Pittsburgh's Just Ducky Tours

Submitted by SabotUp007 t3_z12qdd in pittsburgh

So, who remembers our Just Ducky Tours?

They were closed in 2019 following a deadly accident in 2018 in Table Rock Lake on Branson, Missouri, in which 17 people died. The YouTube channel Brick Immortar recently posted an in-depth video about that tragedy. While Pittsburgh's Ducky tours are not specifically mentioned, in a 2019 interview with the Post Gazzette, Micheal Cohen, a co-founder of the business, told the PG ""our insurance company would not renew us. We had a very clean loss-run history. It didn't matter. The insurance companies got spooked."

While I personally enjoyed the Just Ducky Tours myself, after watching this in-depth video, I can see why the insurance company refused to renew the policy despite the Pittsburgh company's clean history.

Video Link

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CrazyCanuck57 t1_ix8ofmu wrote

I worked there as a narrator and captain! It was very unfortunate, almost all other duck boat companies heavily modified and extended the hulls, where Pittsburgh was independent and very strict on safety. I miss driving those boats so much and had no worries about the safety while on them, but those few accidents hurt the "duck tour" name so much.

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JamesLLL t1_ix9ip80 wrote

So what happened to the boats? Were they original 1940s DUKWs?

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CrazyCanuck57 t1_ix9l171 wrote

They were auctioned off. They were all original hulls, but new engines, transmissions, and more for safety. I believe all were used in WWII for training in the US, as the majority of DUKW's were left overseas or scuttled after battle so they didn't have to transport them home.

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Alt_North t1_ixaf0w6 wrote

Me too, narrator and first-mate anyway! Even at that I needed to take safety training and drills very seriously. Hope to see a revival if the gang is still into it -- there was nothing like it for cheap & easy laughs on the waterways

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westinghousesghost t1_ix8lnet wrote

I actually got to drive the boat in the river once! My cousin was in town with her toddler and we decided to take him. They asked if anybody wanted to drive. I did but felt weird raising my hand since I was like 25 and felt like it was meant for the kids. Nobody wanted to, so I took my chance since I love learning to drive different vehicles.

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CARLEtheCamry t1_ix9cs1v wrote

My sister came to town and we took her once when my son was young, like 6 or 7. One of my fondest memories, how proud he was to pilot the boat. But that wasn't the best part for me :

We had planned it for a few months, so I knew it was coming. My kid was taking swim lessons and doing really well. He didn't know what a Ducky Tour was, so I just told him it was a bus with the top cut off that took us around town. But that I was nervous, because they drove so close the water and more than once the tour bus had actually fallen into the water (keep in mind this was before the incident in Missouri). I told him "good thing your such a good swimmer!". This was all reinforced by the safety briefing about life jacket location when we boarded (See son, I told you!). He even asked my sister and her BF if they were good swimmers like he was, just in case.

Cut to us entering the water and I'm playing it up that I was really nervous at how close they're getting to the water... then we were in the water. You should have seen his face. He was ready to jump over the side and swim for it, lol.

He got over it quick, and got to drive the boat back and forth in the open river. Not without a comment for me about "try not to hit land". The captain was right there with him, kind of steering him away from other boats if needed. But yeah, lifelong memory. And somehow he hasn't needed therapy about the whole thing.

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Whiplash_666 t1_ixa74e2 wrote

Bud I drove it and was probably 35. Bucket list item there! Now look, never again.

We were captains of the high seas

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SabotUp007 OP t1_ix8mj7z wrote

That’s awesome!

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westinghousesghost t1_ix8nb32 wrote

It was, but damn were they slow! Between the water resistance and under-powered engines, you had to make course corrections more in-advance than I had anticipated and really mash the throttle. I expected something so relatively-small (for a watercraft) to be a little more nimble than it was.

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westinghousesghost t1_ix8noxa wrote

Back in the day, anybody using those vehicles for military purposes would be...sitting ducks

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DuckyTours t1_ix8mlwg wrote

Quack quack quack 🦆

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LaterWendy t1_ix9760t wrote

The company I used to work for was based out of PNC Park and I always loved getting quacked at when they went by…well they were really quacking at Roberto Clemente 😂

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New_Understudy t1_ix91os2 wrote

We went on one somewhen around 2016/2017 and it was fantastic! We had an incredible tour guide who, if I remember correctly, was getting her degree in a subset of History that made her super knowledgeable about Pittsburgh. By far one of the best tours we've done. I'd heard they shut down, but I thought it was because of funding; not the accident.

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[deleted] t1_ix97xii wrote

[deleted]

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New_Understudy t1_ix985ab wrote

I mean, I meant it as more of a snowballing effect from one accident, but yes, that'd be specifically why Pittsburgh Ducky Tours are gone. As opposed to what I thought actually happened, which was just that they couldn't afford to operate anymore.

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McJumpington t1_ix99zz4 wrote

Worked there for around 8 years and loved it. Our captains were super safety focused

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SabotUp007 OP t1_ix9awsj wrote

Based on the video, it seems like even a very safety minded captain could have fallen afoul of the inherent design flaws in the boats to cope with rough waters. The redesigned air intakes, the lack of redundant buoyancy, the rigid canopies preventing passengers from escaping should the boat become submerged, etc etc

I personally would love to see amphibious tours return to Pittsburgh, but with a purpose built vehicle as opposed to a modified surplus vehicle. Alas, that would lack that charm of the original ducks.

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McJumpington t1_ix9deqz wrote

The design of the boats are for sure always going to pose a threat. I just know we had a great staff of mechanics that performs maintenance and checks daily, we paid attention to weather every single trip, we occasionally skipped the water portion if it was bad conditions (guests would be upset, but we always focused on favorable conditions). We also stayed way closer to shore than the tour in the video in case there was some emergency.

All of that said- again the buoyancy reserve not existing for sure sucks. They really should have created some canopy that can bust off quickly.

I think most captains were more afraid of land to be honest. Pedestrians would walk right under the bow at stops, car would swerve out of side streets in front of us, bikers would come out of the blue.

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Tuckerrrrr t1_ix98282 wrote

Best summer job I ever had. Quack quack quack

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Lostadults t1_ix9x85n wrote

I liked the duck boats, sad they are gone.

I am on the rivers quite a bit. And where the duck boats were far from the yar, The where the freaking Queen Mary compared to those tiki boats.

I'm just waiting for one of those to go down.

Really who thought it was a good idea to put high bar chairs on a raft that looks like your shady Uncle built in the backyard then invite a bunch of people to get drunk and take a tour of the river. Every time I pass when I pray that I'm not the one that knocks them into the water.

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theidleidol t1_ixam8ke wrote

The difference with the tiki boats is it would be individual passengers falling overboard, rather than the boat sinking and taking everyone aboard down with it. As shoddily built as the tiki rafts might be, the form factor and materials would make them very hard to capsize.

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puppy_fan t1_ix98fo5 wrote

Any time they went by my bus stop I was tempted to take one eventually. Seemed like great advertisement to drive through downtown.

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LazarusBird t1_ix9x56q wrote

I miss them. I always wrote them off as some out of town touristy thing that wasn't worth my time, but my sister visited once and wanted to go so I obliged. I ended up learning a lot about the city and had an absolute blast. The guides/captains were absolute rockstars and I (gladly) couldn't have been more wrong about my assumptions about the tours.

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earthsalibra t1_ix9hdt0 wrote

I got to drive the ducky boat in 2016! I even got a “I drove the ducky boat” sticker 😂

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fattasswiper t1_ix9l4sa wrote

I had just moved back to my hometown of Pittsburgh after nearly 40 years away. My friends came to visit me, they were both semi-disabled but able to walk around fairly well. So I take them on the Ducky tour. The woman gets seasick and almost faints, while her husband, an avid fisherman, is allowed to take the wheel for a moment. He almost steers the tourboat into some obstacle but luckily the driver regained control. That was the end of sightseeing on the water for us.

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jaycatt7 t1_ix9ptct wrote

I got to take one of the tours maybe 5 years ago. No idea at the time how near the end would be.

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bhath01 t1_ixa43bt wrote

Was in Boston last week and saw the duck boat in Downtown so maybe there’s hope we’ll see them again. I figured the whole brand would be dead after the incidents but that’s not the case.

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A_lunch_lady t1_ix9i8zf wrote

We did the tour several times, so fun!

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ventorun t1_ix9rbx7 wrote

Ride the Ducks in Seattle filed a liquidating bankruptcy in 2020 for the same reason (insurance). The ones in Boston are still going.

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Parking-Discount-962 t1_ixaaqvi wrote

I used to LOVE ducky tours as a kid. The absolute best field trip activity

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pensgear_com t1_ixaees4 wrote

I miss the Ducky tours. I got to drive the vehicle once, it’s certainly a highlight of my life.

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Sufficient-Lab-5769 t1_ix9bhuq wrote

I rode one back in 2000 or maybe 2001, it was fun! My lasting memory is of everyone on the boat quacking at the inmates in the Allegheny County Jail.

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MustangMimi t1_ix9ogd6 wrote

I loved the tours! Our school district did field trips there every year and when I had relatives in from out of town we would do the tours. Wah, Quack, Quack. 🦆

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Easterbunniez t1_ixae4qn wrote

Went on it as a kid and then again during college move in! Loved it!

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TrollocsBollocks t1_ixaj4dd wrote

I took my then-girlfriend on a Ducky Tour and proposed after the ride. We bought the silly quack whistles and everything. So sad it’s gone.

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DasUberSpud t1_ixan17f wrote

Really interesting video and this made me remember going on that same ride when I was a kid and my family would take us to silver dollar city. I have not thought about that in years. Thanks OP!

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motociclista t1_ixaywvs wrote

I was so sorry they closed. Seemed like such a great way to introduce people to the city. I’m an avid boater and always wished I could get a job on the tour boats.

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Askarus t1_ix9s8uk wrote

I don't want the tours back, I do want someone to buy the boats and set up a water taxi service around Pittsburgh though.

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mysecondaccountanon t1_ix9sx08 wrote

Wait, they closed down here? First I’ve heard of it! Was really fun to go on when I got the chance once, the guide was really knowledgeable

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rae1104 t1_ixa19ff wrote

I went once. Hearing about the tragedy scared me. Kinda wana watch the documentary but kinda don’t wanna cry again today

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evaissofine t1_ixb2215 wrote

I worked there as a narrator for a summer and I absolutely loved it. Such a shame they got screwed over by association. They were always really good about the maintenance of the vehicles and our Coast Guard training

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lexgrub t1_ixbnylz wrote

I did one of these tours and learned so much. I have lived in Pittsburgh my entire life. It was great! The best tour of PGH I have ever had!

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gunja1513 t1_ixa0hmy wrote

A bunch of people got ran over by them in other cities. Operators could not see below the front if people were crossing the road.

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throwawayLindaLavin t1_ixbojy3 wrote

Darn, this sounded like a fun post and now I'm just really sad.

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Yacan1 t1_ixfcxol wrote

Best friend of mine gave me a roll of their round yellow stickers this year and it's been a family heirloom since

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CL-MotoTech t1_ix9vb96 wrote

Worker's comp and general liability isn't exactly a thing in the armed forces. They were never really fit for operations like the Ducky tours, and on top of that they were old as fuck. It's the same reason people don't really like driving cars that never came with seat belts. I personally had a great time on numerous Ducky tours in various cities, like most people, I survived (unless my dog is posting this).

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iSoReddit t1_ixami3k wrote

Why would we forget something that was around 3 years ago?

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[deleted] t1_ix9i0nn wrote

[deleted]

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SabotUp007 OP t1_ixa5dsu wrote

I mean, yes, but also, do you see how the modern purpose built designs lack the charm of the original WWII ducks? That’s definitely part of the draw for many people, getting to ride on those old WWII surplus vehicles that our forefathers liberated Europe and the Pacific in.

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