"
Why would you have a coiled drum with nearly no rope on it? Is that just tight or what" 
Ocean going tug hauling winches as designed only with sufficient drum size and
hauling rope so the tug can
stand off the larger vessel
When at sea, the vessel to be towed will throw a light heaving line to the tug, the tug then winds this heaving line over the winch jipsy drum until the large long poly tow rope is on board the tug.......this then is linked to the vessel winch poly rope. The tug can then feed off her own poly hauling rope until she is clear of the larger vessel under tow
In some cases, the main poly tow rope is transferred to the tugs hook, thus taking any mechanical load off the hydraulic winch system [although this is more common for additional tugs used as back stays]
The actual tow rope being used is 80% of the vessel being towed...
When the large vessel is alongside, the large long poly ropes then become the wharf mooring ropes and immediately placed under auto tension
This certainly was the case with 100,000 tonne ore carriers berthing and departing Kembla
Derek
