Advise on anchor/tow line

[psneeld]

If you use the towing boat's line you may have given him salvage rights - use your owe line. Most of the time the towing boat will use a hip connection requiring little line, but prepare to have plenty of fendering.

Read up on the Sea Tow or BoatUS web pages... your assumption on salvage is not correct.

You generally will only be hip towed in very protected waters.

 

[jgwinks]

If you use the towing boat's line you may have given him salvage rights - use your owe line. Most of the time the towing boat will use a hip connection requiring little line, but prepare to have plenty of fendering.

That's an old wives tale. Salvage has nothing to do with who's equipment is used, it's the individual circumstance. Time involved and number of assets required to affect the rescue, etc. At any rate, a towing or salvage agreement will be reached before anything is done. If you don't like terms of that agreement, you have the right to refuse service. That's one of the reasons the USCG will issue a "MARB", Marine Assistance Request Broadcast. They broadcast your location and nature of distress and anyone is free to respond. If Seatow and Joe Boater both show up, you are free to accept Joe's help and tell Seatow to f*** off. It's up to you to decide if Joe is capable or not. Even if Seatow already has you hooked up when Joe arrives, you can still opt out but you'll be liable for Seatow's time including return to base. Since hat probably won't be much cheaper than their total, you might as well stay with them. All in all another reason to pay the membership. Regular towing is covered. If it really is salvage that's extra but that's a Corporate decision not the individual operator's. And Corporate hates to p*** off the members.

 

[jgwinks]

Let's go further and discuss what salvage actually is. The old wives tale says the salvor now owns the boat. Not true. He may get a percentage of the value of the boat before the incident, and with commercial vessels the cargo may also be involved. That percentage is often determined by a court of law. The owner is rarely involved, it's the insurance company. Real world: If you go aground and I can pull you off using one boat and you drive away or I tow you in because your props are damaged, that's a regular ungrounding and tow. I had one case where the boat was high and dry on the beach and we walked all the way around it without getting our feet wet. The bottom was not damaged but the props & probably shafts were bent. Still not salvage. I got compensated for my time door to door, but not salvage. If your bottom's gone and I have to bring in crane and barge, that's salvage. I get a percentage depending on my expenses and how much I have to put myself and my equipment at risk. And I don't think you'll complain about it because you know the boat's totalled. Once and a while there's no one to complain anyway because they were all killed in the wreck and we're actually working for the Coast Guard to remove the navigation hazard and pollution control. That's salvage. Fortunately I never had to do that.

 

[psneeld]

With Sea Tow, I believe it is the franchise owner that decides on salvage....not really "corporate"....at least in some places.

Many times the decision was made between the captain and franchise owner via a phone call and a few pictures in my experience.

The decision whether salvage, assistance not covered by membership or membership assistance would be made on the spot much of the time what I saw.

 

[markpierce]

Towing a boat from the stern-ward cleats on my boat would tear away paint from the steel hull. No, I will not tow. Could throw a line to persons to drag aboard.

 

[jgwinks]

It's good you know your limits. No one expects you put yourself or your boat/crew in peril. We just do what we can.

 

[jgwinks]

With Sea Tow, I believe it is the franchise owner that decides on salvage....not really "corporate"....at least in some places.

Many times the decision was made between the captain and franchise owner via a phone call and a few pictures in my experience.

The decision whether salvage, assistance not covered by membership or membership assistance would be made on the spot much of the time what I saw.

Well Corporate's not on scene to make the call. But they do have pretty specific standards to be met. If I have break out the wetsuit and lift bags, no one will argue that's not salvage. But if a member runs out of gas on a calm day with no hazards around and I try to claim salvage, I'll lose my franchise. It's their call in advance if you will. I kind of over simplified that before.

 

[psneeld]

In the cases I know of, corporate wasnt even notified until long after the fact.

But things may have changed in the last few years so I will have to ask Monday when I call the office.

As far as the out of gas example....easy to see. But pretty much anything not directly discussed as a membership action was treated as salvage (flat rate quoted by the boss or time and equipment as quoted by the boss). In 15 years I don't think either franchise owner ever charged a percentage of worth on salvage I worked on.

Maybe we are talking 2 different corporates as they tend to run things pretty differently. Corporate oversight up front sounds more BoatUS.

 

[Comodave]

Towing a boat from the stern-ward cleats on my boat would tear away paint from the steel hull. No, I will not tow. Could throw a line to persons to drag aboard.

That is what chaffing gear is for.

 

[jgwinks]

In the cases I know of, corporate wasnt even notified until long after the fact.

But things may have changed in the last few years so I will have to ask Monday when I call the office.

As far as the out of gas example....easy to see. But pretty much anything not directly discussed as a membership action was treated as salvage (flat rate quoted by the boss or time and equipment as quoted by the boss). In 15 years I don't think either franchise owner ever charged a percentage of worth on salvage I worked on.

Maybe we are talking 2 different corporates as they tend to run things pretty differently. Corporate oversight up front sounds more BoatUS.

It was. I wasn't the franchise owner, just an employee so I didn't have to deal with them. But that's how the boss explained it to me. And he did quote the charges for non-member work so maybe the same afterall.

 

[rslifkin]

Towing a boat from the stern-ward cleats on my boat would tear away paint from the steel hull. No, I will not tow. Could throw a line to persons to drag aboard.

Your cleat placement does appear less than ideal for towing. Personally, if it were my boat, I'd be inclined to either add a center bollard or a pair of cleats that are usable from directly aft. Not so much for towing (although it would work for that), but for a case where you need to tie off with crossed stern lines to a bulkhead behind you due to placement of dock cleats. Your current configuration would have the same problem there as it does with towing.