American Tug Yachts for Sale

American Tug was started at La Conner, Washington by Kurt Dilworth, Tom Nelson and Mike Schoppert, who set up Tomco Marine Group and took a 1999 commercial fishing hull by the naval architect Lynn Senour as their starting point. The first boat, the American Tug 34, launched in January 2000, and that hull became the 365, the yard's best seller at 165 boats. The range settled into the 362, 365, 395 and the 435 flagship, all pilothouse semi displacement cruisers with a solid hand laid hull, resin infusion, a single piece deck to remove leak paths, and a two part hull mold needed to release the signature plank lines. Output was small, around six to ten boats a year. Kadey-Krogen Yachts bought Tomco Marine Group in May 2023 and promised expansion; on 8 July 2026 both American Tug and Kadey-Krogen filed for Chapter 7, closing the La Conner plant and its 28,000 square foot shop at the Port of Skagit.

That bankruptcy is the first thing a buyer needs to understand. Chapter 7 is a liquidation, not a reorganization, so there is no factory, no warranty and no parts counter behind any American Tug, including boats delivered in the last year or two. In practice this is less painful than it sounds, because these boats were built from catalog machinery, Cummins or Volvo Penta diesels and standard marine systems, and the trawler yards and independent shops on Puget Sound know them well. What it does mean is that anything specific to the boat, molded parts, hardware, glass, joinery and factory drawings, is now a matter of finding an owner or a yard that has one rather than ordering it. Buy on condition and on paperwork: hours and service history on the single diesel, the state of the wing engine or thruster if fitted, the windows and pilothouse door seals, and the electronics age. Values should be watched carefully for a year or two, because the market is still working out what a well built boat from a yard that no longer exists is worth.