around here it was the complete opposite for a while, the Boat US guy were crooks and the Sea Tow guys were the way to go. Boat US was getting ready to yank the franchise(the guy was actually up on piracy charges) when he sold the operation. Now Boat US is pretty god and we have a decent Tow Boat as well. I think it charges from area to area. There hour wait is about normal, you're lucky it wasn't longer.

AS far as getting in with out steering, I put a full hitch knot over the cowl of a Johnrude with a broken cable once, cleated each end of the rope off and idled back in. We turn the boat by shifting our weight from one side to the other. I drove a Mastercraft ski boat with a broken cable by putting an adjustable wrench on the rudder arm and steered it like a tiller

My first boat had the old pully & cable system, that lost a mounting bolt on one of the pully holders one day in the canal, my buddy sat on transom hugging the motor all the way in to steer us!! lol

Likely going hydraulic....and that should be that....

On one of my previous boats the cable snapped. Tied the engine so it was pointing/pushing straight ahead and used my emergency paddle as a rudder to steer the boat. Worked perfectly.

i've had hydraulic fail also (split hose), ended up lashing a jbl magnum spear gun to the motor and tiller steering in

We had a cable break whn we were coming in from bull island trying to out run a storm. My buddy sat on the transom and grabed the motor and i ran throttle shouting out stright,left more, now stright and so on. This was about 3 in the afternoon and it was almost pitch black outside and lighting all over the place.the icw was two to three. We made it to isle of palms and docked there. Now i have hyd steering so much better!! Bight the bullett!

Well..........one time while landing on the moon, we over shot and risked fly by........
So, I dropped the anchor, and although it dragged for 1/4 mile, it eventually stopped our boat.......... I mean space craft.

Going hydraulic..........that's right......hydraulic.

And maybe while I'm at it.........swap out the 200 HO for the 557 hp outboard. Figure should run 75 mph...maybe more.

That's my cousin........" he's got the fastest boat in the whole D county" !!!
( name the movie ? )

Live & Let Die

YES - we have a winner here folks, step aside and pick out a nice big prize for your little lady sir........ there we go, a big stuffed animal tiger is for you.