Enthusiastic boaters Janell and Ronny Jones of Newnan, Georgia, could be called single-minded in their pursuit of good times and great adventures afloat. In 2008, after spying a 41-foot American Tug the year before at the Newport International Boat Show in Rhode Island—and falling in love with the brand—they stayed humble and bought a new to them 34-foot AT. They named it Hooty Hoo.
They had a blast aboard, “splashing off to beat Mother Winter, then journeying south via the Intracoastal Waterway to the Bahamas, back to the Florida Keys then to the home dock in Panama City, Florida,” recalls Janell.
They decided to trade up. In 2015, with Ronny’s career as a utility/heavy equipment contractor for private, commercial, and government entities succeeding profitably, they bought a pre-owned American Tug 41. They named it Hooty Hoo II. After a few more fabulous boating seasons, including adventures in the Redneck Riviera along the coast of the Florida Panhandle and the Abacos islands of the Bahamas, they decided it was time to get serious.
“I started reading about the Great Loop before we bought the 34,” Ronny says. “It was always in the back of my mind that it was something I wanted to do.” In 2021, they found a roomy 2014 AT 485 flybridge model, brought it home, and started getting ready for the Loop.
Name? Hooty Hoo!!!
Laughing, the couple gleefully admit they’re repeat offenders. “The third one was the sign of insanity,” Ronny chuckles. In October 2023 they took off on their month-on, month-off Great Loop adventure, logging 1,100 miles to date.
The evolution of their love affair with the American Tug model began with the boat school of hard knocks, an education that taught the couple everything they didn’t want. “We’ve had some really crappy boats,” Ronny admits, hastily adding with a laugh, “yes, drinking was involved.”
After ownership of powerboats such as a Trojan 30 and a Luhrs 36, the Joneses knew they were done with lightweight “plasticy” models. Stepping aboard the American Tug in Newport was an “oh, wow” episode full of sensory delights: the beautiful woodwork, the U-shaped galley, the platform stability, including ABT/TRAC marine stabilizer system; the overall layout and safety features. “This is it, we don’t need to look anymore,” Janell told Ronny.
For Ronny, also a woodworker, the joinery was just the beginning. “It’s about maintenance and systems,” he says, ticking off fresh water; sanitary; propulsion; electrical; battery; generator; shore power.
“There’s a lot to it, and it sounds overwhelming, but I liked moving from the 34 to 41 because I knew how they built the boat,” he says. “I can get all the way around the engine and work on it and get to the generator. I can change an impeller along the way if I have to. I understand the components and I understand where the components are, which is a big deal.”
“At boat shows I pulled every hatch and I crawled into every space I could get into from one end of the boat to the other,” he adds. “Janell was in the galley and asking questions. Crawling through all those nooks and crannies and pulling drawers out and trying to find what they were trying to hide, I didn’t find much. That’s what really sold me on this boat. And I was looking for stability. Our boat’s nicer than a lot of living spaces on land. It’s a fully self-contained city.”
There’s something else the couple praise since embarking on their peripatetic Great Loop adventure, when not tending to an elderly parent or a new grandchild: the company of other Loopers, and other AT Loopers.
“On the Loop,” says Ronnie, “there are boats around you, doing the same thing as you, right in sight. And they’re very helpful.”
For Janell, the AT connection is also key.
“We value the brand quality and construction and the fact that they are still building boats in the USA,” she says. “There is a large family of owners and files that are accessed easily via the owners’ forum. The factory is quick to respond via phone and email and they keep meticulous build records.”
While on occasion they are tempted by twin-engine boat models that would allow cruising beyond 12-14 knots an hour, they are consistently pleased with the brand they chose nearly 17 years ago.
“It was easy to fall in love with the American Tug even though she was/is definitely a different breed in Florida,” Janell says. “We have given up speed and twin-engine maneuverability for comfort and cost savings.”
Adds Ronny: “I don’t want to be in a hurry. I’ve been running in that hamster cage all my life, trying to go faster and faster every day. Now I’m trying to learn to slow down.”
The Joneses plan to continue their cruise in three segments; for hurricane season 2024, they kept the boat in Brunswick, Georgia. “We’ll return to the Bahamas this winter and then turn around and head back north for the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association rendezvous in Norfolk in May 2025, then the Chesapeake for the summer/winter is a possibility,” says Janell.
And they have another layer to the ongoing mission. “We found out there’s another Hootie Hoo out there. We haven’t run into them yet but they’re on the Loop, too.”
