Photos of Vac-U-Tugs submitted by owners.

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PHOTOS

   
  The Needham, MA's Minuteman MYC tug fleet. They are used by children at the Pappas School for Disabled Children, known locally as the Massechusetts Hospital School. The kids use the tugs to play water polo.  
Paul M.'s Grandson's Tug. Sharp paint job. Copper colored prop and brass drive fittings look nice.
Charlie's Tug ready for its first voyage. Max's Tug in Pueblo, CO. No skimping on details.
Art's Cindy B with crew, Philip C's Tug in the Gulf and a ferry full of cars!
Rob's recovery tug with added details including an external of/off switch, mast, life rings, exhaust,  tire bumpers (Pinewood Derby car tires), and nice looking front and rear bumpers made of a Duratrax DTXC4841 slick RC motorcycle tire. Rich's tug rescue. See "Tug Customer Comments" for story.
Howard's Wife's new tug, the Sharon M. Douglas B's Rescue Tug. Note the flashing LED emergency lights.
 Rig to recover his Miss Vegas hydro. Mike & Son's new boats next to the 5 year old Mickey S. Read about the build at: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2225063
Jack's tug in Ohio. Douglas's tug. With help from his daughters!
Alan's tug with plans to set up an FPV camera to live the experience of driving a tugboat. Great name.... Fred's tug, almost done. 

Walmart white jewelry chain, o-ring for portholes and staples for steps/ladder.

 Mark's R.E. Lee Tug - Custom deck. Real R.E. Lee tug the build was based upon.
Stanley's Rescue Tug. Click to LINK to his site. Ed S's Tug. Running on 3S LiPo! Bill G.'s tug. Started in Houston Texas. Finished in Switzerland!
Steve S.'s "Tug-O" 2nd Place at Mid Vancouver Island Marine Modelers Annual Mall Show in March 2010 at Nanaimo BC. The club has four Vac-U-Tugs in their fleet.
Ken L.'s SUZY -Q using the tug as a base for the scratch-built superstructure. The Sharon J from Ray. Will be a working rescue boat for the group. Official launch of the Salvage Tug Sharon J on Comox Lake
   
Ken's son Alex built & painted this tug based on local commercial tugs.   The barge is made of 4 old plastic organizer drawers, handles removed, connected and filled with spray foam for cargo.
Mark A's Robert E. Lee. Can you spot the Vac-U-Tug under all of this pretty stuff? Interior modifications with water pump. Deck was purchased "topless" for the custom-built superstructure.
Art's Tug from the Northwest. Scale parts from Quartermaster Ship Fittings. Scheme based on the Martha Foss tug. See the "Real Tugboats" link for a photo. He hauls is tug in this new $19.99 tool box from Lowes. Made by Stanley.
Brooks made barges made from RubberMaid styrene drawer organizers. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=714083
   
   
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Ulf's Theodore Tugboat in progress and completed. John's Tug. LED running lights and cable spools on the deck. Perfect-sized tires on the sides.
   
   
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Bob Johnson's Galveston Bay club rescue tug & mark tender. Very professional looking Rescue Tug. 
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Brooks' Steam Era Vac-U-Tug. Details at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=682182 Built for its new 5-Year-Old pilot, complete with Fire Monitor for squirting friends.
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John W's Tug build.  Nice detail on deck. 
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2006 North Florida O. R. C. A. S. Regatta held October 14, 2006 Eric Wieczorek won the Grand Captain’s Prize: a ready-to-run Vac-U-Tug.
The Kate Massey, named for Mike's daughter. Kate is a working-tug recovering Mike's Hydro.
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John L's tug with family. Patriotic colors by Steve B.

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I had fun looking around the house and finding alternative uses for things (ie .38 Special Casings for the deck bits, grommets for the port holes and life rings, a brinkman flashlight lens for the searchlight, Wendy's salad containers for the windows, Yoplait yogurt container for the Kort Nozzle and wood coffee stir sticks for the decking) 
Another rescue vessel for the Kansas City Yacht Club and a Pearl Harbor survivor to boot! To see a video, go to the Vac-U-Tug Videos Page.

 
Mark A's "Spirit of USS Nokomis YT-142" Tug with Kort Nozzle, ready for sea trials. 
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Sure that's a Vac-U-Tug under there? Mark recovering a V32 for the Kansas City Yacht Club.
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Almost finished with my Vac-U-Tug.  It's been a great way to get my feet wet again after a long time away from the hobby.  The boat runs great and was a joy to build. Matt W. Dan's Rosco is done. He sent some photos of it in the water.
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Daytime smoke effects. You have to look close to see that this is really a Vac-U-Tug. Night time running. Build details are in the Special Boats section.
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Can you see Jim's Old 8140 at the center of this picture? Click the photo for details. Ultimate Rescue Tug from Edgar in Puerto Rico. Used to recover gas boats with great success. 4 more pics in the Towing & Recovery section.
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Mark's model of the Fire Fighting Tug "Deluge" that was owned by the New Orleans Port Authority. More details about the real boat this model is based upon in the Real Tug Photos section.
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Erik of the Boston Model Sailing Club outfitted this tug for general recovery work. Read about the B.M.S.C. at http://www.esplanadeassociation.org/thingstodo/ Click on the Model Sailing Club link.
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They run Laser Sailboats, and CR-914's for free public use.
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The Vac-U-Tug helping a Vintage Model M back to shore. Damian built this tug for recovering larger sailboats. Read more at Towing & Recovery: Recovering an EC-12 & CR-914.
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Don W's tug racing with a Dickie Fireboat.  The CAMBA's Urger at work recovering the club's Soling One-Meter Sailboats. Read more at Towing & Recovery: Recovering a Soling One Meter.
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Laurent from Japan has this tug's motor upgraded and added a Graupner 3-blade prop. Added a water pump as well. Good range with this setup.
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Dan L's Rosco. The superstructure is mostly scratch-built.
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Details for this build are posted in the Special Boats section. Steven's Katie Emily named for his daughter. He has plans for a few more scale details.
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During its maiden voyage, Steven's son got to rescue a PT Boat with it! New vinyl name installed.
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Jim M's tug "Old 8140". You would never guess he is new to slower "scale" boat building. Twin stack version using stacks made for the Vac-U-Tow kit. More details to follow.
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Barry F's Tug from Texas. Waiting for the big waves. Barry's tug is rigged for recovering Victoria sail boats. 
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Bill's Pennsylvania Railroad tug. See details in the Special Boats section. Dave A's tug from Chattanooga Tennessee. Some building notes in the Customer Comments page.
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Bob Masterson of the North Florida ORCAS sent me these photos of his and Jay K's tugs. These were taken during their February Fun Sail. Looks like a nice sunny day for such an event.
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Bob's Nancy Kay. He built this tug with an 8.4 volt 7-cell battery with stock prop. Fire monitor has a Ford Taurus windshield washer pump.  Decals are a combination of the stock decals and some made on his computer using the Vita-Cal system. Color scheme is that of Cross State Towing boats located in Jacksonville.
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Charlie in San Diego built this tug. He made some nice comments you will find in the "Customer Comments" section. Only modifications are the additions of fore and aft bollards. 
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Bill in Oklahoma City built this tug. 8.4 volts and the 4-blade prop. The stack is a plastic sewing thread spool. He removed the axle to make it hollow inside and sealed it to be waterproof. Add a bit of water and dry ice for a smoke effect!
 		 Note the tug is not intimidated by the other craft in the water. 
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Paul outfitted his 2nd tug with another type of windshield washer pump.  Finished paint and a new stack. Note the stealthy fire nozzle.
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Laurent's Tug from the Kijimadaira Village in Japan,  Has optional 4-blade 2-piece prop installed. Where is the antenna? 
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Paul L.'s 2nd tug. This is his "working" tug and has a 4-blade 2-piece prop mounted. I'm going to have to copy this cheerful color scheme.
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Paul L's tug. Very handy tip from Paul on locating the water line of the tug for painting. I need to check this out.  Before installing the deck, hold the inside of the hull to a light. From the outside, the top of the liner is almost a perfect water line. 
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Rich's Number 26. Uses a 4-blade prop. Antenna location is temporary. This photo includes notes on the next phase of construction.
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 Dave's tug is still under construction but with the colorful planking, and nice woodwork detail, more photos will follow when it is done.   Paul's tug includes a fire monitor and a festive paint scheme.
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Mike's tug with recovery rig that works on gas boats. Nice color scheme. Jim's tug, the Audubon Queen, looking after a fleet of V-32's in Naples Florida.
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Classic Vac-U-Tug on the move. Tires borrowed from a toy monster truck.  Carl's new tug. I look forward to seeing his recovery rigging in action.    Portholes: Tarp grommets. Smoke Stack: 1 1/2" PVC drain pipe, cut on an angle, smooshed in a vice to make it oval. Railing: scrap 1/8" carbon fiber tube, with aluminum fence wire, barbed wall panel nails come through the deck into the tube and glued in place. (More to follow.) 
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Sean (veteran builder) built this in one day and painted it the next. Whew! Nice original paint scheme. He is much better at using masking tape than I am. Less ballast, more batteries. Connected in parallel, runs for hours.
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Kevin's tug "Little Noah". Lots of extra stuff added. More photos in the Special Boats section. Rob's new Tugboat. See it on the job in the Special Boats section.
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Green hull with matching Bulwark, tan deck, cabin & pilot house. It's a Tug, It's a Camera Boat. It's BOTH. First look at a convertible Frank built. More photos in the Special Boats section.
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Combing the water at Norris Lake. Red/Black Tug Jr. with white decals.
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A look inside a Tug with standard setup. Maiden voyage of Don's new Fire Boat with twin fire monitors. New details in the Special Boats section.
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Fire Boat making circles.  

 

TM