Theodore Too next to the Queen Mary 2 in the port of Halifax, September 25, 2004. |
|
| Career (Canada) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Theodore Too |
| Builder: | Snyder's Shipyard, Dayspring, Nova Scotia |
| Launched: | April 19, 2000 |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2012[update] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Tour boat |
| Tonnage: | 105 tons [1][2][3] |
| Length: | 65 ft (20 m) |
| Beam: | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Draft: | 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) |
| Propulsion: | 400-horsepower 300 kilowatt CAT 3406 turbocharged diesel engine.[1][2] |
Theodore Too is a large-scale imitation tugboat based on the fictional tugboat Theodore from the television show Theodore Tugboat.[1][4]
Contents |
Theodore Too was commissioned by Cochran Entertainment, Inc.,[2] the now-defunct production company. Andrew Cochran, the creator of Theodore Tugboat,[1][5] had told his son bedtime stories about the boats in the big harbour and how they interacted with everyone. This later became the basis for the TV series. Theodore became so popular, the company constructed a life-size model of him for marketing and promoting water safety.[2][4] The boat is unusual, as it is a full-size replica of a scale model. The original model which was used to film the series and inspired Theodore Too can be seen at Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.[6] Theodore Too was launched at Snyder's Shipyard at Dayspring, Nova Scotia on April 19, 2000. After sea trials out of Lunenburg, the vessel made its first port call to Halifax on May 6, 2000.[7] The ocean-going boat made a 50-city tour down the eastern seaboard to Tampa Bay and back again through the Great Lakes to Chicago. Theodore Too became the Ambassador of the U.S. National Safe Boating Council and mascot to the U.S. Coast Guard, participating in several tall ship events.[4] After Cochran Entertainment went out of business, the boat was purchased by a Halifax tour boat company, Murphys on the Water. The vessel provides tours of Halifax Harbour in the summer, operating from the Cable Wharf in downtown Halifax.
The boat was designed by Fred Allen and naval architect Marius Lengkeek of Lengkeek Vessel Engineering, and was built by Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring, Nova Scotia, on the Lahave River, not far from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.[1][2][8][9]
The hull and wheelhouse are made entirely of wood, with a fibreglass hat and smokestack.[1] It has a 'face' on the funnel, with large realistic hydraulic eyes which are no longer operational.[2] The boat displays a number of prop details such as winches and towing bitts inspired from real tugs but operates as a tour boat, not a real tug boat.[1]