘z-drives’. Initially the tug will be offered with a diesel power plant generating a total of 236 kW (316bhp). Other principle features include all-welded aluminum construction, a fully operable forward winch and all round resilient fendering.
The vessel will provide a relatively low cost option that would avoid tying up full size vessels for training purposes and the associated risk of damage. With an intensive, effective, skills based program potential tug masters can be trained much faster, more effectively and at reduced cost. In many cases the little tug can be utilized for minor towage and harbour work, resulting in some cost recovery.
The introduction of the first little BRAtt is rapidly becoming a reality. The first vessels will be built in British Columbia. A nominated ‘licensee’ builder has been identified for the North American market and a ‘kit’ option is envisaged for the overseas market. In time it is likely that the BRAtt will also be used as a platform to demonstrate emerging power source technologies such as hybrid propulsion systems and fuel cell technology.

Friday, March 25, 2011

duckworks splash

Tug Boat on http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/11/splash/april/index.htm
After our houseboat build my daughter asked me to build her a tug boat. We fell in love with Mike Gills design. It took us a year and our modifications she was done. We can not wait to get her wet.
Justine with our Tug
Justin

Monday, March 21, 2011

Not a model but I like it.


Tug masters may get trained by a little BRAtt


01 Oct 2009

The BRAtt training tug will be only 7.8m long. The BRAtt training tug will be only 7.8m long.
Training potential tug masters has become a major challenge for the ship handling sector of the towage industry worldwide. With large numbers of modern ‘ state of the art’ tugs with omni-directional propulsion systems coming into service, the ability to train up and coming tug masters effectively and in suitable numbers has become an increasingly difficult task for many tug owners.
The tugs are more powerful, extremely agile, and in many cases are operated by a smaller crew. A large majority of those vessels employ Azimuthing Stern Drive (ASD) propulsion systems, enabling the tug to be positioned quickly and precisely in response to the pilot’s orders. Sophisticated, high powered terminal tugs, carrying out ship handling and escort work, often in environmentally sensitive and/or exposed locations, require even greater skills and a higher level of qualification. Gaining the necessary skills to be able to operate these tugs safely and efficiently is a matter of training and experience. A mistake can rapidly result in disorientation and damage to the tug or its tow.
The subject of training tug crews is one that frequently crops up at conferences, towage association meetings and around boardroom tables. Operators with tugs operated by just two or three persons have very little opportunity to train crew members from scratch without creating supernumerary posts for training purposes. The traditional route of promotion through the ranks has become much more difficult. Using full size, expensive tugs for training new operators is inefficient, expensive, and exposes those vessels to significant risk of damage. Current options include the employment of highly skilled ‘training captains’ to carry out intensive training programe, and increasingly the use of realistic computer based simulators.
Vancouver based Robert Allan Ltd, in collaboration with Burchett Marine Inc, have joined forces to propose a unique solution in the form of a small scale, fully manned training tugboat which could ultimately be fitted with a variety of alternative propulsion systems, thus also qualifying as a legitimate test platform for proving unique new power supply technologies.
For a number of years the Principals of Robert Allan Ltd and Burchett Marine Inc have been discussing the potential for designing and building a lower cost, ‘drivable’ scale model tug to use as a training vessel. This boat would have to be large enough to be very realistic and fully safe in all training operations, large enough to have real time response actions, be powerful enough to perform some ‘real work’ where the situation warrants, be fully Class certifiable if required, and be small enough to be road transportable.
The result of those deliberations is the ‘BURCHETT-ROBERT ALLAN training tug’, hence the BRAtt. The standard vessel is currently at an advanced stage of design development and will measure 7.80m in length with a beam of 3.60m. A representative ASD hull form will be used, with twin fully azimuthing ‘z-drives’. Initially the tug will be offered with a diesel power plant generating a total of 236 kW (316bhp). Other principle features include all-welded aluminum construction, a fully operable forward winch and all round resilient fendering.
The vessel will provide a relatively low cost option that would avoid tying up full size vessels for training purposes and the associated risk of damage. With an intensive, effective, skills based program potential tug masters can be trained much faster, more effectively and at reduced cost. In many cases the little tug can be utilized for minor towage and harbour work, resulting in some cost recovery.
The introduction of the first little BRAtt is rapidly becoming a reality. The first vessels will be built in British Columbia. A nominated ‘licensee’ builder has been identified for the North American market and a ‘kit’ option is envisaged for the overseas market. In time it is likely that the BRAtt will also be used as a platform to demonstrate emerging power source technologies such as hybrid propulsion systems and fuel cell technology.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

model tug

*Picture from eBay.Trailer included.

Posted on Mayhem model boats

     

I know this is not ride in model boats but its a great site.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/index.cfm

Starlet sent in by Mike

Not big enough to ride I think but a good size and subject could be made to ride in though. One of Vic Smeeds designs.

Another floating tiny house/cabin of sorts from artist Jay Nelson

 More from artist Jay Nelson- whose work can be found at basebasebase.com. Most of his structures are made from thin plywood, then slapped with a generous coat of fiberglass- which acts as the bonding, strenthening, and waterproofing agent- and apparently is strong enough to make these lil’ cabins, car-homes, and houseboats/shantyboats road-worthy (trailerable in road winds).
-Derek “Deek” Diedricksen

(camping, cabins, carpentry, small homes, architectures, tiny houses, micro-architecture)
http://basebasebase.com/index.php/artists/jay-nelson/
http://www.relaxshacks.blogspot.com/ 

Thursday, March 3, 2011

My little tugboat


Keep the photos coming

How about some comments to post to add more interest, keep the articles coming. There seems to be a lot of interest in this so I will spend more time on this blog. Maybe the owners of the boats might like to comment. Cheers

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

another tug video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGbrgyHLtY

boom tug boats

these are amazing tug boats that work timber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQTJpx2sXI

titanic

Found this so here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-PPq2nXOQ

little boat

Check this out for a little boat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-1NZrcyvQA

tiny tug

A very tiny tug boat.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kvQe-SGRiuQBIVYs6Ii3DA

canadian model tug boat

Not good quality maybe some one can get better video. Is there some one inside it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRVS2P-G4Fc

Model clide puffer

This was sent to me so here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yKZiYgeZzA

boom tug boats

these are amazing tug boats that work timber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQTJpx2sXI

another tug video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGbrgyHLtY

mini tug from holland

this is on the net so I have copied it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqD9WyRoQ0