To Seatow or not?

B

bshillam

Member
More of a poll than anything else. I am on my second year on the water and thought I would see what comments are out there for Seatow or BoatUS tow insurance. Have you had to use it? What was your experience? Would you leave home without it?
For our personal situation. Most of the time we are close to home. We have two motors that feed from different tanks and each have their own filter. I figure it would be extremely rare to have both crap out at the same time.
:disgust
 
I thought I saw somewhere that they had folded up shop in the Portland/Columbia river area...make sure they have coverage in the area you wish to boat
 
The link above in Chromers post is me being towed into Roche Harbor after my trusty 1994 Yamaha 70 2 stroke lost a bearing. Ouch. I used my 3 hp dinghy motor to get us into a safe and comfortable spot -- I suppose we could have used the little motor to get back, but very slowly. Plus, I didn't want to chance the currents in the pass with such little power.

On the same trip, before this, just as we got to our rental house on San Juan Island I had a different problem.
As the link here illustrates, you DO NOT want to back a boat down an sloped driveway made of gravel and mud in the rain. Nothing like sliding sideways down a driveway. Since I have the BoatUS trailer add-on for $10 (?) they sent out a tow truck and we were on our way. We almost needed them again to tow the boat up the ramp at Roche since the 'ramp' is not much more than a beach with some broken asphalt. Yes, I tow with a minivan -- but the trailer endorsement is a whole lot cheaper than a 4 x 4. And, in So Cal I've never needed a truck to tow.

I've had good experiences with Vessel Assist/ Boat US in the past. They are a great convenience -- but they do not replace common sense and proper equipment.

When I was younger on my father's sail boat we had a pin hole leak in his deisel auxiliary fuel line. This was before the days of Vessel Assist. Needless to say we spent the night becalmed -- perfectly safely -- off Palos Verdes where its too deep to anchor. It would have been a great convenience to have been towed in to Marina Del Rey.

Years later, on my own boat, after enjoying a great summer weekend in Avalon, we headed over to the fuel dock to gas up with the intention of making an evening passage home. Did you know that fuel docks close at 5:00 pm? Well I didn't... I was young and stupid. That said, we called Vessel Assist Avalon who was more than happy to sell us 25 gallons at their cost. Clearly we could have waited until the am -- but we had already sent half our party home on the ferry -- so again, the convenience of vessel assist made the weekend run smoothly.

Now, with kids and other responsibilities which make spending an unplanned night floating REALLY inconvenient I have found Vessel Assist to be well worth the money. It is really the least expensive part of my boating budget -- and when I need them (even if just for convenience) I am delighted to be able to use their services.

Matt
 
I have never had a towing service. I grew up where if a mariner needed help you gave help. (I understand that we live in a different world with litigation etc) But I still act that way, and regularly give aid to anyone who needs it. I carry a kicker and hopefully enough gear to bring the boat home safely. So far it has worked in many years and many thousands of miles.

I have seen some strange things done by towing services, and this includes doing far more damage to the vessel than the original grounding. I watched 3 Boat US vessels "jerk" a 42 foot Trawler off the beach--where they pulled all of the running gear out of the bottom of the boat, which was not holed before the "salvage". A crane barge would have cost about $6,000--and the damage to the boat was over $50,000. Of course the tow company was paid a hansom sum for the "salvage" and the insurance paid for the boat repair.

A neighbor has a 72 foot house boat, and drug anchor one night last year, which put him into shoal water. The tow service was 30 minutes away, and the skipper lives at the marina.
My friend called for help at 6:30 AM. By 9:15 AM (a Sunday AM) the tow boat had not yet arrived, but the tide had gone out so that the boat was aground. At 9:30 the tow boat varified that my friend had the "unlimited" tow policy, and put a line aboard the boat, and tried to pull him directly off. He could not budge the boat, so the skipper declared that this was a "salvage", after varifying that my friend's insurance covered "salvage". My friend initialed the form which declared it was "salvage". The tow service put a gasoline pump aboard the houseboat, and stuffed rags into the engine room air intakes. There was no water in the bilge, the boat was flat bottom and level. The owner suggested that the tow captain, pull the house boat's stern into deep water (pivot) and allow the owner to use his own engines to back the boat off. This worked, and in less than 15 minutes the boat was free. Bill: over $9,000. Dedecutable was $4,000, which the owner eventually pain. A complaint was filed with the central office of the tow company, but they said it was the tow captains "call". Plus he had initialed the form. Very expensive lesson. The boat was in no danger. It was in a protected cove. There were not seas or possiblity of further damage to the boat, and when the tide came in the boat would have floated free.

http://www.boatus.com/towing/guide/salvage/
http://www.boatus.com/towing/guide/salvage/thing.asp
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... 29150/pg_1

A couple of articles on the difference--which all boaters should know.
 
We do carry TowBoatUS unlimited tow coverage. To this point, we've not had to use it. For less than a tank of gas, we are covered. I also carry RV tow coverage... just in case. We had to use it one time on a 40' motorcoach and it more than paid for over 10 years worth of premiums.

You pay your money (or not) and you make your choice.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
I agree with Bob, a boat in need is a friend indeed. Fact is we don’t have any tow service available to us, but if someone gets on the VHF and is in trouble, help is on the way. Buy the guy a half rack and top of his tank is far compensation, but most won’t take a dime-I wouldn't.
 
I'm with Jim and Larry. I see it like AAA -- despite your best efforts (however inadequate they may be :twisted: ) the time may come when you may need it. I've got unlimited Vessel Assist and Tow Assist and both paid for themselves a week or so ago.

Warren
 
Within one year off insuring with Boat US we had a trailer problem outside off Las Vegas. We were towed to Barstow. A new brake and a bearing later we were on the way home to Running Springs. The shop estimated the tow bill at $1400. Our premiums are paid for a few years .
 
We carry towing insurance through Seatow and received a letter a few weeks back stating that they no longer were providing coverage on the Columbia/Willamette rivers. Calls will be routed to a national number and assistance provided through another towing service.
 
My idea is if you have two engines or a get along home system it may pay to pass on the insurance, but since now owning a single engine, Sea tow saved my bacon twice. The last bill was $1200 . the one before that was about $500. Roadside would have saved me $500 a couple years ago. That pays a lot of premiums.

If you tow or boat enough miles it could very well save you much more then the premiums. The more use you get out of your boat the better the chances of having need of a tow. The C-Dory with twins is very safe to go without tow insurance.
It is hard to get someone to tow you in from twenty to thirty miles out in the gulf stream when they are on the way to the Bahamas. Most boaters will give aid but to ask a fellow boater to tow you back in rough conditions can make it dangerous for both boats. Sea tow is properly equipped.

So bottom line is; Depends on your boat and type of cruising you do. Mexico probably has no Sea Tow or Boaters US. Bahamas has both and can be right there.

captd
 
last year i towed for a local on the water towing company. didn't last long because to much work and liability, and to little compensation. having said that, the average tow bill was $350. charge started from the time i left the dock until the time i returned to my dock, not the customers dock. most boaters needing a tow were inexperienced boater, ran out of gas, had older engines with poor maintenance, dead batteries, etc. it wasn't uncommon to find no lines or fenders. they certainly were not typical c-dory type boaters. you might check with your insurance carrier for the price and terms of their towing endorsement. if you tend to boat late in the evenings or in not populated areas, a boat towing service might be the way to go.
best regards and good luck.
pat
 
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