Sean,

I am very good friends with the owners of the Sea Tow franchise. If you have any questions pm me. If I do not know the answer I will get you in touch with them.

Don

Never boated on the big waters until 1 time 2 yrs ago on Erie at Put-In-Bay, so tow insurance was never a factor. Hit a reef, lost a lower unit, called for a tow. Boat US towed us 1 1/2 miles back to the marina and handed us the $1800 bill. After the hyperventalating stopped from the bill shock, we 'negotiated' him down to $1200.

If ever I was to go back, have no plans to though, tow insurance will be bought.

Do they have a "salvage rider" to cover you in case they try to claim a portion of your boat's value?

For anyone considering ST perhaps you should first read what their business practices are REALLY like.

Check out these two good articles that Power and Motoryacht magazine chose to run about how ST ripped off one of their very own members for $ 30,000 for ONE hours work by calling a tow a very questionable "salvage".

In my opinion this is not an isolated incident or a bad apple with ST, its their company policy. They are not in business for the lousy $ 120/yr yearly membership, but to rip off their own members anytime they can claim salvage. If you still think ST won't do it to you, then at least you've been warned.

http://powerandmotoryacht.com/features/0103badday/

http://powerandmotoryacht.com/features/0403hillsboro/

Interesting read........

I got BoatUS. You'd have to be nuts to venture out w/out one or the other.

Thanks for the information, scams are everywhere.

So, there's always two sides of the story.

At the August 03' Sarasota Offshore Showdown APBA race, when one race boat broke a SeaTow operator was right there and offered to tow him back to the tenth street ramps. Note the key word here was offered, no mention whatsoever of any charges. I had a tow boat on the way but the SeaTow guy was closer so the race boat, via race control, informed me (I was the "Course Captain") that SeaTow was going to take the tow. Fine by me. When SeaTow got the boat back to the ramp they presented the RaceTeam with a Three Thousand Dollar Tow Bill. Cops had to be called. I think they ultimately gave him five hundred bucks, but I'm not quite sure of the amouht. Anyway it was a REAL UGLY scene. All SeaTow operators were notified after that they would not be allowed anywhere except the spectator part of the course and if they were seen moving toward another race boat they would be escorted away by law enforcement.

Very Very Interesting reading!
MD