Sea Tow

[nipper]

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!!!