Towing another boat

[TyBoo]

If you were to take another boat under tow at sea, how exactly would you rig the line to the towing vessel? I know the towed boat should be hooked by the bow eye (trailer strap eye). But the only way to attach the line to my boat if towing another would be a bridle between the two stern cleats (I don't have the lower tie down eyes). It seems to me that doing that could cause some trouble if the towed boat was climbing a swell and the line was taut. Of course, the line length should be such that the two boats are in time with the swells, and each vessel will be on the same side of successive swells. But sometimes the water isn't in "time" with itself, and you can't stop and alter the tow line length too many times in rough seas.

For that matter, let's answer the rest of the pertinent questions about towing at sea, too.

I know, I know - read Chapman's. Well, I would like to hear also from some with actual experience.

Thanks.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Mike, I got a lot of experience towing boats on my trip to Alaska.
We used a bridle with a thimble. The bridle went from stern cleat to stern cleat. The tow line was attached to the bow eye on the towed vessel. It is important that your bridle is substantial and able to handle the load. Also the tow line should be very stout and long... how long? Well the guys that have been doing this for years wanted the line to be mostly in the water to dampen the tow. This was contrary to what I thought (not ever towing a boat before). In any case you need to be aware that you can not just stop and if you MUST stop the rope stands a good chance of sinking into your prop, rudder or other apparatus off your stern. Also when you avoid an object like a log you need to be able to avoid the obstical with your tow as well.
Keep in mind that should the line break or a piece of equipment fail nothing should be in the path in either direction of the rope. The recoil can be significant.. another good reason to have a lot of rope in the water.
I towed with two vessels and each had a different tow. With both of them we brought the line in by hand to shorten the tow after slowing down and kicking into neutral. We side tied to maneuver in tight quarters. It was good experience and I learned a lot.
The most inportant thing I learned is to go slow. We never got over 10 mph.
You need to keep in mind that if you throw a line to a vessel to tow them YOU are LIABLE! If they throw the rope to you to get a tow THEY are liable. You may need to speak to a lawyer but that is my understanding.
In my neck of the woods I would stand by and wait for the pros to come handle the tow. Hopefully that is the Coast Guard and not fire hose Bob's personal bilge pumping brigade.
I hope this helps...

[Sealife]

How I've been taught to do it in the Coast Guard Auxiliary is as follows:

I have two bridles (20 ft) leading from each of my stern cleats to a thimble, to which my tow line is attached. If seas permit, and the towed boat has a trailer eye, I use a skiff hook to attach the tow line. A skiff hook is a gizmo that attaches to the end of a boat hook for this purpose. If the seas are too rough (you have to get fairly close to use a skiff hook), the tow line is passed using a heaving line. Depending on how the towed vessel's deck hardware is situated, another bridle may be called for to allow the tow line to clear all bow obstacles. On small boats, it usually preferable to two via the trailer eye if possible, as it tends to keep the bow high. Tow speeds are dead slow, adjusting length to match swells, and shortening or taking alongside once in calm water. It's my job as the coxwain to asess the situation, and vary the procedure to fit the case, always measuring the risk involved to both the towed vessel and my crew.

Frankly, before Vessel Assist, I did alot more towing with my 17' Whaler than I do now, except in practice. But the procedures haven't changed much.




Mike - Sealife

[KenMcC]

Hi Mike, and Mike, and All,

Steering becomes a pretty important issue here, especially if you are towing a fairly heavy boat.

Towing off the stern really restricts your stern stbd./port movement, which greatly reduces your ability to steer. Boats steer from the stern, not the front like cars, so if you can't freely swing your stern from port to starboard, you have lost your ability to steer.

To properly tow, setting your tow line (from a bridle) well ahead of the stern is important. With a C-Dory, the way to do it is to use the midships cleats which are just below the forward cabin windows. Chafing gear should be used where the bridle bears on the cabin walls at the corners.

The key here is to have the steering gear (rudder, outboard prop, or whatever) as far behind the towing bridle as possible, to minimize the influence of the towed boat on the ability to steer.

I've done it enough times in my dad's 30' Chris Craft to appreciate that it seems to work pretty well.

Ken

[Sealife]

Ken,

Your reply is interesting and accurate, and I've thought about towing from those spring cleats before, however have not yet tried it. Have you? What I'd be concerned about is this: you would need a much longer bridle to clear the outboards, there would be considerable chaffing as you mentioned, and I might be concerned that a tow swinging wide could exert alot of lateral force on the cabin, causing the C-Dory to heel sharply, leading to the tow line riding up higher and higher on the cabin, finally forcing a capsize. A better solution would be to install a pair of cleats on the gunwales, just aft of the cabin, through bolted with backing plates. Simple, not expensive, and effective.

Mike - Sealife

[Sea Wolf]

Mike, Ken-

I actually have cleats installed right at the back edge of the cabin on the gunnels.

There's a point on my "87 Cruiser on the gunnels where the non-skid stops and there's a raised area to force water coming back on the gunnels to drain overboard rather than flow further back and into the cockpit.

Not sure if the later models are set up this way or not. It's a perfect place for another spring cleat, and especially useful to add another fender to when docked.

A 4 inch cleat fits the best here, so a smaller 3/8 or 7/16 inch bridle would be best.

Great point about the steering, Ken!

[TyBoo]

Great stuff so far. Thanks. How about describing the construction of the bridle and what you are calling a "thimble"? It sounds like it's just two eye-eye lines coming together at the end of the single tow line. Is a float of some sort recommended at the joint of the bridle and tow line to help keep it out of the prop when slack? It is pretty much common sense, it seems, but maybe my definition of common can be influenced by your experience.

The thought that came to me when thinking of using the stern cleats was the possibility (likelihood?) of the towing vessel's stern getting pulled down at the wrong time relative to a following swell. Kinda like anchoring backwards. I can see how the connection amidships (damn, I hope I used that word right) would lessen the chance, but that sounds like a whole bunch of extra line flailing around.

Up until this season, our USCG guys would tow anybody anytime from the ocean outside the CR bar, and the only cost was a thorough inspection back at the dock. Now we got a Sea Tow outfit that has moved in with a great deal of arrogance, it appears. So the USCG policy of issuing an MARB in situations of less than imminent danger has to be followed. Sea Tow is pretty cheap insurance, I guess, at $120 a year, but they charge $200 - $225 per hour for non-members. And they station their boat a good hour from the bar and insist on towing their customers to their dock only. And they have had some quality of service complaints already. I ain't leaving B~C out there if it is safe for me to drag his butt in, so I am needing to get an idea of what all I have to learn.

Thanks, thanks, and thanks.

[rogerbum]

[lloyds]

The bridles I have seen have an eye attached to a pulley that rides the bridle and you can turn and still maintain strain on both ends of the bridle. And there is a float attached near the pulley but on the towed boats lead. The bridle makes good sense as you can turn and actually effect a change of direction but I have personally never done it. Had several times when I should of but that was pre-computer age and I had no idea what would work. I once pulled a 26' cabin boat across san francisco bay, in the afternoon chop, with a 13' boston whaler. A bridle would have made it so much better. But other than CG or CGA, who carries all that gear with them. I barely had room for beer.

[KenMcC]

Hi, Sealife Mike,

I've never tried it with my C-Dory, but what I was thinking was running the bridle all the way behind the engine(s), so there's no interference.

Ken

[Sea Wolf]

Seems to me that for the bridle with the pulley to be effective in allowing the boat to swivel, the geometry would need to have the triangle of the bridle to be an equilateral triangle or less. A long bridle would negate the value of the pulley in allowing the boat to turn while keeping both sides of the triangle taunt and permitting towing from anchor points at the rear of the boat instead of much further forward.

Put another way, a short, broad based triangular bridle anchored at the rear of the boat on, perhaps, the trailer eyes (for strength) with a traveling pulley for the line to the towed boat, would allow the towing boat to pivot and thus maintain steerage while towing. With an added float above and to the rear of the pulley, the bridle can be kept out of the prop(s) of the tow boat. Here again, the bridle must be kept short to keep the forward arms from sinking into the prop(s).

This arrangement is also very effective in keeping the bridle attachment points out of the cockpit or further forward so that they won't be prone to foul on the motor, stern cleats, rod holders, downriggers, or other projections or persons. The rope arms of the bridle could also have floats around them much like the floats on swimming pool lanes to help keep them floating and up out of the prop's working area.

Still, it does leave the pivot point of the tow near the rear of the boat, and may not be as effective in difficult situations as the admidships bridle. One might note how some ski/wakeboard tow boats have their tow point elevated forward on the tower to lessen the leverage the towed person puts on the stern of the boat and to allow the boat more freedom to turn and steer freely.

The only other limitation of this arrangement would be the posssibility of encountering greater difficulty when needing to quickly release the tow rope, as compared with a bridle tied amidships.

It would be possible to arrange a trip line to release the tow rope behind the pulley if deemed desirable or necessary.

Sounds like a fun topic with some experimentation possibilities. Joe.

[AK-Brando]

Yes a towing bitt mounted as close to amidship is ideal, just look at Coast Guard boats, commercial tugs, and fishing boats to see where they tow from. Our commercial fishing boats have towing bitts mounted just aft of the cabin. This allows the towing boat to swing at least 180 degrees (90 each direction) while still towing.

[KenMcC]

The bottom line is that towing should only be done when there is no danger to the safety of the boat or crew of either of the boats.

If you are not sure of what to do, or could possibly tangle your tow line in the propellor or around an engine, then the wise thing is to stand clear, and radio for help!

Most situations don't call for that, but if the boat is bigger than yours, it's worth considering.

Ken

[Not For Hire]

In the USCGA I did experience a number of towing situations, and we sure practiced a lot more than we ever had actual SARs.

Although not active in the Aux. any more I still carry my tow gear. The tow lines, bridle, home made tow strap. some carabiners and nylon straps to facilitate tying to different boats, etc. I keep in a nylon mesh laundry bag. (Incidentally if you take your dock lines or other lines and put them in such a nylon mesh bag and then wash them in the washing machine with some liquid fabric softener they come out soft and clean again). The mesh bag stays in the anchor locker area, but I can move it around quickly when anchoring, etc.

One of our Auxie boats had sampson posts in the stern. Although not a large boat it was very sturdy. On that boat the skipper made a bridle by using a short line with a loop on one stern post (cleat) and the tow line passed through the loop to the towed vessel and was fastened to the other cleat. This made it very easy to vary the length of the tow line and get the catenary that you wanted. By adjusting the short loop line from time to time you could keep the towing pressure pretty equal on the two cleats.

Some boats rigged broom handle devices (wood dowels passed through stern eye type device) so that by merely pulling up on the dowel you could drop a tow. I kept a very sharp serrated knife handy at the stern. Although you should never drop the tow except in an emergency if necessary you have to do it quick.

Keep all the working ends of the lines on your boat, the towed boaters should all be sitting down with PFDs on. The towed boat skipper should put rudder amidships and not help with steering (unless you know his capabilities and then help is good).

This year I did have occasion to tow a boat in the Lex Cheneaux islands. It was one of those express cruiser style (very sleek and shiny, huge v-8, looks like a pregnant penguin) style boat. Towed him two miles and dropped him on the outside dock of the marina without taking him in side tow.

[Sea Angel]

Hi All;
There some great pieces of information here. It is my impression that the policy of not taking tows by the USCG has 2 main parts. The first is that of taking away business from the private sector. The second is the limited resources they face today, even more.

When I was coxswain, we could take in a tow with permission from the CG controlling station and only if there was any danger to the vessel and its occupants. If the vessel did not a functioning/ missing radio a call would still go out for other resources.

I made my harness with yellow poly' line so I could see it and it does float. The strength and stretch is less than nylon, but if you stay within the working loads all should be OK. I would always go up a size when I compared and max'd the line to the cleat size and load rating. The name of the game here is SAFETY. Slow towing speed and a steady pull is the means to reduce a lot of stress.

Got to run... duty calls..