Help at Sea

[Harry Babb]

Well its time for my SeaTow annual membership renewal.

I don't remember ever reading any post on Boating Assistance companies here on B31.

Just wondering if any of my friends here have a preference.....SeaTow or Boat US on the water assistance companies......

Harry Babb

[Harv]

I use Sea Tow and never leave port without it.

[Dave Kosh R.I.P.]

I use Sea Tow and have had to call them twice on my present 31. Both times to tow me just up my channel and canal. One engine steering doesn't work to well trying to make 90 degree turns at idle speed! It works for me. I also had to use them on my 25B 50 miles offshore too once. My steering helm unit went out but I managed to connect up with Sea Tow at about 35 miles out using the engines alone to steer. It worked. Dave K

[Thums Up2]

Check which covers your area better. I use Tow Boat US. We have both Sea tow and boat us. But, it is 15 miles farther for sea tow to get to the inlet and boat US is in the first marina just inside the inlet which is the marina next to mine. They can get to me fast and there range covers farther offshore than sea tow's. I have been towed twice because of bad fuel and trust me having Boat US closer made a huge difference.

[RussP]

Tow Boat US is the way to go. I've heard too many horror stories about Sea Tow claiming boats as salvage after soft groundings. I had Tow Boat drag me back from the Bahamas last year no charge. It would have been a $4k bill with Sea Tow. Tow Boat US also offers 10 cent P/Gal discounts at many marinas for gas & diesel.
RussP

[Tommy]

I agree with Russ big time; too many stories about Sea-Tow operators gouging members by claiming "salvage" rather than "assistance tow". There was an article in the paper a while back where a Sea-Tow operator responded to a soft-grounding call out on Cape Lookout Shoals during a local king mackeral tournament. The Sea-Tow operator pulled the boat off the sand bar and charged the owner a huge "salvage" fee. The boat was a Contender outboard which sustained no damage, and in the newspaper interview, the boat owner said he literally stepped off his boat in knee deep water and walked the tow line over to the Sea-Tow operator who proceeded to pull him off in short order. The Sea-Tow operator claimed that since the shoals are determined to be "an area of danger", it was within his rights to charge for a salvage. The fact that it was a bluebird day didn't seem to matter to the Sea-Tow operator in the case. The fisherman was furious with the treatment he was subjected to and wanted the world to know how he was treated. Where he erred was in accepting a tow before having the Sea-Tow operator sign an agreement as to services offered. The fisherman said he it never occured to him that his situation could be viewed as anything but a soft grounding and he wanted to get back to fishing, so he accepted the brief tow. I don't remember the exact amount of the charge, but I think it was over $10,000 (I'll try to find the article to post). The fisherman did not want his insurance company to settle with the Sea-Tow operator, but at that point it was out of his hands. I strongly recommend Tow-BoatUS.

Tommy

[Capt Dick Dean]

"engine steering doesn't work to well trying to make 90 degree turns at idle speed"
In response to Capt Dave : Three yrs ago while in winter storage, I came across a B28 with an extentsion on the trailing edge of the port rudder. It was made of the same prop metal and it was bolte4d on with 3 1/4 in blots. The piece was 1/2 in thick and extented 2.5 inches aft of the trailing edge. The verical measure was the same as the rudder.

I liked it. It was used for trolling with the port engine @ idle speed.

This past winter I installed the same idea but on both rudders. I used 1/2 in plastic, 2.5 in extention, and almost the same vertical measure - about 9 inches. Instead of bolting the piece on, I used horizonal metal straps(2) to afect the the piece. Well it works just great. And costs about $10.00US.

So next winter I will bolt them on for a permanant fix.

Now for those of "fat wallet", you can get the Patrick Rudders. I can't 'cause the Welfare Dept money ain't that good.

And that's the way it is in NY .... with Hillary as my senate rep.

[scot]

I looked into SeaTow in my area and they told me that 50 miles offshore was max. Does that sound right to your guys? and does Tow Boats go past 50 miles?

[Sean B]

I too had a bad experience with Sea Tow many years back, and would never call them again. At the time I was running a small boat just offshore that suddenly and quickly was sinking out from under me, but I managed to beach it and get everybody off safely. Called SeaTow, and they left us waiting for them for six hours, and kept telling us that they were on the way.... before finally calling to say they weren't going to come at all.

I think their behavior might be because I happened to be beached in a sea turtle protection zone, an act which I'm told carries heavy fines if caught there - whatever the reason you put the boat there - and perhaps they decided that they didn't want to mess with it. But that doesn't excuse six hours of promises, before the chicken shits decided to not show at all.

I finally called Tow Boat US, and they were on the scene to do their job in 45 minutes, sea turtles be damned.

I used to think that it was just the local SeaTow guys that sucked, and that whichever service had the best guys in your particular area would be best... but now after reading all the SeaTow horror stories, I'm thinking maybe they are bad all over.

I vote Tow Boat U.S., but try to get some local boaters' experiences too

[Harry Babb]

Thanks guys for your responses and sharing your experiences concerning SeaTow and Tow Boat US. I also called several local "People in the know" and asked their opinion.

I heard both good and bad about Tow Boat US and SeaTow but in the end I choose to sign up with Tow Boat US.

I am happy to purchase the policy and hope to never need it.

I asked the opinion of the faithful...........you gave it to me...........I feel that its important to report back to you guys with my final decision........and I thank you very much

Harry Babb