Goodbye Europa!

Europa leaving Des Moines marina

Excellent boat, many good memories, and tons of fun – but we are ready to move on! Europa is away to her new home on Lake Washington today. (Made us a little sad.) Nick spent some time with the new owner yesterday, then rode with him up to Des Moines this morning to assist with docking and fueling. We wish them well!

Still no firm delivery date for Touch of Gray but we know work is progressing.

New upper deck rails

New gray boot stripe

A little background: This AT 362 started life in 2018 as the first of the Tomco Marine Group Inc. (American Tugs & Trawlers) new Waypoint boats – a new model for them designed for faster production and affordability. Sales were not as expected and the company decided to eliminate the brand (only three were built). Touch of Gray was used as a demo boat only – we are the first private owners. Upgrades are being made to bring it to current standards – all the bells and whistles added so it is now an official American Tug 362, AT’s original hull, but with two staterooms. We love this boat and couldn’t be happier with how it all came together for us!

In addition to the factory upgrades (full Garmin electronics system with two screens, hydronic heating system, complete mast, dinghy davit, stern thruster, new striping, upper deck extension, new upholstery, plus a few other things!), we ordered modifications to the two forward berth hanging lockers, adding much needed shelves.

A note about the name: Our two previous tugs had Ranger’s signature Midnight Blue hull – and we’ve always admired boats that aren’t the typical all white of most boats. AT’s also often have colored hulls – blue, red, yellow, gray, etc. Ours? White. (This was not ideal…but certainly not a deal breaker.) For better or worse, we fixated on the color – or lack thereof – a bit. We were told that the boat’s original red striping would be replaced, and that we could choose any color.  Interior components were already gray so we went with that for the exterior accents as well. I thought of Touch of Gray one day as I was thinking about a white boat, with…you guessed it…a little bit of gray. (This is the only name I came up with that Nick liked!) Touch of Gray is a nod to many things…our thoughts about having a white boat…getting older…and a song by the Grateful Dead that we have always liked (although the song is “Grey”). As we bought this boat during a global pandemic, the lyrics rang especially true as well: “We will get by…we will survive…”

And guess what – the dinghy we have our eye on? White with gray stripes – coincidentally!