1890 Custom Tugboat
Price on request
Boat in Port Townsend, WA 98368 US
Built in 1890
Tugboat
1 Engine (Atlas)
75 feet
Diesel
Wooden
Vessel Pricing: The Port of Port Townsend is seeking a new steward and owner for the historic vessel Elmore. We are aware of the vessel's current condition, and both the price and deposit are negotiable, dependent on the proposed plan for restoration and future stewardship. If interested, please schedule a time to come see the boat.
Built in 1890 by Elmore Fish Canning of Astoria, Oregon, the R.P. Elmore was originally commissioned as a steam-powered passenger and freight steamer for Elmore and Sanborn Fisheries. In 1898, under the ownership of the Towle-Thurston Towing Company of Everett, Washington, the vessel participated in the Yukon Gold Rush, transporting passengers and cargo to Alaska.
In 1901, the Towle-Thurston Towing Company was acquired by the American Tug Boat Company, also based in Everett. The vessel retained her name and continued in commercial service until 1922, when she was severely damaged by fire and burned to the waterline. She was subsequently rebuilt by the American Tug Boat Company as a combination fish carrier and tugboat, renamed Elmore, and re-engined with a 3-cylinder, 110-horsepower diesel powerplant manufactured by Washington Iron Works.
Ownership of the tug changed hands several times over the following decades. In 1967, she was acquired by Puget Sound Freight Lines of Seattle, Washington, and renamed Kiket. The vessel continued to operate under Washington Tug and Barge Company from 1978 and Knappton Towboat Company from 1979, retaining the name Elmore during those transitions.
Decommissioned in 1982 and prepared for scuttling, the vessel was saved at the last minute when her hull was acquired by Dave Updike of Seattle. Soon after, she was purchased by Floyd Waite, who restored her as a private yacht and reinstated the name Elmore. In 1990, ownership passed to Dee and Sara Meek of Port Hadlock, Washington, and later to Henning Heinemann, under whose stewardship she remained active.
In 1996, the Elmore was repowered with a 4-cylinder Atlas Imperial diesel engine, also rated at 110 horsepower. Most recently, in 2024, the vessel was acquired by the Port of Port Townsend, Washington, where she is currently laid up.
With more than 130 years of rich maritime history, the Elmore remains a remarkable example of Pacific Northwest working vessels and their adaptive legacy through changing eras of navigation, industry, and ownership.
The Elmore was reported built in 1890 in Astoria Oregon as a steam passenger and freight vessel then spent several working carriers in the waters of Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The boat was well-built by practiced craftsmen to established norms and scantlings with abundant suitable materials. The method of construction demanded a small forest of Douglas fir trees. Except for a stem replacement ten or fifteen years ago with hardwood and a few sapele planks, the boat is fir. The horn timber is 15” wide, garboards are 14” and thought to be 2-1/2” thick. The rest of the planks are 2” thick, iron fastened to 4” x 4” double sawn frames on 16” centers. Interior longitudinals include 4” x12” beam shelf on 4-1/2” clamps, 3-1/2” upper ceiling, 4-1/2” bilge stringers all tightly fit and caulked with long nibbed scarfs. Deck beams are 9” x 8” on 32” centers. The deck is straight laid fir, 2-1/2” x 3-2/2”.
Guards include: 1” x 4” stem iron, 2-1/2” x 10” hardwood worm shoe,3/4” thick, 3’ to 4’wide band of ice sheathing at the waterline and on the starboard bow surrounding the anchor hawse. The sheer guard is three piece- 1-3/4” x 10-1/2” fir sponge and 1-1/2” x9” sponson then 1-1/2” x 7” hardwood guard.
Vessel 120V AC comes thru an Acme transformer to a distribution panel in the engine room.
Most wiring runs sighted were secured in metal sheathed runs.
AC and DC panels are old and outdated. Wire nuts were noted.
Outboard to starboard in the engine room is a Heart interface Freedom 7 charger/inverter, one 12V 8D battery and four 8V batteries in series for 32V.
Sacrificial anodes- zinc Perry nut, 6 12# plates on rudder, two 12# plates on steel stern overlay, keel cooler
The pilot house has good visibility through windows on all sides. A 4’ diameter turned oak steering wheel is forward on the centerline along with compass and electronics. Doors to the upper deck are outboard. A console with main and auxiliary engine gauges is just aft of the starboard door. A 6’ long chart table is aft of the port door with passageway inboard to steps aft down to the house.Mirror image cabins are forward in the house divided by a centerline bulkhead. Each cabin has stacked bunks inboard, door to the side deck outboard and door to the rest of the house aft. Next is a large unfinished area with old walls removed, perhaps originally an enclosed head, door to the side deck forward to starboard, steps up the pilothouse aft to starboard and passageway inboard aft to the main cabin/galley. Outboard in the passageway are steps down to the engine room. The main cabin has a cabinet then settee along the starboard side, oil stove forward and doors fore and aft of a counter with sink outboard to port.The hull from forward has a forepeak with chain locker open aft to the master cabin with steps up to the foredeck scuttle forward, lockers forward on both sides, double berth aft to port, paneled in water tank to starboard of the berth and door aft between them to the engine and machinery space.The 110 hp Atlas Imperial diesel engine takes up most of the engine room at 6’ long and just as high. Steps up to the main cabin are outboard to starboard followed by the lube oil tank. Air compressor and two receivers are outboard to port for engine starting.Auxiliaries are forward port and starboard. Fuel tanks are aft port and starboard.The lazaret is aft of the engine room and accessed from the deck.
Compass- Unmounted 6” Dirigo magnetic
Autopilot- Wood Freeman in pieces
Radar- Decca D202
Depth Finder- Lowrance LCX-26
Coastal Navigator Fish n’ Depth
Portable fire extinguishers noted as follows- 15# CO2 entrance to pilothouse, 10# CO2 port forward cabin, partially discharged BI dry chemical in engine room.
The fire extinguishers were last professionally inspected and date tagged in 2019.
Forward to starboard in the engine room is a fixed CO2 system with four estimate 50#bottles; last professionally inspected and date tagged in 2019.
30” life ring
The propulsion engine is a four-cylinder Atlas Imperial naturally aspirated diesel, Model4HM763, Engine No. 11932.
The engine develops 110 hp at 325 rpm with 9” bore and12” stroke. The engine is air start with compressor and two estimate 75-gallon riveted iron receiver tanks.
The engine is fresh water cooled with a keel cooler and has dry stack exhaust.
Pilothouse engine gauges include- tach, water temperature, oil pressure, fuel oil pressure,12V and 32V voltmeters.
Engine gear shift is an Aer-O-Trol system activated with compressed air.
The propeller is four bladed bronze, 48” diameter, right hand, estimate 36” pitch.
The shaft appears to be 4” diameter steel with rubber cutlass bearing in a bronze housing on the sternpost and bronze flax packed stuffing box inboard of the shaft log.
Steering is air assisted wheel, cable and quadrant with one station in the pilothouse.The rudder is 1/2” steel plate, 41” wide and 76” high on a 4” diameter rudder stock coupled below the hull for removal. The lower rudder bearing rests on a 1-1/2” x 8” steel skeg extending aft from the keel.
Diesel- estimate 400-gallon steel tank to port, estimate 500-gallon steel tank to starboard, estimate 900-gallons total.
Lube oil- estimate 120- gallons steel tank.
Fresh water- estimate 800- gallons in the forepeak tank
The port diesel auxiliary generator is a Merak C240PV with four-cylinder Isuzu diesel, 6,695hours on the meter.
The starboard diesel auxiliary generator is a Kohler 5kW, modelCCOZ23, serial number 323244, hours unknown.
Bilge- labeled fore and aft in the pilothouse console - two Johnson Pump high water alarms
Electric heaters in pilothouse and cabins, galley stove
Domestic equipment- Olympic cast iron diesel range with oven, built in refrigeration, sink with pressure water, Char Broil BBQ with portable propane tank, ASCO 120V AC clothes washer and drier
The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.
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Contact Port Townsend Boat Company about 1890 Custom Tugboat
919 Haines Place, Port Townsend, WA, 98368
Contact Port Townsend Boat Company
919 Haines Place, Port Townsend, WA, 98368
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