Marine Towing Insurance

We are in the purchase phase of acquiring a new to us trawler. It will be home ported in he Albany NY area on the Hudson River.

I’m in the process of getting insurance quotes. Most yacht policies include a Towing Provision. I’m seeing quotes for limits of $250, $2500 and $5000 per incident. I also have BOATUS towing Insurance at the unlimited level, although there are no BOATUS Towers in the areas – BOATUS will refer us to one of their network providers.

My question is what is the most you have paid or had your insurance company paid for a tow for a boat in the 45’ range. We’ll be inland rivers and coastal cruisers.

I understand this is a relative question, but I'm interested to better understand what works best for boats in the 45' range.

Thanks,

JimL

Personally, I have TowBoatUS unlimited and had the towing rider removed from my boat insurance policy. I should mention that where I boat, TowBoatUS is around.

$250 will not typically cover the cost of a tow. If you want separate insurance you should be looking in the thousands of dollars range.


BTW: "Unlimited" is not really unlimited. If I break down in MD, they are not going to tow me back to SC.

Hourly charges range from $250 to $400 an hour and more if dangerous weather or conditions exist.

The hourly rate is from the time the boat was dispatched till it returns to its dock.

Then ungrounding fees can be $10 to $20 a foot to pull you off in addition to the hourly rate.

A 40 plus foot vessel will be towed around 7 knots or less.

So you can see $2500 grounding is pretty easy if the boat comes for many miles and you are stuck pretty well.

Remember there is some upper limit that the towing companies will pay for out of area tows...

Like all insurance, what is your exposure and what can you afford to cover on your own?

I have a 42' Grand Banks and the cost to tow about 20 miles from one marina to the repair yard was 1080.00. I carry both Seatow and Boat US unlimited towing. We are doing parts of the great loop and felt more comfortable having both. Each cost under $200.00 so to me and my piece of mind it was a bargain. In my case it proved well worth it. One other twist was Seatow refused the tow since I still had one engine running. Boat US gladly towed us for no cost at all. All on them.

psneeld said:

...Remember there is some upper limit that the towing companies will pay for out of area tows...

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We have Boat US Unlimited Gold with a $3,000 upper limit for out of area coverage. Our boat insurance adds another $1,000 to that, which is included in our policy.

We have tow insurance in our yatch policy but I also buy US boat tow. The reason is if I ever need a tow I want it now. USboat is in most major marinas so their response is quick. I also buy because of Murphy Law.

True story

We where anchor out behind UofW husky stadium for opening day. Being we were one or the biggest boats so smaller boat tied off to us. The wind came up and we dragged anchor and went soft a ground. The lake union police where out in force and just days before float into their docks, so sort of knew us. So I begged pleaded with them to give us a tow to deeper water. That is the second time we met the Lake Union police. There are several more so the Eagle was well known by the police. Like the time we tried to sail the Eagles with a steading sail.

kelbylinn said:

I have a 42' Grand Banks and the cost to tow about 20 miles from one marina to the repair yard was 1080.00. I carry both Seatow and Boat US unlimited towing. We are doing parts of the great loop and felt more comfortable having both. Each cost under $200.00 so to me and my piece of mind it was a bargain. In my case it proved well worth it. One other twist was Seatow refused the tow since I still had one engine running. Boat US gladly towed us for no cost at all. All on them.

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The refusal could have gone one way or another depending on how it was described.

Sea Tow might have or should have offered assistance to maneuver in and out of the marinas...I have done that many times....

Other than that, depending on a lot of things, I would have almost been ashamed to ask for a 20 mile tow with a working engine. A lot of captains I have assisted just want assistance or escort around difficult maneuvering areas.

Plus the way I understand the 2 business models....the BoatUS guys gets paid to tow you from national if he deides you need a tow (and who wouldn't)...the local Sea Tow guy eats it out of his pocket and now isn't available to tow someone who is totally disabled.

There are many reasons things are done a certain way...not always transparent.

In my old area...it the tow was requested during certain times of the year, a BoatUS boat may not have even been available while the Sea Tow one would have been...of course if they elected to tow or assist...

We have Boat US. On a grounding the Boat US tow held us for about 6 hours until we came off. $2400 bill, of course I didn't have to pay it the Insurance did.

Phil Fill; said:

Eagle was well known by the police.

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Had you been around these parts, weeda just hooked you up and welcomed you aboard.

I generally don't keep towing plans. But TowBoatUS sent me a $99 offer so they got me. Coincidently, my marine insurance cancelled me and are replacing my exciting plan with a new one....which includes $2500 towing as standard. So I guess I'm pretty well covered. I have limped home on one engine and docked with it. It was the "favorable" engine for my set up. I was dating a new girl at the time...she was pretty impressed!!!...��������

Baker said:

I generally don't keep towing plans. But TowBoatUS sent me a $99 offer so they got me. Coincidently, my marine insurance cancelled me and are replacing my exciting plan with a new one....which includes $2500 towing as standard. So I guess I'm pretty well covered. I have limped home on one engine and docked with it. It was the "favorable" engine for my set up. I was dating a new girl at the time...she was pretty impressed!!!...��������

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So to impress her....did you actually disable the engine, or just shut it down?

Don't think I don't know how the juvenile mind of a pilot really works...


Now you see why Sea Tow franchise owners are skeptical of one engine assistance situations...

psneeld; said:

Don't think I don't know how the juvenile mind of a pilot really works...

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And that, right there, is the quote of the year. For sure!

$973.00 for a tow that lasted 3.5 hrs-30' trawler.

ddalme said:

$973.00 for a tow that lasted 3.5 hrs-30' trawler.

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Sounds about right.

jiml...

In the Albany & Hudson area SeaTow is the go to provider... also LI, NJ coastal

See the SeaTow Link for summary of benefits for the $179 coverage

I assisted w/ a friends new boat delivery - ran into a log above Haverstraw and the bill was in the 1,000's don't recall exactly his total.
I think basic towing rate was (roughly from memory may be +/- ?) $100 / hr travel to then $300/hr towing...Diver for disentanglement was roughly $100/hr travel - $300 dive time

The Hudson can be hazardous spring & after heavy rains - well worth their $179 membership
IMHO

Hawgwash said:

Had you been around these parts, weeda just hooked you up and welcomed you aboard.

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We might make it up there this year as we are retired, and the last items on the maintenance list will be done. September is our cruising month people children are back to school and their normal life's plus the weather is still warm descent.

psneeld said:

The refusal could have gone one way or another depending on how it was described.

Sea Tow might have or should have offered assistance to maneuver in and out of the marinas...I have done that many times....

Other than that, depending on a lot of things, I would have almost been ashamed to ask for a 20 mile tow with a working engine. A lot of captains I have assisted just want assistance or escort around difficult maneuvering areas.

Plus the way I understand the 2 business models....the BoatUS guys gets paid to tow you from national if he deides you need a tow (and who wouldn't)...the local Sea Tow guy eats it out of his pocket and now isn't available to tow someone who is totally disabled.

There are many reasons things are done a certain way...not always transparent.

In my old area...it the tow was requested during certain times of the year, a BoatUS boat may not have even been available while the Sea Tow one would have been...of course if they elected to tow or assist...

Click to expand...

Not to drag this out, but ashamed I was not. I got it into the marina on my own but only had right hand turns which worked with the remaining engine. It would have taken all left hand turns to get out of the marina and under a bridge to back out to open water. Yes, then I would have been good for about 15 miles, and they would have had to re-connect up and take me into a very difficult repair yard (Turner Marine on Dog River). Boat US did not see the value in connecting at the start of the trip, dropping the tow, then picking it up again at the end into the repair yard, and frankly neither did I. In fact Boat US was stationed at Dog River as well. Ashamed, don't think so, just prudent in making a good and safe decision on the tow company's part as well as my own.

With a failed single-engine boat, there's no debate of whether one needs assistance. Unfortunately, twin-engined boats have the potential of twice the single-engine failure.

With no engine(s), you completely eliminate the risk of engine failure.

Oars are reliable, and are absent of fuel fire/explosion.

A couple of points. First, Boat US and Sea Tow are not insurance. They are memberships. It's subtle, but sometimes important.

Second, having not read your insurance policy, generally the tow coverage there is much different than the membership coverage provided by Tow Companies. Your Tow membership does not cover towing from accidents, including a hard grounding. Insurance policies do and generally don't cover tows from mechanical failure. Read the policy and coverage before you decide.

I operate a TBUS port on Lake Michigan. Unlimited Members ($73 Freshwater) get towed for free. I get paid from Boat US so long tows are welcomed. My Non Member rate is $225 from time I leave my home port til I return. Credit Card #before we leave. Most tows are at $450 and up. I have a 25 mile 1 hour response area and need approval from Boat US to bill outside of my area. Always granted so far. There is a $2500 limit. Which will get you to a port from almost anywhere in the lake.

Salvage is billed to an insurance company. Check your policy, some cheapo ones have a $5000 salvage cap. Rest is up to you. Salvage can be very expensive. Make sure your environmental coverage is adequate. The USCG can order an clean up company if you have a spill and bill you thousands. One owner was hit with a $19K bill. The last thing on insurance is to make sure you have an agreed value not market value policy. Cheaper is not better.

Towing is half what it used to be 10 years ago in the Midwest Most marinas are half full. Tell all your friends to buy a boat

Oars better be reliable...assistance towers usually don't cover human powered craft....

Greatlaker221 said:

...........The last thing on insurance is to make sure you have an agreed value not market value policy. Cheaper is not better. ..........

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That is not always possible. My insurance company changed mine from agreed value to market value after the boat reached ten years old. Agreed value was no longer an option.

WesK said:

That is not always possible. My insurance company changed mine from agreed value to market value after the boat reached ten years old. Agreed value was no longer an option.

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It is always possible. Perhaps just not with your insurer. It's at that point I would have probably changed insurers.

jimL said:

Most yacht policies include a Towing Provision. I’m seeing quotes for limits of $250, $2500 and $5000 per incident. I also have BOATUS towing Insurance at the unlimited level, although there are no BOATUS Towers in the areas – BOATUS will refer us to one of their network providers.

Click to expand...

Be careful of the fine print -- you will likely find that "unlimited" means "unlimited within the towing area (50 - 100 nm from port)". And even within the towing area, the towing isn't really unlimited. For example, if you breakdown and ask for a tow into the nearest port, hoping for quick repairs only to find that you need to get towed to your home port, that second tow will not be covered.