The Landyachtz Tugboat isn’t as hyped up as I think it should be, it’s one of the best mini cruisers in the game and I cannot recommend it enough. Check out my review to find out more about it.
Specifications
- Deck
- Length: 30″
- Width: 9-9.24″
- Wheelbase: 15”
- Construction: 7plys Canadian Maple
- Stiffness: Normal (not super flexible)
- Max weight: Not sure but hold about 250lbs comfortably
- Components
- Wheels: 63mm Fatty Hawgs, 63mm Doozy Hawgs, or 60mm EZ Hawgs
- Trucks: 130mm, or 150mm TKP Polar Bear trucks
- Bearings: Bear Space Balls Abec 7 bearings.
Landyachtz Tugboat Review
Summary
The Tugboat has been designed as the “bigger” brother of the Dinghy. Its wider size makes it more suitable for riders looking for a stable mini cruiser that is more comfortable and easier to ride than the Dinghy.
It’s also been made with riders that have bigger feet in mind.
And honestly, mission accomplished. The Tugboat feels loads easier to ride than the Dinghy whilst still feeling very much like a mini-cruiser.
It’s definitely more comfortable to stand on it for much longer periods of time and my feet don’t feel as tired when riding it. The wider trucks make it loads more stable and my feet don’t work as much to keep it going straight.
And it’s just as portable as the Dinghy, but just a tiny bit heavier.
My only complaint is the 150mm TKP trucks turn a bit sluggishly – they aren’t very nimble.
But that said, if you want something super stable, this is still a great option.
The best version of the Tugboat is the one with 130mm Polar Bears. It is both turny, and stable. I highly recommend it.
Owning both the Tugboat and the Dinghy, I’d pick the Tugboat (with 130mm wide trucks) every time.
I also found it loads easier to do tricks on the Tugboat. The Ollie came more naturally to me and the kickflip too. I can’t say that t will be good for learning tricks, but it is certainly one of the most trick friendly mini-cruisers I’ve skated.
Is the Tugboat comfortable?
The Tugboat is generally a comfortable board. And you can look at that in two ways.
The first is that it is comfortable to ride. Because it comes with wide stable trucks, it is easy to keep it balanced and going straight. Your feet/legs don’t get fatigued easily when riding.
When you’re out cruising for longer periods of time, this is important. You can ride for longer without feeling the board is holding you back too much.
This is a contrast to the Dinghy where you have to actively work to keep it going in a straight line. You get quickly fatigued riding the Dinghy around.
The concave is steep
The Tugboat has some decently aggressive concave.
It steepest around the middle of the board, and then mellow outs more towards the tail and nose.
If you stand directly in the middle of the board, it isn’t super comfortable … but this may vary for people as how you feel about concave varies from person to person.
But standing over the front and rear bolts, for your front foot you get a bit of concave cradling your heels, whilst the mellow part sits under your front toe.
For the back foot it is vice versa. You get steeper concave on your toes, and mellower concave under your heels.
Is the concave comfortable?
The concave is generally comfortable. However, at times, it can feel a bit restrictive. That said, I don’t mind it.
I would definitely prefer something mellower, but the Tugboat concave is ok as it is.
How is the Tugboat deck?
The Tugboat deck is solid and feels high-quality.
It has decent pop (as much as you’d expect for a minicruiser), and feels like it would last me a long time.
Is the Tugboat stable?
Yes.
The Tugboat comes with wide trucks that have stiff bushings. This makes it quite stable.
Compared to other smaller mini cruisers, the Tugboat isn’t as nimble and reactive. It takes turns a lot slower and doesn’t react too suddenly to you shifting your weight.
This is great. It makes the Tugboat beginner-friendly and easy to ride. It also makes it easy to balance on for long periods of time.
Because of this, the Tugboat is one of the few mini cruisers that feel great to me to ride in day in and day out and I would recommend it over smaller mini cruisers like the Dinghy.
However, too much stability can be a bad thing.
Is the Tugboat turny?
The Tugboat isn’t the most turny of boards.
With the 130mm wide trucks, the Tugboat has a good balance of turning and stability. It doesn’t turn too suddenly, but still turns enough that it feels comfortable in a city environment where I need to take loads of sharp turns.
But with the 150mm wide trucks, the Tugboat simply doesn’t turn enough. Yes, it is very stable, but the trade off for reduced turning doesn’t feel worth it. I found myself using the kicktail a lot more to turn and that didn’t feel natural and intuitive.
I also had to flip the roadside washer of the front truck to try and get more turning – It worked, but I didn’t need to do this on the 130mm version of the Tugboat.
The 130mm version is a great balance of turn and stability
If you do choose the Tugboat, I urge you to get the 130mm version. It will give you the best balance of turning and stability.
Are the components high-quality?
The Tugboat comes with high-quality Bear trucks, Bear Spaceball Bearings, and Hawgs wheels. All top-tier longboard brands.
Frequently asked question about the Tugboat
Should I get Dinghy or Tugboat?
The Tugboat is bigger than the Dinghy. This makes it more comfortable to ride for longer periods of time and more suitable for bigger riders.
The extra width does make it less manuevarable than the Dinghy, but this also translates to added stability. This makes it more beginner friendly than the Dinghy too.
I much prefer the Tugboat over the Dinghy.
Is the Landyachtz Tugboat fast? (are the wheels good?)
The Tugboat comes with a variety of wheels. All feel decent for cruising. They all accelerate decently and have decent momentum. The wheels are high-quality and all work well for their size.
The version I had came with EZ Hawgs. These accelerated quickly and had decent momentum, but they reflected a bit more road vibration than I was comfortable with.
If you do get the Tugboat, go with the Fatty Hawgs or Doozy Hawg variants.
The upside of the EZ Hawgs is that they slide very easily.
Is the Landyachtz Tugboat good for power sliding?
With the EZ Hawgs, the Tugboat felt very easy to power slide. I felt I could easily force the board into a slide.
However, the Tugboat doesn’t feel natural/intuitive to slide. The front truck is wedged, and this messes with how the board slides.
I could break into a slide easily, but I couldn’t hold a slide out for as long as I’d like – something I could do on other minicruiser quite easily.
Without the wedging, I don’t think this would be an issue.
That said, yes you could powerslide the Tugboat. But it isn’t the best platform for learning slides on. You’d want a slightly longer board as it would offer a more forgiving learning experience.
Can you do tricks on a Landyachtz Tugboat?
You could probably learn to ollie on this board, but it wouldn’t be that great for learning other things.
In my opinion, minicruiser generally aren’t great boards for learning to do tricks on.
That said, I’ve had an easier time doing kickflips, ollies, and otehr tricks on this mini cruiser than I have on others.
If you MIGHT want to learn tricks somewhere down the line, the Tugboat can make sense as a viable option. But I wouldn’t choose it if learning tricks is one of your primary goals.
Is the Landyachtz Tugboat good for beginners?
I think the Tugboat is the most beginner-friendly mini-cruiser available today.
If you want a forgiving riding experience, it’s the complete to go for.
Can the Tugboat ride over pebbles?
Yes, the wheels are big enough that it can ride over smaller pebbles with ease. It will also handle road imperfections like cracks and roughness well too.
Where to buy the Landyachtz Tugboat?
You can buy the Landyachtz Tugboat here at the Stoked ride shop.
You can also buy the Landyachtz Tugboat here at Amazon.com.
Did you enjoy this review of the Landyachtz Tugboat?
The Tugboat has really surprised me. I threw the 130mm Paris TKPs from my Fireball cruiser on it, and I really fell in love with it. It’s one of the best mini cruisers that you can buy.
Thanks for reading.
