If ever you were to spend money on your boat it would be a very important decision to buy Towing protection insurance. After writing the diesel engine blogs on trawlerschoolcharters.com site I felt compelled to address the towing issue. Without the right coverage, a tow on the water could set you back thousands and I mean thousands of dollars out of pocket for just a short tow.
Trawler Towing insurance is to help ease the stress, aggravation and out of pocket expense related to breakdowns, soft-groundings, fuel delivery, jump starts… while at the same time paying compensation to towing companies.
Commercial companies charge over $250.00 per hour for travel and (tow time) with additional charges for night time and bad weather. They may also charge $20.00 plus per foot of a vessels length for soft- groundings hard-grounding & salvage… Running time will also be billed for cancelled calls.
There are two types of towing insurance to buy, one being on your Yacht Insurance Policy and the other an inexpensive towing card like Boat US.
Why do you need Yacht Insurance Policy coverage above and beyond coverage from an inexpensive boat towing card like Boat US? Tow boats and other company’s like them do not cover hard-groundings & salvage. A hard grounding is when a second tow boat must assist, now more equipment is needed to free your boat, this is where your yacht policy will come into play and handle your claim. Another feature is your coverage will be extended to any coverage your policy provides for. you must find out if your policy will pay your towing bill up front or will you need to pay first and be refunded later (this could become a huge bill), you must have the cash or credit card to cover the tow. One more thing I would check on, make sure your policy covers salvage up to full value of your boat and not a percentage of your boat’s value.
You can buy inexpensive towing insurance coverage from outside company’s such as Boat US from West Marine. They offer on the water towing service by the nations largest towing fleet members and have unparalleled service at a competitive price in the US, Canada & Mexico 24/7 including water towing, fuel delivery, jump starts & soft groundings and 100% coverage for home dock tows.
I personally have both towing coverage’s and sleep very well at night with no worries while underway.
I hope this article was helpful, we teach this and a lot more at Trawler School Charters.
For more information, pictures and reviews visit our website at www.trawlerschoolcharters.com.
Become a trawler scholar.
Captain Bob Hamilton
Tags: trawler boat
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