Wanting a workboat but not entirely sure where to start? Consider a Model Bow Tug from Ocean Marine Brokerage Services. When it comes to workboats, one of the most underutilized workboats is the model bow tug. Its durable nature makes it a valuable commodity for companies that move large volumes of freight often, as well as anyone who does construction. In this article, we'll show you how to identify the most valuable model bow tugs. There are a few things you should know about towing a model bow tug. The model-bow tugboat, a combination towing and pushing vessel, is not exclusive to Louisiana, but close to it. There are a smattering among her Gulf Coast neighbors, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, and a few on the Atlantic Coast, but the Pelican State is where the design shines, pushing barges along the inland waterways and bayous that vein the wetlands and towing them offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Model Bow Tugs with Simplex Dripless shaft seals for the stern, where the shafts pierce the hull and meet the water, explaining that they prevent seepage into the highly regulated Florida waters: They are more expensive but last a long time. They don’t beat themselves up like the old packing seals that would eat into the stainless steel and cause continual leaking harming the sensitive marine environment. A good choice is to find a model bow tug with a triple-screw propulsion configuration to get more horsepower when towing offshore and to keep the shallow draft advantage for inland pushing. And there are other reasons for having three engines. If you lose one engine, you still have two. You’ve only lost one-third of your horsepower, not one-half like you would with a normal twin screw. It’s like an insurance policy that keeps freight and work operations moving around the clock. Model Bow Tugs can have a partially raised deck over the engine room near the exhaust stack — fitted with a 2-ton traveling crane capable of lifting any one of the 1.5-ton engines and locating it under a central hatch, for a six-hour engine change out. The model bow is designed primarily for offshore towing, taking moderate seas much better than the blunt bow and low profile of a conventional pushboat. Model-bow boats also usually have propellers in nozzles that generate more horsepower for pushing through the seas with better handling characteristics on the towline. The short stern with the winch far back on the stern allows more control of the towline. They have a flat and fendered bow stem that acts as a single push knee, two knees being the norm on conventional pushboats. The versatility of both towing and pushing barges gives the design a leg up in the rough and tumble competition of water transportation. The big line-haul boats running product downriver drop their tows at the fleeting operations lining the river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Once the tows are broken up according to cargo and destination, the barges are picked up by smaller towboats and distributed to their next staging area. Model Bow Tug Ocean Marine Brokerage is a leader in helping first-time boaters purchase Model Bow Tug Related Articles: Work Boat For Sale Tug Boats for Sale Online Crew Boats Online