How big to tow a boat?

I was out fishing today on Lake Ontario and I heard a call from Prescott Coast Guard asking for assistance to tow a boat off of Lake Erie. The boat was a 42 foot Kadey Krogen. It made me wonder how big a boat you would need to tow a boat of that size off the lake?

It depends on the conditions. In good weather, TowBoatUS would happily do it with a 20-something foot center console. I'd happily do it with my 38 footer in good conditions as well (and if towing any significant distance it would be nicer than towing a smaller boat, as I wouldn't be limited to the lower hull speed of a smaller boat, meaning a faster tow at probably 6.5 kts instead of maybe 5 kts).

Yes, depends on current conditions. We used to have a 22’ center console that we used for CG work. If the conditions were good we could have towed it with the 22’.

As rslifkin says, it depends on the conditions. I once used my 9' Avon inflatable to tow my 37' sloop back to the dock. The engine wouldn't crank, and the wind had completely died, so we couldn't sail. But the absence of wind meant for glass calm conditions, so I lashed the dinghy alongside and towed the bigger boat "on the hip." Once I had the bigger boat moving enough to answer her rudder, we steered the whole mess with that. (Try towing a larger boat with a little outboard sometime, and you'll quickly discover why I put it on the hip).

To add on for the hip tow vs stern tow thing, generally I'd stern tow until entering a harbor or other protected water, then switch to a hip tow for maneuvering in tighter spaces.

Or with a little vessel with an outboard or I/O, tow bow to bow as the little vessel will be much more maneuverable in reverse.

It doesn't take much horsepower to tow, but to fight conditions or be able to start and stop quickly it does take a lot more than to just keep it moving.

Wind was calm on Lake O when the call went out but they were forecasting 60 km winds from the south around 1 pm. I thought about my boat for towing purposes and I have no hard points anywhere on the boat I could use to tow with. My two D loops on the transom have been removed due to two motors being used.

We have been towed by a 20’ Shamrock in calm conditions. PSN is the go to guy for commercial towing questions.

floater said:

Wind was calm on Lake O when the call went out but they were forecasting 60 km winds from the south around 1 pm. I thought about my boat for towing purposes and I have no hard points anywhere on the boat I could use to tow with. My two D loops on the transom have been removed due to two motors being used.

Click to expand...

Suitable hard points to tow with are definitely a concern on some boats. On mine I have well backed stern cleats and they're placed such that I can lead a bridle aft from them cleanly.

Towing in mild conditions doesn't require real heavy duty line or towing points. Heavy weather, ungrounding, or towing half sunk vessels are often where you hear the horror stories of lines snapping or cleats as missiles.

I am not saying that you should be careless, but most can handle a simple tow in benign conditions.

I used to tow boats all the time in my little aluminum runabout with a 40hp, I would even pull sailboats off of groundings by pulling on their halyards to heel them over. It was just a fun challenge for me and people used to help each other out more before the towing services became more prevalent. Nothing against the services, as it is safer to have pros doing things but I do miss the days that boaters were more inclined to help each other. I think your average family boat was also smaller back then.

Historically, people would mount their outboard on the swim platform to be use as an emergency get home engine.
I have not seen this setup in years.

Being a ¨Chase Boat¨ for a charter service I once towed a BENETEAU 44 about 35 miles that had lost it´s prop and wind conditions were very calm. I towed 99% on auto pilot because I could not stay in front steering by hand, wandered terribly. On AP it steered perfect. maintained about 5-6 knots for fear of breaking the line that was attached to two cleats, aft stbd and port gunwales in a yoke configuration.

Blissboat said:

I once used my 9' Avon inflatable to tow my 37' sloop back to the dock.

Click to expand...

I have done pretty much the same thing. In the right conditions, you can tow a very large boat, with a very small and low powered one.


So, as is almost always the case, the most correct answer is "it depends."

PSN is the go to person regarding towing.

A few weeks ago, a 30 ft sailboat in our marina lost its engine so I went out in our 12 ft. Bullfrog Dink with 30 HP to get them.

I first tried towing them off their bow cleat to a bridal off my stern to keep the line centered. The sailboat was zigging back and forth and behind me, even with them steering the same course. No bueno. Any ideas?

I therefore changed to a hip tie, which I knew was needed eventually anyway to manuever them inside the marina. I watch the BoatUS and SeaTow guys doing this, so I figured I was an expert too - yea right. This worked well, and I would call out steering directions, to match mine..Port- midship - starb ,etc.

I was able to make a couple 90 degree turns with them on my hip, and then place them inside their slip with the help of a few neighbors at the dock.

If it was a larger power boat, and not a sailboat with a deep rudder and keel to match my steering inputs, it would have been a lot more difficult.

This was in flat conditions, mild wind.

Before you kindly offer towing assistance again it might be a good idea to check into your insurance coverage to be sure you're covered for assistance towing. There's a big difference between towing someone out of danger to say safe a anchorage vs towing them all the way into the marina and their slip.

Unfortunately the world we now live and boat in requires a CYA attitude.

Definitely check for towing in your insurance as it is not mandated that you ever to by law or regulation. It is only required that you stand by a marine incident to help prevent loss of life.

I would never tow someone to their slip as there are too many things that can go wrong and not being a professional tower pretty easy to prove you were negligent. Tow them to a fuel/transient dock or open T head. Or drop them off at a safe, nearby place to anchor.

It would only be in the rarest of circumstances that I would use my boat or dingy. I would exhaust and make them exhaust every possibility first.

psneeld said:

Definitely check for towing in your insurance as it is not mandated that you ever to by law or regulation. It is only required that you stand by a marine incident to help prevent loss of life.

I would never tow someone to their slip as there are too many things that can go wrong and not being a professional tower pretty easy to prove you were negligent. Tow them to a fuel/transient dock or open T head. Or drop them off at a safe, nearby place to anchor.

Click to expand...

A lot of insurance (but not all, so good to check) will cover you if you're towing to assist, provided you're not getting paid.

As far as getting them to a slip, I agree. I'll happily place a boat on a face dock, but no way am I going to try to put a boat in a slip.

I really, really, really hate this part...............
The last I heard was, you stand off, circling the boat ensuring everyone is wearing their PFD, call the USCG and ask what to do next. If the boat is sinking, put everyone in THEIR RIB or life raft, transferring them to your boat IF necessary, keeping the USCG informed of your location, intentions and progress. This crap about getting close enough to step aboard your boat is asking for trouble. "Slip and Fall" etc.
The USCG may want to come out or have the owner call TowBoat.
IF you elect to tow them, if they accept your line, you are in the salvage business. If you accept their line, I think, that may increase your liability for the safety of their boat and crew.
There are so many rules to follow to reduce your liability.
IF they dont have enough PFD, toss them one or two of your own, keeping in mind you must retain enough PFD to satisfy your own needs. Dont expect to get your PFD back. SHRUG
Gone are the days of 'hand shake contracts' and helping out a unknown fellow boater, without fear.
If course if your bestest buddy needs a tow, let's hope he is not out to get you.
Sad to say but, the good ole days are long since gone.
Standing off and circling the boat, rendering reasonable aid, PFD, while waiting for help from TowBoat or USCG is indeed the safest thing to do.

The who's tow line thing has been proven not to impact liability. Realistically, if I'm towing someone, I'm going to rig whatever setup is safest regardless of who's lines it involves.

rslifkin said:

The who's tow line thing has been proven not to impact liability. Realistically, if I'm towing someone, I'm going to rig whatever setup is safest regardless of who's lines it involves.

Click to expand...

Seems reasonable depending upon their lawyer. SMIRK

If your line snaps back and damages their boat or hurts someone, assuming the guy's a total jerk, you may end up in court.

I have no idea on accepting payment for the tow or payment for the fuel.
In my mind, I would not charge nor accept any payment. I will remind them, if they find a boater in destress, they were helped so maybe they should render reasonable aid too.

Correct, it's not whose towline it is...in the USA, generally you are protected as a good Samaritan and mistakes are allowed.....gross negligence is not (I am not sure about simple negligence).

It's not the boat it's the person running it, you could easily tow a 40 foot trawler with a 12ft skiff and a 2hp outboard in reasonable conditions with a little experience. Understanding a few basics like how to not get tripped or overtaken and how to tow alongside make it much easier and safer and less likely to end up in court.

Not an expert here by any means, but one of the issues of maneuverability when towing is that having the tow line attach point on the towing boat FORWARD of the rudder post allows the towing boat to change heading, and thereby directing engine thrust to keep that heading, rather than asking the rudder to do all the work in directing the thrust. That's one of the reasons why tow boats have the towing winch located so far forward on the aft deck.

Using a tow bridle that attaches to two points on the transom, or cleats AFT of the rudder post works fine in straight towing, no wind or cross current, but changing direction can get a trifle difficult.

Most boaters on forums like this don't have the capability to attach their tow line forward of the rudder post.

On size, I've towed a 19' ski boat in with a 14' sailboat under sail power alone (no auxiliary). I've also towed a 42' cruiser in with a 34' Monk.

Take it easy, take it slow, think/talk everything through before you do it. Know your limits, and know when to call the experts!

I has waved down once to help a 20 foot boat with a broken shifter cable. They were only about half a km off shore in a small bay and weather conditions were calm. They had 6 people on board with no PFDs and no paddle and no ropes. I asked them to send over five people and leave one behind to steer the boat as I feared all that weight would rip off the transom of my very old 17 foot aluminum boat. They refused to come to my boat. I ended up leaving them there and sending back help when I got back to the launch. Never could figure out why they were so reluctant to allow me to help them in that way. Maybe my boat was dirty?

" I feared all that weight would rip off the transom of my very old 17 foot aluminum boat."

Maybe this deterred them......

slowgoesit said:

On size, I've towed a 19' ski boat in with a 14' sailboat under sail power alone (no auxiliary).

Click to expand...

Well done, Slow! You should have required the passengers on the ski boat to send across a wench (not a winch) and a cask of rum, and to sing sailing shanties at the top of their lungs, a'la "Home Free:"

Once I assisted a 30 foot sail get into their slip. They had sailed so far, engine failed. I used my inflatable tender with 9.9. While I could tow I could not steer. Plan B worked very well I pushed, they steered.

Another tow was a large steel boat with 9 foot draft. We were tasked with our 32 foot twin engine. Towing in a straight line was no problem at all. But we had to follow the marked river channel with turns and shallows. Once the momentum is up the steel boat would prevent us from making the turns until we shortened the bridle on the side we wanted to turn to. Required quick stop/adjust and we got them to the dock.

So size does matter, but can be made to work.

A trick to turning a large, heavier tow is to slow just a tad, allow a little slack in the tow line.....then turn part of the way...then resume power, increase a bit can help too. Repeat until the turn is done. DO NOT try and make the turn all at once is that how is often many towboats get in trouble.


Of course this requires planning ahead at every turn, obviously the faster the tow the greater the turning distance...but whenever towing a large, heavy vessel...planning ahead it wise.

When I was new to tugs I heard it said " it's better to have the horsepower in the wheelhouse than the engineroom". There's more to towing than guesswork, I watched a local lobsterman tow in another lobsterboat the other day. He came into the harbor at about 6kts and keep that speed right up to the float where they just let the towline go. I suppose I don't need to illustrate the result.