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