Seeking advice about towing another boat

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Yachts66

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Mar 22, 2024
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One of the many projects I have planned is to move my 45' cutter rigged sailboat from California. I looked into trucking it, but the cost was ridiculous due to its size. The engine in the boat needs to be replaced, but California is the absolute worst place to do any boat work. Costs are just incredible there, not to mention the sales tax. My fallback plan is to tow the boat up to Oregon, where I have contacts and know where to get work done. It would be about a five-day trip, so I'd need to pick the right weather window, but the summer months are usually not so bad. Have any of you had the occasion to do something like this? Words of wisdom are appreciated. I've done a little towing, but never a trip this long.

My thanks in advance for your advice.
 
That would be a very ambitious trip. One that I would not attempt. I have literally done hundreds of tows and there are so many things that can go wrong, especially offshore on the west coast going uphill. They call it uphill when traveling up the west coast for a reason. Towing a 45’ boat you will be lucky to average around 4 knots. I have done the downhill trip and didn’t envy those going uphill. The boats were basking into the waves sometimes for days on end. Then you have to enter and exit the harbors whenever you need to stop. Does the boat you will tow with have the legs to run those distances? What does your insurance company say? What if you have to cut it loose are you willing to accept the liability when it runs aground? Fuel spills, wreck removal, etc. There are so many negatives and not many positives in a trip like this.
 
Are you asking about towing the 45’ sailboat with another boat up the coast? Unless your other boat is a tug, I say its a bad idea. It would be painfully long at best. I’ve made the trip and it is not to be taken lightly even without something in tow.
I say keep looking for a cost-effective repair option wherever the boat is located.
 
Nothing is cost-effective in the state of California. . . unfortunately. I've towed this boat before, and she tows easily at six knots. She will be dry, with no fuel on board, and the engine will be void of oil. I will probably drop the mast as well. I've sailed the west coast in sailboats up above Vancouver Island, so I'm familiar with the weather and seas. I've crossed the Columbia bar many times, as well. I was really hoping to have her trucked, and I know some people who had a slightly smaller boat trucked south for 1/3 of what they are asking now. It's not a good situation for sure, but one in need of a solution.

I've been considering this situation for a couple of years now, and I've simply found no practical alternatives. Sad to say, I've put her up for sale, so maybe someone will buy her, but even that seems doubtful in this market.

Thanks for your response.
 
I would not do this. But if you do check what your insurer says about it. I thought our boats were insured when self propelled, and covered by an insured tow company otherwise.
Regardless of costs In California, is this idea cost effective tp Oregon?
 
Maybe I am nuts! I am not a sail boater and on the east coast. Knowing nothing about the west coast, but. Why can't you sail it up the coast? And have Sea Tow or some other compony tow you in and out of the harbor.

So the cost of towing is still a lot less than doing the work in CA? My next question would be, how much?
 
If you have connections in Oregon to an inexpensive mechanic, why not pay to have him come to the boat? Diesel mechanics travel all the time.

I don't really understand this post. I know of no one who has had their boat towed more than a short distance before. Sounds like you're an old hand at it and your boat goes with ease (Im surprised at 6-kts as i would have guessed 3.5-4.0 kts top s).

You're going to pay for the repairs one way or another - reduced resale price sounds like your current idea. If you're still open to repair, you might want to ping this forum with something more actionable such as "looking for a Diesel Mechanic to repair Perkins 4.236 in Antioch CA area" (whatever).
Nothing is cost-effective in the state of California. . . .

I used to think that too. Until I tried to find less expensive boatyard services in Florida. Even outside of population centers the costs were more or less the same hourly rates as the San Francisco area yards I was familiar with. It's why I chose sense ada to refit otherwise I would have shipped my boat to Florida where I could more easily monitor the work.

Good luck.

Peter
 
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+ 1 on sailing your . . . .well, your SAILboat. Yes, I understand you will have to tack offshore, but I would think this would be a better idea, especially if you travel in conjunction with a boat that is CAPABLE of towing your boat. What type of boat are you looking at for the tow boat?
Another option, would be to manufacturer a mount for, say, a 20 hp outboard to the stern. put a fuel bladder in the cockpit, and motor it up under it's own power. From where in CA, and to where in OR are you looking at going?
 
I just see a bad plan going from bad to worse.

You didn’t say where in CA or where in OR. You didn’t say if you need to harbor hop or plan to run around the clock. If you run around the clock you will need to get far off shore to avoid the crab traps. This will add stress to picking a weather window. Harbor hopping with a tow will have its own nightly difficulties.

From San Francisco to Brookings will probably take you 5 days. My last time up the coast I couldn’t put together more than 3 day weather windows and that was in June.

If you are a person of means but hate spending money, this is a mistake, spend the money.

If you are in a financial bind, divesting your self of this boat is your best bet.

If you attempt this, start a YouTube channel and film it. You might make enough money to pay for a new engine.
 
When you say the engine needs to be replaced, what's the current engine and what's wrong with it?

Also, could you reasonably bring a dinghy with a decently powerful outboard along for the trip?

If you can manage some kind of usable propulsion, I'd give serious consideration to sailing the boat up the coast and just planning to need to motor as little as possible (and hip tow with the dinghy if necessary).
 
Well, since you asked for it, gather up a comfortable chair. This is a long story. First, the things you need to know: This is a very strong steel boat, as you will see. Then there is me. I grew up on a lake with a grandfather who loved all things boats. I could swim by the age of two because he felt a kid who could swim was less likely to drown. I knew more about operating our outboard motor than my grandmother did. Every spring after the ice melted, my grandfather would row me out into the lake, and when I figured the distance was right, I would dive out of the boat and swim back to shore with him following me. That distance became the radius of my freedom. I could take the rowboat and then the canoe anywhere I wanted within that distance. I became the consummate fisherman and kept my entire extended family in fish for the winter. When I wanted a greater distance, I asked for another test. And so it went. By the age of five, I could swim from the midpoint of the lake to shore (I was more fish than kid), and so the entire lake became my playground. I had a fantastic childhood. At about the age of seven, I fell in love with sailboats and observed them on the lake. We did not have a sailboat. We had a rowboat, a canoe, and an outboard powerboat. My grandfather told me if I wanted a sailboat, I should build one. So, I did.

I used some bamboo to create a mast for the rowboat and an old sheet for a sail my grandmother let me use. I also used some cordage I found lying around to tie it all together. If the wind was blowing hard enough, she sailed fairly well but, unfortunately, was only capable of sailing downwind. My grandmother quickly tired of coming to tow me back from the other side of the lake, and it was a long row. Still, I was not able to trick up a decent upwind rig, so it was a long slog home against the wind. Not fun. At that point, I switched to the canoe because it was much easier to paddle. The rowboat was made of steel and very much tank-like (heavy) but stable enough that my father could stand on the side, and it would not flip over.

This continued until I was ten, and we moved to the Southwest because of my sister's asthma. Not one to give up easily. While working at Lake Havasu one summer, I salvaged an old wooden rowboat that I used on some local rivers until the dry rot became too much, and she sank in a small rapid. My obsession with sailboats continued after my discharge from the Army, and in my third year of college, I scraped together enough money to buy a trailer/sailor, MacGregor 24. The Sea of Cortez, here I come every school break. It was also the first sailboat I did not build myself. I had marvelous adventures down in Mexico and fell in love with the cruising lifestyle. Unfortunately, a deer ran in front of me on the way home from Mexico at the end of spring break in my Senior year. I hit the brakes hard, the trailer jackknifed, the tongue broke, and the boat and trailer went merrily by me on the freeway, going backward. Then, off the road, flying through the air into a ravine south of Tucson. Insurance paid for the extensive repairs to the boat and a new boat trailer, and I sold her. Sad day that.

Life continued, and my career took off and consumed my time, as did grad school. I also learned to fly airplanes and allowed them to distract me from sailing for a few years, but I had a blast doing it. Then, in the early eighties, I purchased my second sailboat, which was not made by me. It was a real beauty, thirty-eight feet long, and I moored in Houston. I went through Hurricane Alicia in 1983 on that boat, which is a great story and learning experience. The boat and I survived unscathed, mostly from dumb luck and the fact all the tornadoes missed us.

Then, in the 2000s, I found my dream boat, a 65-foot steel cutter with twin engines. Gawd, I loved that boat. I was preparing it for a sail around the world when my then-wife decided she liked my money a lot more than me, and I lost it and my boat in a divorce: hard times those. Being stubborn and more obsessed than ever with sailboats, I found another steel cutter and bought her. A project boat, all I could afford, but she was mine paid for in cash. One more data point: I lost my hearing in the Army. I managed to get myself blown up, which was not a fun experience, but I survived it when my hearing did not—severe damage to my cochlea and auditory nerves. I was marching toward deafness, but no VA doctor told me this. They told me to wait and see what would happen. Well, deafness is what happened. Well, on that road, I managed to conjure up a significant state of denial. It was not a good plan on my part, but my denial was strong. C'est la vi.

My new steel project boat needed some work, so I found a marina that would allow you to do your own work and set off on the fifty-ish or so-mile voyage in my new boat. Irony. A month before, I attended the Metal Boat Society annual convention and won the door prize! Whoopee, the first time I ever won something like that. The prize? A free one-year subscription to a Boat US towing policy. God was looking out for me, you see.

With little wind and nearly full fuel tanks, I was motoring. It was fall and a bit chilly, but I was a happy man. I closed the companionway to keep the cabin warm, and we made good progress. Remember, deafness was circling around me, but I was in complete denial—stupid me. The first sign of trouble came when I noticed we had billowing white smoke spewing out of my exhaust! Yikes, this isn't good. After turning off the engine, I opened the companionway hatch and went below to discover my boat was full of water! We were sinking! The water was nearly up to the top of the companionway. The little wind that was blowing, combined with the current, was blowing me into a rocky area along the shore. So, I dropped the anchor to keep us off the rocks and started bailing out the water. It's amazing how much water a frightened man can move with a bucket when he needs to.

With the engine underwater, my only way to move was by sail, but there was not enough wind for that. So, I texted my brother to call Boat US for me, and I'd have them tow me to the Marina, where I'd sort this mess out. Brother got Boat US headed toward me, and I waited, bailing more water to pass the time. Later that afternoon, a teenager in a BoatUS tow boat arrived, and we rigged a bow tow. He told me he would switch to a side tow once we got to the Marina. Life was much better now, and off we went. It took a couple of hours, but we made it. Unfortunately, the kid entered the marina at nearly six knots. I waved, yelled, and blew my horn, trying to get his attention, but he was listening to music, I guess, and did not respond. Finally, he looked back at me and realized his error, but it was too late. He dropped the towline and got out of the way while I charged into the marina. With no engine, I could not stop, only steer. There were no good choices at this point. I was heading straight for the fuel dock and pumps; veering off, I could opt to hit some very nice and probably very expensive yachts. My other option was to hit the fuel dock down from the pumps near the fuel shack. I chose this option. I hit the dock, making over five knots. My bow cut through nearly half of the dock, and my short bowsprit and anchor made a very nice hole near the roof of the fuel shack, but I had stopped.

I jumped off the boat, mooring lines in hand, got the boat tied up, and then assessed the damage. I cut through the wooden dock like a knife and made a rather admirable hole in the wall of the fuel shack. The good part was my boat was undamaged. Gawd, I love steel boats. The BoatUS kid stayed away, maybe afraid of what I would do to him if he got close enough for me to do what I wanted to do to him. Smart kid. A middle-aged man walked up, surveying the damage, and informed me he was the owner of the Marina and had observed the entire affair. He assigned no liability to me, and I guess BoatUS gave him a nice settlement. My engine was toast. The exhaust hose had failed, and the water intended to be expelled overboard stayed into the boat. Being nearly deaf, I missed all the auditory clues of this, only realizing there was a problem when the engine, now underwater, started ingesting water, which totaled the engine. That is why this boat can't move under her own power. She needs a new engine, an extremely expensive proposition in the communist republic of California.

But it's a sailboat, right? Well, yes, but the standing rigging needs to be replaced, and the quote for that was horrendous in California. The fee to remove the mast was quite high as well, and the marina is not friendly to me now. I need to move the boat to make them happy. How will this end?

I've contacted some engine suppliers about purchasing a good used or rebuilt Ford Lehman 65 hp engine this boat needs. I'm waiting for their quotes. The marina now has rules that make the engine swap not an easy process and very expensive. So, we'll see. The decision on how to solve this dilemma has yet to be made, but I'm working on it.

On a final note. The Veteran's Administration does not like deaf veterans. I get letters from them on a regular basis telling me they will cancel my medical appointments unless I call their toll-free voice phone. Do they require quadriplegic veterans to run up three flights of stairs to get a medical appointment? Nope. Yet they think it's ok to require deaf veterans to make voice phone calls. Hopefully, the new Secretary of the VA will set out to correct the many wrongs in this highly dysfunctional agency.

I hope you enjoyed this long read and learned something from it.
 
But it's a sailboat, right? Well, yes, but the standing rigging needs to be replaced, and the quote for that was horrendous in California.

Ummm... TL, DR, but is this the reason you don't just sail north to wherever? Is it not in "good enough" condition for one last sail?

-Chris
 
Did I miss the location in California and possibly destination in Oregon?

Looks like the VA has 70 clinics and 1300 audiologists. Obviously if you're entirely deaf a phone call is out of the question. You stated you've exhausted all possibilities with boatyards and mechanics - perhaps whatever mechanism you used with them you could use with the VA? Maybe someone can call on your behalf? This link also says no referral is needed - hearing loss is the most common form of veteran disability.


Sounds like you've hit a wall on options for this boat. Owning a boat can be expensive - it's not for every budget.

Best success in finding your bliss.

Peter
 
Ok, read most of your last post. Sorry about your problems. One thing to keep in mind is TF has some basic rules. One of which is to be nice. Please keep political comments off the site. Your personal opinions may upset other members so we try to keep it friendly and also you don’t know what will offend someone else.
 
I understand that you’re in a hard position. But trying to tow the boat is very likely to have you end up in a far worse position and possibly lead to a loss of the vessel(s), and or your life. Plus put rescuers in danger.

Good luck, consider your options carefully.
 
My fallback plan is to tow the boat up to Oregon, where I have contacts and know where to get work done.
Given your contacts in Oregon, you might remove the engine (if you deem it repairable), truck it to your Oregonian mechanic, get said work done, and reverse the process. Another option: unstep the mast, secure it aboard, and have a shipping agent arrange for the boat to be deck-shipped via barge or ship already bound for Portland, OR. If you can wait a bit, the right deal will come along.

While I am inexperienced on west coast waters, I agree with those counseling against the ocean tow, for all the reasons stated.

Sounds like you may be in a bit of a tight corner here, though. If so, the best play may be to liquidate your present boat and look for one that's serviceable. Meanwhile, thank you for serving in the U.S.A. The V.A. should take good care of you!
 
I watched two young kids buy a rotten 70’ wood yacht. Against all odds they rebuilt it to new standards. I watched a couple buy a rotten WWII wood boat sitting in a slough. Against all odds they are making incredible progress. Both of these couples have a YouTube channel. If it wasn’t for the revenue they receive from their YouTube channel both projects would have ended in a scrap yard with the owners being hounded by collection agencies. Both couples admit they grossly underestimated the costs involved in saving an old boat. Both couples admit that with out the YouTube income they would have failed.

So, I repeat my earlier advice. Start a YouTube channel.
 
One of the many projects I have planned is to move my 45' cutter rigged sailboat from California. I looked into trucking it, but the cost was ridiculous due to its size. The engine in the boat needs to be replaced, but California is the absolute worst place to do any boat work. Costs are just incredible there, not to mention the sales tax. My fallback plan is to tow the boat up to Oregon, where I have contacts and know where to get work done. It would be about a five-day trip, so I'd need to pick the right weather window, but the summer months are usually not so bad. Have any of you had the occasion to do something like this? Words of wisdom are appreciated. I've done a little towing, but never a trip this long.

My thanks in advance for your advice.
I knew someone who towed a 30-ft center console from Key Largo, FL to Nantucket every summer behind his 46 Bertam SF. Weather is obviously the issue. Here on the East Coast there are harbors everywhere unlike the West Coast. Plus, we don't have the prevailing winds that turn the voyage into an ordeal of head-sea bashing. I agree with those who say import a mechanic or sail North.
 

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