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Tomco Completes its 100th American Tug

January 2006

Tomco Marine Group recently celebrated a milestone by shipping their 100th American Tug. “This is a great accomplishment for this company since it was founded only 5 years ago and is a testament to the popularity of the American Tug line of boats,” said Tom Nelson, the company's founder and President. Most of the American Tugs shipped to date are the popular 34 foot, single stateroom design. Tomco this past year started shipping their new 41 foot double cabin boat to its dealers nationwide. “We have a fantastic group of employees that put their heart and soul into building quality boats. This is really their celebration,” said Mike Schoppert, vice-president of Production.

The 100th American Tug is being built for Ron Ruchek of Aloha, Oregon, who took part in the celebration. He is a former sailboat owner who recently retired from the electronics industry. He will be docking his boat on the Columbia River in between cruises in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Ron purchased his American Tug 34 from Steve Scruggs of Marine Servicenter in Anacortes.

American Tug boats built in La Conner are now found across the country with almost half split between the east coast and west coast. American Tug owners are typically cruising couples who have retired and are now using their boats to explore the waterways by boat. “Our boats are reliable and have sailed as far north as Glacier Bay, Alaska and as far south as through the Panama Canal to Florida, the Bahamas and Maine with a number of boats also in the Great Lakes,” said Kurt Dilworth, vice-president of Engineering.

“La Conner and the Pacific Northwest are a key part of our growth and heritage of quality boat building. Where some builders are shifting production of their boats to Asia, we see this as our home for the next several hundred boats,” said Nelson. “Besides our customers love it as many take delivery and set off to explore the Inside Passage north to Alaska.”