10 foot-itis, closed on Nordic Tug 37

HRowland

HRowland

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
463
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Non-Fluid Motion Model
2008 Nordic Tug 37
Vessel Name
Catnip
MMSI Number
368024230
We just closed on a very nice 2008 Nordic Tug 37 Pilothouse today. It has 257 hours on the engine (380 HP Cummins) and 84 hours on the genset (Oman 9KW). It has a couple of minor issues on the engine, raw water pump has a slight leak and the aftercooler has internal corrosion. Enough cash was set aside at closing to cover repairs. It has a very nice teak interior and lots of room and storage! It has a real shower stall with glass door that Debbie loves. I can also sit on either side of the engine to work on it, impeller changes should be a 10 minute job! It has a built in oil drain pump and a nice dual Racor filter with a vacuum gauge at the helm. It holds 150 gallons of water and over 300 gallons of fuel. It will be stored in Essex CT for the winter, we will bring it to RI in the spring.

Now I need to make plans to sell our R27 Classic.

See my photo album for some pictures of our N37 "Catnip"

Howard and Debbie
 
Congratulations on the new boat, that's quite an upgrade from the 27. Will you be keeping her at Harbor Lights? You could always keep the R27 for our rendezvous 😀
 
Thanks Brian. I am actually waitlisted for a 40' slip at Harbour Lights! I am going to start checking other marinas in Warwick.
 
Very nice looking boat for sure. Enjoy it. 🙂
 
Hi Howard,

Sorry to see you leaving the clan, but congratulations on your new purchase. I see extensive rewiring in your future!! :lol:
 
Congrats Howard!

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
Congrats!

We upgraded from our 26-footer to NT37-065 in 2016 - a huge upgrade indeed. Have wandered the Inside Passage through BC and SE Alaska for two summers now, and it's proved a fabulous cruiser. Hope your NT37 pleases you as much.
 
Thanks everyone, it is a big change! I have to remember that NT owners refer to the hull number, Nordic does not reset this each year. Ours is NT37-198.

A lot more to the electrical system with 5 battery banks (House- 4x 6V Lifeline AGM, Engine 8D AGM, Genset group 24 AGM, bow thruster/windlass Lifeline 4D AGM, and stern thruster Northstar AGM).
The battery charger is only 40A, so charging with the genset will be slow. One upgrade I am already thinking of is changing the inverter (3000W Xantrex) to an inverter/charger. This would provide another 100A or so of charging, the big house AGM bank (440 AH at 12V) can absorb a lot of charge current. The Genset is 9KW which could easily feed this, run the water heater, and even the AC units at the same time.

Howard
 
Made such a change on mine, and also went to a larger alternator with external smart regulator. Huge improvement.
 
Richard,

Nice to see another NT37 owner here.

Another NT37 I looked at had been upgraded with a Balmar alternator and external smart regulator. Is this what you did? Which model alternator did you use?

Howard
 
Hi Howard,

My tug's 330hp 6BTA 5.9 M3 came with a 105A 19si alternator. Balmar has a 94-series 165A alternator that is supposed to fit, but it's spendy ($1200+). They have a 210A also.

I got a 145A exact replacement for the stock alternator from Tony Athens the Cummins wizard, (Seaboard Marine, sbmar.com) for $375. Had it converted to external regulation, and installed it with a Balmar MC-614 regulator, including alternator and battery temp sensors. Kept the original alternator with internal regulation for a spare.

Haven't gone cruising with it yet, just installed last month. Seems like a reasonable solution, worth a try at least. It pumps out more than 100A at the dock, much better than the original. Measured with a Victron BMV700 battery monitor - a good gadget. If the 145A alternator doesn't hold up well enough I spose I'll be looking at Balmar.

The Freedom 2500 inverter/charger (130A charging) installed a year ago (replacing the 40A charger that came with the boat, and a poorly set up separate inverter) worked much better last summer with both 8KW generator or shore power. Even better now since I replaced the old and feeble house bank with new AGM's - the Freedom also charges at 100A+.
 
Hi Richard,

Thanks for the information, particularly Seaboard Marine, this is a great resource.

My inverter is also wired a bit strange, the only way to power 120VAC Bus 1 is via the inverter. This bus is for the microwave and various 120VAC outlets throughout the boat, except the engine room outlet. There is no provision to power this bus from shore power or the genset. 120VAC buses 2 and 3 can be powered via shore power or the genset.
If I upgrade to an inverter/charger like you did then I could power 120VAC Bus 1 via shore or genset when in passthrough mode. There are plenty of spare breakers that I could use to power the inverter/charger.

The inverter (Xantrex 3000W) appears to have been installed after the boat was built, its wiring is not labeled like the factory wiring elsewhere. I am impressed with the wire labeling done by Nordic, very clear.

Howard
 
NewMoon":3fjbzy89 said:
Hi Howard,

My tug's 330hp 6BT came with a 105A 19si alternator. Balmar has a 94-series 165A alternator that is supposed to fit, but it's spendy ($1200+). They have a 210A also.

I got a 145A exact replacement for the stock alternator from Tony Athens the Cummins wizard, (Seaboard Marine, sbmar.com) for $375. Had it converted to external regulation, and installed it with a Balmar MC-614 regulator, including alternator and battery temp sensors. Kept the original alternator with internal regulation for a spare.

Haven't gone cruising with it yet, just installed last month. Seems like a reasonable solution, worth a try at least. It pumps out more than 100A at the dock, much better than the original. Measured with a Victron BMV700 battery monitor - a good gadget. If the 145A alternator doesn't hold up well enough I spose I'll be looking at Balmar.

The Freedom 2500 inverter/charger (130A charging) installed a year ago (replacing the 40A charger that came with the boat, and a poorly set up separate inverter) worked much better last summer with both 8KW generator or shore power. Even better now since I replaced the old and feeble house bank with new AGM's - the Freedom also charges at 100A+.
Click to expand...
A while ago I came across the Seaboard Marine website and bookmarked Tony's Tips. Mostly for the Cummins Engine but a diesel is a diesel, great info on all systems. https://www.sbmar.com/tonys-tips/
 
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