TOPIC:

In early August an ignition part on the Brother Nature broke when I was about 12 miles or so north of East Chicago marina.

If you call for help from the Coast Guard these days, unless there are life-threatening circumstances, your help will be they will call a commercial towing service to assist you. BoatUS now has a TowBoatUS boat at Hammond Marina and that's who was dispatched to tow me in. (I don't know of any other towing services locally.

Luckily, I have the Unlimited Towing Package with my annual membership. ($149). Sound steep?

I just saw the invoice for my tow. $1017.

I was fully covered - just handed my membership card to the tow boat captain and signed a form once we were back at the marina.

Some boat insurance covers towing, most don't. Many that do have a deductible. Check your policy.

To paraphrase Allstate's catch-phrase: Don't leave the dock without it!

Is that for salt water too? I had the membership with unlimited freshwater towing and trailer assist and I think it was $84/year. A great investment for us who trailer long distances...and insurance for those breakdowns. I carried it every year I used the boat on lake michigan.

I don't remember if that's fresh only or fresh and salt. I think both since BoatUS is heavy into coastal areas. Not so much on inland lakes and rivers where you have a better chance of flagging down a good Samaritan or just drift to shore where you can walk for help.

I highly recommend the trailer assist as well. I've posted about that here many times. It's only $14 per year. I trailer 118 miles per day when fishing from EC. One of my wheel bearing bills was $560 to get my broken truck home from Portage on a flatbed while towing the boat behind the wrecker. Makes $14 per year seem like a bargain, eh?

So you are a local? What's it worth to you if your tire goes flat on Cline Avenue or you spin a bearing along I-94 even only five miles from your house?

The Boat US covers your towing vehicle also if the boat is behind on the trailer. They will tow your pickup and boat in to get your truck repaired be it an alternator or whatever.

In my case they had they had my suburban on the roll back and they towed my boat right behind for just that, a seized alternator and a missing serpentine belt.