New Nordic Tugs 26 Announcement - A post from SENTOA

D

dmcinfo

New member
This is from a post on the South East Nordic Tug Owners Association board:

"On the front page of the July 29th Skagit Valley Herald, Nordics Tugs announced they will be starting to build the 26 foot NT again and it will be unveiled at the January 2009 Seattle Boat show. They expect it to sell for about $200,000 well equipped. The reason they state is they are receiving more inquiries for smaller model NT's including the 26 foot model and of the economy issues which are effecting the sales of larger models. Also noted is the better fuel economy of the 26 footer.
Maybe NT should work on hybrid options for its larger models next. "
 
In regard to "economy" some folks are just further off bottom than others.
How do they compare, for me the extra 50K for a Nordic over the Ranger would not even be a comparison. Look inside the Nordic.
Mike
 
I ran into Skip Cress on the Cap Sante dock this afternoon. I asked him about when we would see the Nordic 26 and he said at the SBS (which I had forgotten about.) I asked him if the new 26 would be the same as the old 26 and he said it would be popped from the same molds but it would be finished much plainer on the inside than the old ones due to the increased cost of labor and materials. I asked him how he felt the 26 would line up against the Ranger 29 and he said that the Nordic was built much better and that the Ranger was designed to appeal on the basis of its lines rather than its quality. I know that Skip is related to the Nordic builder family, so a certain amount of bias towards the Nordic is understandable but he's also a Ranger dealer, too!

Warren
 
I wonder how a comparison can be made, since the Ranger 29 is not completed(If the hull is even molded)--and will apparently also be revealed at the SBS?

The statement seems to show a bias by that specific dealer. I think it would be very difficult to compare a 29 foot boat with a 26 foot boat, even if both were built.
 
Seems to me Nordic Tug must be spending a fortune on advertising. Every boating magazine I get has big ads in every issue.

I have relatives who bought a big beautiful NT new a couple of years ago and have had nothing but trouble with it. It's the engine rather than the boat, but it's a real example of Murphy's Law. They can never be sure they're going to get where they're going, and it never gets fixed no matter how much time mechanics spend on it. Beauty is as beauty does, and if ever a boat was a lemon ...

Sometimes, you don't get what you pay for :roll: . I feel really bad for them, because they're experienced boaters of many years and nobody could have predicted this fiasco.
 
I wonder how Dave and John Livingston, Jeff Messmer, and Andrew Custis feel about THAT remark from one of their dealers! I am pretty sure that the Ranger is built every bit as well as a Nordic. I visited the Ranger factory numerous times when were going to buy one, and I also visited the Nordic factory once. I think what Cress said is a classic case of "open mouth, insert foot"! The extra cost of the Nordic 26 over the Ranger 25 is ALL eaten up by Nordic's incredible advertising budget, there is nothing left for putting it into "higher quality"...


Doryman":3rqo87y3 said:
I asked him how he felt the 26 would line up against the Ranger 29 and he said that the Nordic was built much better and that the Ranger was designed to appeal on the basis of its lines rather than its quality.
Warren
Click to expand...
 
Folks - In Sept of 1997 I joined a fellow who owned a Nordic 26 for an extended cruise up to Desolation Sound. I was a widower at that time, retired, and had been in power boating for about ten years - my first real live -aboard was a 1996 C-Dory. We, including my faithful Brittany Spaniel, K.C., left Anacortes and spent about three weeks going around the San Juans,Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and further north including Princess Louisa and the Octopus Islands. It was a slow trip. I believe the diesel was a John Deere or Luger one lunger. Top speed was about 7 knots. We cruised at about 5 knots and put in long days on the water just traveling. The skipper was a good guy, but a bit of a Captain Bligh (food was rationed, and I lost weight on the trip). He purchased the tug for $50,000 in 1997 used) and it was well-built and very comfortable. Only in the Strait of Georgia during a bit of a blow did we experience the rolling that is absent in the C-Dory. If I lived on the coast and was confined to one marina, the 26 Nordic would be a very nice boat to have. I believe it weighed about 9,000 lbs., so trailering would be a dicey situation. I can attest to its robustness. We hit some nasty floating logs off the B.C. coastline and one time managed to get "high centered" on a rock shelf. It was low tide and we had to wait a bit for the tide to change. The heavy keel and protected prop remained undamaged. Just some paint and scratches. $200,000 seems like a lot of money for a new one, and I believe the new ones lack the detailed craftsmanship of the older ones. Just an opinion. I examined a Ranger in the factory and it appeared less massive. For a couple with plenty of time and not interested in speed, the 26 Nordic Tug is a dandy. John
 
My observation on the Nordic v. Ranger comparison is that Cress is absolutely right. Nordics are built robustly like a workboat whereas Rangers fall clearly into the recreational boat category. This isn't at all controversial: the Rangers are much less expensive and their lighter weight makes them trailerable. I'll bet the owners and managers of Ranger tugs would readily agree with Skipper Cress. Cheers, Mike.
 
Sorry. Mike - total BS. I am pretty sure the Livingstons would NOT agree that Nordics are "built much better" than Rangers. I will however let them respond for themselves if they care to.


westward":3lc7e1kw said:
My observation on the Nordic v. Ranger comparison is that Cress is absolutely right. Nordics are built robustly like a workboat whereas Rangers fall clearly into the recreational boat category. This isn't at all controversial: the Rangers are much less expensive and their lighter weight makes them trailerable. I'll bet the owners and managers of Ranger tugs would readily agree with Skipper Cress. Cheers, Mike.
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Hey Pat: In this life I've found a few people who are completely honest in their assessment of matters, even in the face of possibly stepping on the ego of their own business associates. Les Lampman is an example of such a person: he will candidly discuss the weaknesses as well as strengths of the products he sells, and he holds his suppliers accountable for the quality of their products. That honesty is why people respect his opinion so much. Let's be open to the possibility that Skip Cress is also such a person. Why is it controversial for him to observe that one boat line he sells is of higher build quality than another, particularly if they are at different price points? Could a BMW/Volkswagen dealer not openly say the same thing? I don't see any reason for him to slight the mfg. of one of his lines. Seems like he was caught in the act of giving an honest assessment of two different boat lines, an assessment I happen to agree with. His advertising budget also includes space for the Ranger tugs he sells, does it not? I don't believe he said that Rangers were defective or pieces of crap, just that they were more about lines and cute looks than real shipbuilding. (ironically a charge that's been leveled against Nordic more than once). Let's not start a scrap where a scrap doesn't exist. Mike.
 
Caty: Right, sorry, thanks for the perspective. I suffer from "need to get in the last word-itis". Apologies to Pat and the forum. Mike.
 
I've been reluctant to join this discussion even though I may be the only person on the planet that owns one of each. I still own hull #15, R-25 C-Ranger and also own a 2000 Nordic Tug 32. I'm not qualified to have an opinion on the structural integrity of the two boats. I've watched R-25's being built but never a Nordic Tug. I'm pretty darn sure that they are both well built. There is, however, a quality difference, at least in these two boats. It's not in the major systems - the hull, the engines, transmissions, etc - it's in the details. The C-Ranger folks fixed all my gripes with things that didn't work quite right and have, I'm sure, fixed all of that for future boats (I'm a major fan of the boat) but it is unarguable that the Nordic Tugs are significantly better finished and have paid more attention to details than the C-Rangers. It is clear that Nordic Tugs uses cabinet makers on the inside, for example, and C-Ranger doesn't. It's expensive but it does result in a boat that looks and feels and frankly, is higher quality overall. I've not found anything on the Nordic Tug that isn't done right - but then, it's old..........

I've read the comments about R-25 engines. I've not seen the new Cummins but I really, really liked the new 110 Yanmar. Quiet and clean. My Nordic Tug has a Cummins and it's older, noisier and stinks. Again - have not seen the newer ones. Consider it to be an extreme disservice to their customers that C-Ranger couldn't get the engine right to match their ambitious specs. However, the 110 Yanmar is a superb engine and shouldn't disappoint anyone.

So - I would in my most humble opinion conclude that if you want a fast, super fishing boat with cruising capabilities - consider a C-Dory; if you want a slower, stable more comfortable small boat with more amenities -
consider a C-Ranger; if your wife thinks that anything under 30 feet is too small, consider a Nordic Tug. Beyond that are several cruise lines we like, but remember what the Water Rat said to the Mole.

Wouldn't life be boring if we all agreed.
 
Wow... I now have a another reason to come see my C-Brat friends around the Seattle Boat Show (and our C-Brat stuff) again now for the ....4th or 5th year now?

Hey...so what are the dates of the 09 Seattle Boat show? Jan/Feb 09 is only 6 months away.....and some of us will be iced in before then... and others of us will be enjoying our 12 months of boating. Should be a neat show and who knows what all will pop up in and around Seattle around that time.

RF246_plan_with_saloon_head_dc.sized.jpg

Life is good....too few years and simply just too many boats to own one of each...but aint it fun trying!!!

Go get on the water!

Byrdman
 
flagold":1makiswn said:
You guys might want to take a deep breath and read this about Skipper:

http://dringersoll.com/intro.html

Never met him or Les L, but sounds as if cut from the same cloth.
Click to expand...

This is not the same person I spoke to. Skip Cress is related to Jim Cress
somehow, however.

Thanks to Old Dog for the enlightening specifics on how the boats differ.

Warren
 
Old Dog: Thanks for your input on this. Have been on one of the older 26 Nordics and there is another one just down river from my Moms enroute to Nashville....a red one. I am "forced" to cross over to that side of the river each time I go past it. It will be really interesting to see the new layout and what they have changed on the boat with some newer modern twist...and old time solid hardcore building.

The red one is also one of the few boats we see when out enjoying our winter waters...when most boats in our areas have been..... forgive me here...."winterized." Such a loss of great boating times!!

Thank God for enclosed boats and wallas heating systems!!

Byrdman
 
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