Question on boating ettique

[steve201]

Re: Question on boating ettique

nope....the captian is responsible for his boat at all times...if he ran over his own damaged line..then it's his fault...not yours...he was acting on his own volition to assist in the tow....your not responsible for his eqpt......

 

[rndn]

Re: Question on boating ettique

The motor can only work as hard as the prop bite will allow. If too much strain is placed on the motor, then the prop slips in the water. This isn't a car on pavement.

 

[EJ3]

Re: Question on boating ettique

Glad to hear the problem has passed, but...

Here's the way I see it. If you hadn't gave your number to him would he have had anyone to blame besides himself and would probably think twice before using inadaquit equipment again. The fact that he had someone else to blame besides himself probably sounded good to him at the time.

Besides, there are boats out there that provide towing service. If you give someone a tow it is out of generocity, not profitability, and nothing more. If I were in your position on that day I would have insisted on giving him my rope, but only to return the favor. Beyond that, nothing!

If I have the opprotunity to help someone on the water, by all means I will do what I can. But it reminds me of the saying "swim at your own risk!"

Just my $.02!

 

[jcherbert1]

Re: Question on boating ettique

I agree with all of you guys and have done just that,...nothing. Lucky for me, I did not know this dude and if I had, well I guess he would just have to be pissed off at me. Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone for their opinions that has reinforced my first instinct. Sorry, but you offered to help and I am sorry for your mishap but it is not my responsibility to repair your damage....

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: Question on boating ettique

its like one time i was pulling a big truck out of a mud hole with the jeep that i had at the time using an milemarker 6500lb winch. i burred my tires in the dirt and held the breaks and started pulling with the winch. well i dident dig out around his tires or axels at all one of my winch bolts broke then immediately after snaped two of the mounting tabs off and put a nasty dent in my grill. I immediately unhooked from his truck packed up my gear and said sorry i couldent help you. it was my own supidity to not try to remove some of the mud from behind his tires to make it easyer to pull out causing probably about 3000 in damages to my rig however i wouldent have expected him to give me a dime

 

[boatflounder]

Re: Question on boating ettique

Since hes changed his story and his boat sailed off fine after helping you than you are in no way responsible. As has been said he is responsible for his own boat. I tried to pull a sailboat off the beach earlier this year, they had been blon down on the shoree and we saw them and they swam aline to us. Well on the first try I wrapped the line in the wheel and had to have the wife throw the anchor while i jumped off the stern to clear the line. we tried again but without a bridle the wind was just pushing me around toewards the rocks so had to throw the line off and apologize to the guys and leave. Felt bad knowing that if I had had different friends with me we could of done it but with only my wife aboard who is new to boating, I had to look out for my own interests,.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Question on boating ettique

Well if you havn't heard from him by now then it's probably over, but keep in mind that he has a year in which he could attempt to sue. If the case ever went to court, you would most likely win, but it wouldn't be a shoe-in since you did offer to pay him something (hopefully you phrased that in a way that had the payment being completely seperate from any damage).

In terms of the legallity (assuming that he was being legit), he is legally responsible (it was his rope after all).

In terms of the *right* thing to do... I would lean toward paying the full bill, but only after getting a written estimate from a reputable shop, then contacting the repair shop to determine that the damage was most likely caused from the incident. I would lean toward paying because I wouldn't feel right knowing that someone who was only trying to help me out, ended up having to pay a lot of money because they were nice enough to help out. A clean conscience is worth any price. However, with two different stories, I would be SURE to check it out with a reputable shop, though it's not unheard of for a shop to change it's mind about what caused the damage as they delve deeper into the problem. But I would make sure it's a reputable shop, and I would get written estimates from both the guy and then a seperate one from the shop, and I would also contact the shop and make sure they are sure that the damage was caused by the tow incident.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Question on boating ettique

I would not have paid him. You accepted assistance, as anyone in a similar situation would have, but you had no way of knowing that this person didn't have the sense and/or seamanship skills to keep his lines in good shape so they wouldn't break. You also could not have known that he would allow the line to get wrapped up in his prop.

Since we are talking about towing, I will offer a tip on how I prepared myself to render assistance by towing someone. I have a harness that I keep in my boat, which I put together in such a way as to minimize chances of getting fouled. The piece that goes across the transom to the transon eyes has strong, stainless steel hooks spliced into it and the line is only long enough to make the distance across the transom, with a little bit of slack to clear the engine midsection. It can not get fouled in the prop because it is too short the fall that low. The towing line is spliced onto the first line and has several floats on it immediately beyond that point. While the floats will not completely eliminate the chance of the line getting fouled on the prop, it isn't likely. Using this system, I can render aid quickly and safely by snapping the hooks onto the transom eyes and not having to go to unusual lengths to keep the line out of my wheel.

Towing someone without ending up with problems really isn't difficult and shouldn't result in damage to either boat. While it was nice of the person to help, he caused his own problems.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Question on boating ettique

And in the event you're not towing anybody, you can always pull a skier.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Question on boating ettique

I know this is an older thread but I wouldn't of paid for the mechanical failure either especially if it was his rope that caused the damage, he should of pulled the broke rope in.

I wont forget the time that my brother and I met up with my uncle out on the lake not to far from where we launched from. My uncle was in his 2006 pro craft, my brother was in his 1975 Stryker Bass Boat. Well we traveled from one fishing spot to another, our uncle decided to follow us, we went way out from where we launched. Then after fishing this spot for a while we decided to head back in for breakfast we Left our uncle without even saying we'll see ya later because he was heading in another direction. Little did we know that the uncle's boat was dead (it wouldn't turn over), well we went back to my brother's house for breakfast and to freshen up then went back to the relative's spot on the lake when we heard that our uncle had to troll all the way back from the where we had last seen him, his starter quit working. My brother wouldn't of hesitated to tow my uncle's boat in at all. If something would of broke while pulling my uncle's boat my brother nor I wouldn't of expected the uncle to pay for the damage. Luckily they covered the starter failure under warranty.

 

[drewpster]

Re: Question on boating ettique

The Captain of the tow boat is responsible for his vessel. You could not possibly be responsible for anything. The boat in tow cannot maneuver or back away. No matter the circumstances the tow vessel is the only one in control of anything including all lines.
Aside from that you have no way of knowing when or how the damage occurred. Did he not call you days after he towed you?

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: Question on boating ettique

Nice of this dude to have helped in your time of need. Shame that he turned out to be disingenuous.
Be on the alert since he could have obtained your address by utilizing various sources.