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How to tow another boat

1Blderbob said:
I'm not for that plan. You should NEVER leave a fellow boater stranded. If I'm not mistaken,that's a maritime rule.


As for the towing of another boat,I'm in total agreement with tcpip.
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Of course I would help out in any way and not leave some one stranded 1Blderbob. Maybe then next guy who is not in a Pontoon could help out with the tow
 
After thinking about it a VERY little bit....... I will help as much as I can ... I will tow as far as I can...I will do what ever I can for a fellow boater as I wish they would do for me.....
 
Interesting thread; but still not sure best way to go about towing.  Several things  to consider: where/how to attach tow line, length of tow line, type of tow line, local conditions, liability.  
 
Until TB comes back differently,the absolute way I see it, is to tow off the cleats on the stern. Be it single or making a bridal between both cleats. The other thing I was taught many years ago from my friends Dad was to always have a sharp knife out to cut the other boat loose if there's trouble that could endanger your craft.


As to how far to pull another broken down boat, taught that your responsibility is to get the boat out of harms way for them and other boat traffic. ie,shore,closest dock,boat ramp,ect..Of coarse,you are not expected to pull boats larger than yourself!


So no helping the Queen Mary!Safe boating everyone.
 
Mike31406 said:
Interesting thread; but still not sure best way to go about towing.  Several things  to consider: where/how to attach tow line, length of tow line, type of tow line, local conditions, liability.  
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Length of tow line is a very serious concern too. With the types of careless boaters I've seen, and heard of on this site, I wouldn't want it too long. We know the stories of reckless boaters cutting in front / behind other boats!  


I think the u-bolts are the strongest option, but that's if you are the tower, what about if you are the towee?  Would you want to be towed by your cleats? I wouldn't. Maybe the pontoon eyelets?  Do we all still have that u-bolt on the second cross member? Maybe usable on a two toon boat,  but is it really usable on a tri-toon model? All good questions to know the answer to BEFORE you need the answer!  Hopefully TB will chime in.


Also great comment about the sharp knife.
 
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When I was towed by TowBoatUS some years ago, they used a bridle and tied it off to both bow cleats.  That was a 7-hour tow.  They actually had to hand us off to another TowBoatUS as we went into a different county.  That guy tied it off in the exact same fashion, and we had a very safe and smooth ride home.


We refueled and got two tanks of bad fuel about 35 miles from home.
 
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You don't forget something like that, huh?
 
Michiman said:
You don't forget something like that, huh?
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Yeah, it was quite the trip home.  We were living up in Punta Gorda, FL and went down to Ft. Myers with another couple for a day of boating, beach, lunch & dinner.  When we were getting ready to come back home, we pulled in to a marina at Ft. Myers Beach and filled up both tanks.  It was just before sunset, and we decided to take the outside Gulf route home instead of the inside ICW route.  It was going to be a fantastic sunset as there was not a cloud in the sky, and by being on the outside the next piece of land to our west would have been Texas.


So we all get settled in and begin our passage heading west, just south of Sanibel Island when suddenly I get an engine alarm.  Turns out we have a ton of water in our fuel tanks.  I hailed TowBoatUS on VHF and it takes about 45 minutes for them to get to us.


By now it's dark. They hook up the bridle and off we go at 6 kts.  I believe the actual distance that they towed us was on the order of 40 miles.  As we're going along we had a dolphin following us alongside which was fun to watch.  We also learned about what "dew point" meant and how it works.  We were drenched from it without a cloud in the sky.  Every inch of the surface of the boat was soaked in dew!


Along the way, we had happened to move forward in the boat onto to bow seats.  When we did, the TowBoatUS captain that was towing us called me on the radio and asked me if we had just done anything on the boat, because we were suddenly doing 7.5 kts - which was a 20% increase in our speed!  Moving 4 adults from the stern to the bow made a huge difference.


We got back to our dock about 3:30 am.  The next day I drained about 5 gallons of water out of tank #1, and about 3 gallons out of tank #1.  My neighbor recommended something for the fuel (can't remember what it was now) that would prevent any remaining water from separating from the fuel, so we used the remaining 40+ gallons without incident.


I believe I remember seeing a bill for around $1,800 for that night - but it was included in my Unlimited Gold TowBoatUS membership so all it cost me was a $50 tip to each captain.
 
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When I got towed by TBUS they hooked onto my center toon eyelet. When I towed my BIL I hooked a bridle around the motor onto the eyelets. You have to remember You're able to move the boat by hand in the water, so the amount of drag your pulling is not as much as you might think, especially once you get momentum. I towed him about 10 mph. 
 
We had to tow a friend last year.  I hooked up to the ski bar and pulled him along just fine.  No damage to the ski bar, but I can honestly say I wasn't thinking about damaging my boat at the time.  My concern was getting his family out of the middle of the lake.  The ski bar did fine.  I liked having the line out of the water and away from the engine.  His boat is a 24ft pontoon and it pulled nicely with a boat packed full of gear and people.  


Note:  I'm not endorsing this method, just stating it worked the one time I tried it. 


As for paddles, we don't carry any.  Lucky for us we have lots of friend with boats and I'm not sure how well you can paddle a tritoon????   :blink:
 
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