Sea Tow
 

I was up in Scituate, Massachusetts to visit my Mom and we all went out on a friend's boat. It was a 20' 4 Winns cuddy cabin. Nice enough boat, but not the kind of boat I would like to have for ocean use, especially with it sitting on a mooring every day without a mooring cover.

Anyway, we took the boat out, cruised around for a while with yours truly at the helm. Owner said let's see what she'll do at full throttle, so I obliged. Ab out 20 seconds later, the motor suddenly lost power with an accompanying sound a lot like throwing a rod or otherwise self destructing. I looked down and the temperature guage was pegged to HOT. Waited a few minutes for it to cool down, and then the motor would not turn over. I think it is seized up.

So we see the Sea Tow boat about 300 yards off our portside bow and hailed him on the radio. He came over, asked what was the problem and where we needed to go. He said "we can get you to Scituate Harbor for $300." Sounded a bit salty, but with no alternative, the owner said ok, we got hooked up and proceeded back to the harbor. Unbenownst to me, the Sea Tow guy slipped the owner a brochure of sorts and the owner promptly just laid it on the dash.

Well, it turned out when we got back to the docks in Scituate that the bill was $819!!!!!!! I had no idea about this because the owner was talking with the Sea Tow guy while I was busy getting the disabled boat onto the guy's trailer. Sea Tow charged $300 PER HOUR as clearly stated in the "brochure" slipped to the owner. Sea Tow also claimed it took 2.3 hours for the tow, but it was not nearly that long. $100 of the $819 was for a "discount" yearly membership instead of the usual $169 per year.

I boat in Indiana, but I have to say, I would not go without a Sea Tow or Boat U.S. membership if I lived and boated on the ocean. $819 for a tow--Yikes!!!

SEA TOW has been well documented as being crooks and overcharging, so this is no surprise to me. They have even went as far as to try and charge members saying that the service wasn't covered under there plan. Search over at thehulltruth and you will find post after post with disgruntled customers of SEATOW and TOWBOATUS.

What is the tow company offered by West Marine
I dont have a tow service but though about getting one
i have a little kicker motor that has saved me a few times so who is the BEST TOW Service out there :head:

West Marine is Towboat US.

My brother-in-law had to call a few times and never had any issues...

rkc

Im a member of SeaTow and they have assisted me three times. Never paid a cent, couldn't think of anything bad to say. Never had any issues with the Savannah to Jaxsonville sector.....haven't heard any either

Check out the story of the "Reel Nauti" out of North Carolina, Sea Tow pulled him off the shoals and called it a salvage to the tune of 24K. This was all over the local news around Wilmington a few years ago. If I remember, NC Sportsman ran an article too.

I've never heard of an issue with a simple towing where the boat wasn't grounded etc. just disabled. It seems they like to get creative when it isn't just a simple towing. As for the $819 bill, I would have tried to flag down another boat if possible. With no membership, a towing company would've been the last options. Hell I might've spent the night out there.

The ones here will actually give you the option to join before they lend assistance!!!!! What yall do to piss them other guys off?!?!?!

Didn't do anything to piss the guy off. I suggested trying to flag down/radio another boat, but with Sea Tow being nearby, the owner thought he would give them a try. We all thought,, based on what the operator said, that $300 would cover the tow of about 2 miles, and that is why the owner opted to avoid the hassle and go for the tow. I was absolutely shocked at the news of the $819 bill after getting the guys boat on the trailer and back to his house.

Oops, just saw the location.........sounds like you found a Masshole.....there's a few around here and from what I understand, populate Maine heavily throughout the year.

http://www.masshole.com/ - Took me 15min to read the home page

from what i understand. there are 2 distinctly different business plans for each company. sea tow nationwide keeps a smaller portion of the yearly dues and the local captains are obligated to respond at very little or no profit. it's like insurance, they are hoping 80% of the members will never use it. towboat keeps a larger portion and re-emburces the local capt at a predetermined rate. like car dealer warranty. with sea tow, the less they tow, the more they make. with towboat us, the more they tow, the more they make. i think we have a member who works for sea tow, i'm sure he can set us straight.
i have found there are good and bad in every profession, doctors, lawyers, contractors, cops,etc.

I know there seems to be alot more horror stories about SEATOW, than there is about TOWBOAT US. Last year there was a couple of tows down around MIAMI where the SEATOW boat PURPOSELY let the boat needing a tow go into a channel before they hooked up so they could call it a rescue instead of a tow and lay claims to the boat. I know I have towed in a few boats before just to keep them from having to go through the hassle of SEATOW. And it also seems to differ widely depending upon wether your in a company owned or privately owned zone. Some companies have SEATOW on there boats, but are actually privately owned and working for SEATOW as a private contractor. It seems that these kinds of outfits are the ones that are doing the shady tactics. Also PREY your not taking on water and need a pump and have to get it from SEATOW. You can count on them filing for a lien on your boat and calling it a rescue instead of a tow then.

I work for the local TowBOAT US. The way it works for us is when a member breaks down, if they have the "unlimited" coverage, they pay nothing for tows and "soft" ungroundings. Even though I have personally pulled boats from "hard" groundings (pulled from dry land)and still didn't charge them. We fill out a tow sheet which the customer signs. That tow sheet has the total bill which is submitted to BOAT US. They cut us a check for the tow. Our BOAT US rate is a little less than non BOAT US but we tow a LOT more members than non members. I used to work for Sea Tow back in the 90's. If I remember right each franchise would get a share of membership revinue. That money is used to pay the captain doing the tow. So there is much less motivation for them to tow you. Hell I'll tow you wherever you want. They can't wait to get rid of you if they even come out.

gee what a bummer for a day of fishing well i dont think we have a tow service for boats the coast guard helps out .But here we rely on other boaters to help you out if u wave a passing boat for help they are sort of obilgated to help i have been towed in once fron a fellow fishermen and have towed one person in.Hell most boats are everyday people trying to have a fun day fishing you would be a dog if u didnt stop to help someone with bad luck and the same goes on the roads people do stop to ask strangers broken down on the road if they need help cant count how many people i have helped on the road and my wife still makes me stop and help lol

It changes from area to area, around here the local Tow Boat US guys were actually brought up on piracy charges, more than once. They were accused of grand theft more than once. They all seemed to settle out of court. I've witnessed several instances when the Tow Boat operator intentionally delayed a tow to declare salvage. There was one owner of a 72 Viking that knew better, every time the diver said he had to leave the boat before they could tow it off the bar, he called BS, when they were persistent about it, he finally pulled a shotgun, called the Coast Guard to report piracy, they started talking a lot nicer after that. The Tow Boat US operator "sold" his franchise a few years back(he's actually dead now, wonder who shot his ***), the guy who's operating it now, seems to be a lot better. The local Sea Tow operator out of here has an excellent reputation, he teaches at the local Sea School and is a regular on a lot of the local forums. I've heard that North of here its a different situation. I read horror stories on scream and fly when a 24' go fast cat($$$) flipped over, ejecting the driver(he was dazed, but unhurt), his buddies had to circle the boat to keep the tow operators away so they couldn't claim salvage. Once the driver got his wits about him, they righted the boat and towed it to the ramp, boat was unhurt. The maritime laws that most of these operate under are long due for an overhaul. From what I've been told, never take a line unless you understand the charges and agree to them, never leave your boat unless your health is dependent on it. Don't ever mention taking on water unless its sinking fast. I don't have a tow service(i'm long overdue), I can usually fix whats wrong with them when they break, if not, I always test boats going into the current so I'll drift back to the dock, and I've got plenty of friends on the water. Plus it helps if you have a cheap *** boat, they aren't thinking of making any money off of a 14 McKee.

capt pete, we must have a similar situation in our area. i know friends that have towboatus and called for help and sea tow responded(at no cost). the main reason i went with towboatus is and they cover me , not the vessel. does not matter what boat i am on .

Pick up a good used kicker motor and never pay for a tow again:sun:

Seatow coverage is good for whatever boat you are on as well. The only caveat is if you are fishing on a boat that you do not own, the owner of the boat can't be aboard or there is no coverage provided.

Spare I've done the same thing when running a boat I'm unsure of, running upstream of the tide before it ebbs.

I've towed in a bunch of people over the years. In fact I keep a spare line just for emergencies like that. It's also good to have some fire power for other types of emergencies.

Hey Nipper, does your friends boat insurance cover tows? Worth a check anyway.

As a matter of fact, I talked to him today and he has up to $1000 for towing on his insurance coverage. I would not have thought to look into that. So, it looks like he can get at least part of the bill (or all) of it covered depending on the deductible. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cool deal.

Towboat US does not exactly cover you on any boat. I was on a friend's boat with him a month or so ago and the engine quit and we could not get it going. I called Towboat US (I have unlimited) and was told I am covered on a boat I chartered or borrowed. I did not learn this until after they asked me if the owner of the boat was onboard. I unwittingly said yes. I suppose you could claim it was borrowed....not sure how much research they would do to validate that claim. If the owner of the boat is on the boat and it is not a charter, it is not covered. We ended up getting a passing boat to pull us back in.