Re: Good Samaritan Towing Regulations?
I've never been towed, but I've towed a few. Here's my favorite tow story:
I went fishing on my favorite little lake (1200 acres). When I launched my little 12' aluminum boat, this guy in a shiny newish bass boat and his buddies were making fun of my boat from the courtesy dock. I shrugged and laughed with them. I don't care what anyone thinks of my boat, anyhow.
I'd been fishing way up in the shallow weeds at the end of this lake for about three hours and decided to call it a day. So, I fired up the 6hp outboard and started trolling back to the dock, which is almost a mile away on this skinny little lake. I came around a point and here's the shiny bass boat, with the cowling off the 225 hp Johnson on the back. Guy waves me down, so I reel in my trolling line and run over there.
"Engine won't start," the guy says. "Really?," I say. "So, do you think you could tow us back to the launch ramp?" I asked about the big trolling motor on the bow of this bass boat. "Forgot to charge the batteries."
So, I got the 50' bow line I use for launching out of the bow locker and clipped it to their bow eye, then moved off and did what I always do. I take two turns around the big cleat I have mounted on the port gunwale of my tinny, and held the bitter end in my hand. That way, if there's a problem, I can just drop the bitter end and it unwraps itself from the cleat. But, the friction's enough to hold the rope during a slow tow.
Off we went, at about 2 mph, with my 6hp just off idle a bit. After about 100 yards of that, the guy said, "Can't you go any faster than that?" "I can," I said, "But not with you in tow, and I'm not going any faster than this while I'm dragging you behind me."
About 45 minutes later, we got near the double launch ramp, so I shortened the tow and towed them right up to the dock. I coiled up the towline, unclipped it from the bow eye, then tied up to the other courtesy dock.
Not one word of thanks from these guys. Not a word. They struggled to get to boat on their trailer, since they couldn't powerload like they normally did. I got my trailer, loaded my little 12' boat and left.
The guys laughed at my crummy little boat when they first saw it, but couldn't come up with a "Thanks, buddy," when I towed them back to the ramp. Feh!
Most of the times I've towed someone, and I've done it maybe a dozen times with my little boat, they're falling all over themselves to thank me. I just couldn't figure these guys. Very strange.
