Towing another boat?

[Ernest T]

I ran across a disabled boater on my way home yesterday and offered the guy a tow. The other boat was about the same size as mine (21 ft.), but was fully loaded with 9 people on board. I had 3 on mine. The poor guy was sitting in a fairly remote area and said he had been sitting there for hours (4 of the passengers were kids), and nobody on the boat had a cell phone, so no means to call for help. If that wasn't bad enough, he was on his brother-in-laws boat, was not familiar with the lake, and couldn't tell me exactly where he needed to go. We ended up going about 30 minutes in the wrong direction, before he figured that out.

Anyhow, this was the first time I'd towed another boat and I have some questions. I tied the tow rope off to one of the stern eyes (on the starboard side) of my boat. I was surprised by just how hard it was to tow this boat. I realize that it was fully loaded, but my maximum speed was only around 9 mph. I don't know that I would have wanted to go too much faster, but I didn't have any option to find out. I had my passengers move to the bow, but the stern of my boat was really low during the tow and the boat was listing because the tow rope was tied to one side. I have a Yamaha F150 and it was really low in the water during the tow. The whole process took over 1.5 hours to get the guy back to his dock.

I know that this will not be the last time I end up needing to tow a disabled boat, but I hope that I'm better prepared next time. I'm thinking if I had a "Y" harness that would have better distributed the weight, and would have help prevent my boat from listing. What about moving some of the passengers from the disabled boat to my boat for the tow? Would that have made any difference, or is it worth the hassle? Is there a maximum save speed for towing? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Towing another boat?

Yeah, transferring some passengers would have made some difference as would rigging a Y towing line. Do not overload your boat though.

Common lines that we carry on board will stretch quite a bit and store a lot of energy. If they snap there is a real danger of personal injury. Thus: slow towing speeds are better and keep all passengers low in both boats. Most boats being towed by amateurs will "tack" back and forth a bit rather than track straight. Again, slow is better. As for maximum speed? It depends upon the way the towed boat is handling and the size line used to secure the hull to yours.

Note that in my state, it is law for ALL passengers in a boat under tow to be WEARING PFDs. Also understand that as the tower, you are taking responsibility for both vessels

 

[25thmustang]

Re: Towing another boat?

I too towed another boater the other week. Granted he had a 25'er with 8-10 passengers and mines larger than that, so I actually had no feeling of towing another boat. I can comment that you did the right thing! Good for you for taking your time and energy to save someone else!

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Towing another boat?

What you did was a good and helpful thing.
That said, you actually did put yourself and the other boat at some risk by towing in the other boat. Here's why:
You are not trained in the proper procedure to tow a boat.
Your boat and motor are not set up to tow. A tow rig has very heavy pulling eyes (thru hull and plated) and has a tow harness. The tow rope used is also not an anchor line. The motor is propped to tow.
The few bad things that could have happened:
The stern eye pulls out on your boat, and the stretchy anchor rope screams back at the other boat with the eye still attached.
The waves pick up a bit, the towed boat goes down while you're going up and the corner of your boat get pulled under.
Somebody in the other boat gets hurt, and they ignore the fact that you were being helpful and sues you.
You motor gets tired of being lugged for an hour and blows up.

That said, next time it might be good to use your cell phone and call for help, or if out of range save their GPS coordinates and get to a place where you can call. Good intentions are great, but how many times do you read of others jumping in to save someone drowning and drowning themselves because they really aren't lifeguards. Heroic, decent, and good people, yes, but both die at the end.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Towing another boat?

always tow in the center line. It's easy. take your stern line (you do carry bow and stern lines at least the length of the boat? If not get them.) and tie one end to each of your stern cleats. The cleats are better than the eyes (I hope your boat has cleats). Then take his bow line, or part of his anchor line, give about 30' if you can, and tie it to the center of your stern line with a bowline (knot--learn it if you don't know). In other words your towing line passes straight through the loop of the bowline. Center the bowline on your line, feed line out so it doesn't fall in your prop, give it a gentle start, not a sudden yank (have your crew maintain tension.)

If he raises his motor, it cuts resistance greatly, but he looses steering, so try it with his motor up if you can. If he is constantly pulling to one side or the other, and there no strong cross-wind, make him move his passengers around. It really helps ifyou have communications devices on each vessel. if he will not pay attention or obey your commands, cut him adrift.

Don't tow with ski lines, other than an empty flat bottom jon boat.

 

[jl_photo]

Re: Towing another boat?

I have towed in a number of disabled boaters In by life using boats between 14 and 25 feet and have never had a problem with the stern lowering as you describe. I think that the trim on your motor might have been a little high.

I usually tow disabled boaters to the nearest marina. They can get someone to bring the trailer to them.

I wouldn't recommend using the cleats to tow with because they are usually not rated for that kind of stress. Also the angle is wrong for towing. The tow eyes are much stronger and are bolted to the transom.

The point made that ropes snap like a rubber band is very true. always use a big enough rope and tow around idle speed especially if you do not have a big rope and some experience towing. Ropes can easily cut off your arms and legs or anything else that gets caught in a loop. The rope itself can snap back with enough force to kill you if it breaks

Towing in rough weather increases the danger because the towing vessel is more likely to take a wave over the stern and the towed boat is more likely to be pulled through a wave. This can easily cause a disaster.

If the weather is bad request assistance from other boaters to take all of the passengers. If it is really rough have them throw the anchor out and abandon the boat.

It is extremely dangerous to try to tow a boat that has run aground. Damage to both boats and or personal injury is very likely. If they don't come right out call a tow service.

One of the common reasons for being disabled (besides running out of gas) is the lack of a decent fuel filtering system. A good fuel filter with a clear bowl on the bottom may cost 150.00 - 200.00 installed, but it will save you a lot of money in the long run and increase the reliability of your boat.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Towing another boat?

Towing can only be done at a bit above idle, unless the towed vehicle is real light <500#, or you plan to ruin your motor. A Y harness is real good. You can tie one with a std piece of line, that will work fine. Ask any Eagle scout to show you how. Connecting to the stern eyes is best. If you need to pull a heavy boat, or pull someone off the bottom, connect the tow line to the bow eye, rather than cleat. The bow eye is always the best place to tow from. I once got 300 yards onto a sand shoal due to the swift current, as the tide went out rapidly. The water was ankle deep, but BoatUS towed me off the shoal w/o issue. My passenger and I sat in the driver and passenger seat and he towed us slowly off the shoal. The Alpha dragged but was undamaged. I watched my nice red bottom paint go out to sea with the current as I was dragged across the sand. Better than sandblasting......

 

[JB]

Re: Towing another boat?

I would have done several things differently, Ernest.

1. Never tie the tow line off to your boat. Run it around a cleat and have someone hold it, ready to drop it in an emergency.
2. Never tow above no wake speed.
3. If you have radio or cell, let the local water safety folks know that you have a vessel in distress, exactly where you are and that you intend to tow. Doing it alone is like taking your garden hose to your neighbor's house fire instead of calling 911.
4. All persons on both boats MUST wear PFDs or just sit there and wait for the pros.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Towing another boat?

I think you did pretty good, thinking of how you could have done it better is a very good sign in my opinion, I have had similar situations and while I have never experienced a situation with my boat being questioned, I realized that I couldn't solve a few situations with out making changes to my routine. I have always worried about how to properly tow with my boat, I have a center point to attach water sports and I have a cleat on each corner of my transom, I worked for a while and I figured a way to run lines to all three points and therefore relieve stress to all three equally, I can rig this setup with my dock lines in about 5 minutes.

Then it happened.....
The wife and I (and the Boy)were cruising across the lake a couple years ago, we flew right by another boat dead on the water with 4 passengers on board sitting low in the water and everyone was waving at me so I quickly turned around and the severity of the situation was pretty evident, they were taking on water pretty quickly, could not get the boat started and the bilge simply had no chance.

I loaded all but the owner on my boat and rigged my tow setup, hooked to the other boats bow eye and got the old 17' boat moving, the owner had a bucket and was bailing with all he had and while I didn't like towing as fast as I was I knew if I didn't the boat was done for. Another boater came along side and I have a feeling he was about to tell me I was towing a boat to fast but as he got closer he realized the boat I was towing would sink if I slowed down but if I kept the speed up the water would slowly recede. We bailed until we got pretty close to the ramp and then I slowed down, the other boater grabbed the boat owner who had my number and brought him to the ramp to get the truck and trailer, when he was ready he would call me and I would bring the boat in. When I got that call I wasn't prepared for what I saw, must have been 20 people waiting for me at the ramp all I had to do was kinda whip the boat into them, what a sight, made me feel great to be a part of the rescue.

Turns out the Transom had separated from the hull a bit but the boat will live to see another day.

Learn from your experience and be sure to not overload your boat or jeopardize your passengers. Your actions are what makes Boating a great experience for others! Good for you!!

 

[rallyart]

Re: Towing another boat?

Congratulations on helping them. You made them feel that they were not completely helpless and saved a holiday for that family. You did a good thing.
You can only tow at displacement speeds and it is best to find a way to tow centered in the boat. I use a tubing rope (5000#) or two of the extra 20' dock lines I keep in my boat. (I have needed to be towed in the past) I also carry extra fuel and jumper cables with me.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Towing another boat?

I would have done several things differently, Ernest.

1. Never tie the tow line off to your boat. Run it around a cleat and have someone hold it, ready to drop it in an emergency.

Except cleats can be fairly weak, and there is rarely a rear-center cleat. Pulling off-center is a really bad idea. Its far better to rig up a Y harness with a knot that has a 'tail' inside the boat. One yank on the tail, and the knot comes undone. (yes, tail probably isn't the name for it, but i'm talking about the part of any one of the various knots that has a rope that you can yank to undo it.)

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Towing another boat?

I think not tying it off is overkill. and you don't have to have someone standing by with an axe to chop the line, either. It's not that big a deal, for one pleasure boat to tow another, in good weather conditions.

 

[Ernest T]

Re: Towing another boat?

Thanks for lots of great information and ideas. I may be a little confused on terminology "stern eye", "stern cleat". In this photo the arrows point to what I was towing from (I just used the starboard one), but from now own I'll carry my "Y" harness (I have one, it was just not on the boat at the time, but stored with my tube). It this the correct tow point or is there a better one?



I will probably just leave the tube rope on the boat to use if the situation ever arises again (I think it is 5000 lbs.), so thinks for that idea rallyart.

Good info about the possibility of the tow rope snapping, and having the passengers wear their PDFs............definitely hadn't thought about that.

I don't plan to start a towing service, and I will definitely pick and choose situations that I think I can handle. When I got back to the marina they told me that 3 of their boats had to be towed back that afternoon. I wonder if the extreme heat could have been a factor.

Anyhow, I really appreciate all the great info and comments..................gives me a lot to think about, and some great ideas.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Towing another boat?

^^^^ Those are the stern eyes that you're pointing to in the photo.

A cleat is one of these guys:


I would have rigged a line through the stern eyes myself. I like the "Y" setup from those eyes. I carry a 100' line with me always and I can tie it up in all sorts of configurations. Creating a "Y" from those eyes and going back to the vessel in tow gives you the best results. Though, there are ways to create that "Y" and set up a quick release to let go fast if you need to. Go slow ... it gives you more time to react.

Sounds like you did pretty good for a first time encounter. I needed to be on the receiving end of a tow not long ago and no one showed up at the party. Thanks for gettin' them in.

 

[Tagerman]

Re: Towing another boat?

I know locally Tow Boats U.S. sells a season long membership for $58 they will meet you on the lake and take your money and they will tow you anywhere (or give you fuel if your problem is user error) for no extra charge 24 hours. Best investment I've ever made with the boat!

 

[Ned L]

Re: Towing another boat?

The information already given is all good. As for towing speed, you can go somewhat above idle, but you were trying to tow too fast. Once you hit the hull speed of the boat you are towing the stresses REALLY start going up fast (for a 21' boat that's about 6 knots - Look up "hull speed" to understand it, it's useful to know). Anything below that is pretty much ok.

 

[JimKW]

Re: Towing another boat?

I just read this thread because I was curious as to what I would do if I was either the party that needed a tow or came across somebody like the OP did in this case. I was towed a very short distance one time when I first got my 1st boat, but have never towed anybody.

My first thought when I read the first post was he was towing too fast. If I'm doing the towng, I figure once I the towed boat moving I am not going any faster unless I need to keep slack out of the line. Also thought I would figure out a way to tow from the center of the boat not off to the side. I have a center eye for skiing that I would probably use or figure out how to make a Y off the eyes that are used for the tie down transom straps. My next thought was I'm only towing him to the nearest marina or maybe even to a ramp area if there isn't a marina close by. Once we would get to the ramp or marina I'm not sure what I would do to get him docked, but I know my boat would be playing very little in accomplishing this.

Glad I read this because I had never really given it much thought, but pretty sure I would have done all I can to help the stranded boat just like the OP did in this case. And would hope somebody would do the same for me. One thing I know for sure though is that I'm having a way to quickly disconnect whether I'm being towed or towing.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Towing another boat?

tow with a long line in open water then shorten when you get close to the destination. That's when it gets tricky. Wind and current, boat size, all come into play. Depending on the boat size, consider tying along side the disabled vessel to get in. Having someone on the dock to catch a line is the best. Your boathook is your friend, too, which is why you have one. Right?

When towing with a short line, remember that you stop before he does--then he hits your stern! Slow slow slow.

 

[hostage]

Re: Towing another boat?

That is the perfect time to sell him a $300 oar or a $300 phone call

My pitty goes only so far, I don't know how anyone would/could be this stupid. I would NEVER let anyone use my boat w/o proper knowledge on how to operate the boat and the area. I also have my cell and a VHF radio on board in case of issues. I can't see how 5 adults could leave their cell or be w/o cells on the boat.

If I were in a similar situation, I would have seen if I could have got them up and running with a simple fix. Next would be to let them call for help, and worst case I would tow them to the nearest ramp.

I have the feeling that people like this would be the same people who would sue you if something went wrong.

 

[Ernest T]

Re: Towing another boat?

JimKW brought up a good question that I forgot to ask in my original post. How do you actually get the towed boat up to the dock once you get to the dock. In my case, I pulled up next to the dock with the other boat still behind me 50 or 60 feet (so close, but yet so far). I was trying to figure out what to do next when one of the adults on the boat being towed jumped in the water and swam to the dock. Then I just untied the line from my boat and tossed it to him and he pulled the boat in the rest of the way by hand.

I guess one option is that I could have had one of my passengers step off the boat onto the dock and then untied the tow line and given it to them to pull the boat the rest of the way to the dock. Is there a different method that doesn't involve anyone getting wet?

Thanks for the info on speed. I guess its just a much slower process than I imagined, but I definitely see the safety factor for going slow. Fortunately, it was very late in the day and the lake was pretty much empty, so the water was very calm. I could definitely see a problem trying this in rough conditions.