Boating in the Ocean?

[ZMWill]

I've been around boat my entire life but only in Oklahoma, Missouri, and north Texas on fresh water lakes. My ski boat has an OMC Stringer 800 in it. My first question is what would salt water do to it if anything? I would assume I would need to rinse the salt water out with fresh after use due to salt water corrosion but is there anything beyond this? Is it just a bad idea in general as in I'd be opening a can of worms?

The next question is what permits, if any, are required to put it on the bay in Panama City Fl. and just outside of the bay along the coast line?

Any advice for this land locked Okie would be appreciated.

 

[southkogs]

Welcome aboard.

I don't know the answer to permits for launching, but I don't know of any permits needed to be on the water in PC. I've mostly rented boats there rather than take mine down, though.

As far as the 800 goes, as long as you're not seeing any water intrusion in the system and you keep up on PM items then you should be fine. Make sure you rinse it after you run it in the salt, but there's no reason that drive in good working order wouldn't run on salt any different than fresh.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Make sure you have towing insurance no mater what drive you have

 

[ZMWill]

Never heard of towing insurance. Is this expensive? i assume its to get you back to your trailer in the event of mechanical failure.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Never heard of towing insurance. Is this expensive? i assume its to get you back to your trailer in the event of mechanical failure.

Howdy,

Welcome aboard!



Seatow is one of the more well known companies. About $180 per year.

Others like BoatUS are around $160

Most of them will also do certain lakes too and many insurance companies will include towing. check your policy before you buy, Your insurance company might have a minimal charge to add it to an existing policy.

Geico, Progressive and probably many others have add-on on-water towing packages available.

Having always done my boating on inland lakes, I have never considered it either.

Cheers,

Rick

 

[Scott Danforth]

I have Progressive and Boat US. Check your policy - some require you to pay then they reimburse, some only pay a portion, or a limit. A 20 mile tow is about $1100 (a 1/3 mile tow is $375) however the tow insurance is only $160/year. Well worth the second insurance policy

 

[harringtondav]

Never heard of towing insurance. Is this expensive? i assume its to get you back to your trailer in the event of mechanical failure.

Also to get towed out of the shallows if you run aground. The channel markers are non-negotiable. If you get outside them, you're likely to get stuck.

 

[southkogs]

I have an unlimited freshwater plan (mainly because my last boat was a Stringer drive). Most of the places I boat here in TN have Tow Boat US on them. Definitely worth looking into: there are a few things they can do for you on the water. Tow, fuel, jump.

Which sparked another thought - if you haven't got one, a marine radio would be a good idea too. Doesn't need to be fancy. Cell phone works pretty well even off the coast of PC, but the VHF signal will always work like it's supposed to.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Also to get towed out of the shallows if you run aground. The channel markers are non-negotiable. If you get outside them, you're likely to get stuck.

and down here in FL, the channels move every storm, so even if you were following your GPS tracks for months, one storm and you will find yourself in 3" of muck, calling to get towed out.

a tow from shallow water to the channel is $600. doesnt matter if it was 3' they towed you or 300'

Down here in FL's ICS, there are 3 kinds of boaters.

those that have run aground
those that will soon run aground
those that lie about not running aground.

 

[harringtondav]

Down here in FL's ICS, there are 3 kinds of boaters.

those that have run aground
those that will soon run aground
those that lie about not running aground.

Appears true from my limited experience. My bros. family and mine rented a boat by Indian Shores in the waterway. The owner gave us a waterproof chart and the card for a towing company. "Do not try pulling yourself off, call the tow".

We got thru it w/o getting in the muck. #2 above says my odds aren't good for the next time.

 

[southkogs]

Hi ... my name is southkogs. And I'm a #1.

Fortunately, what I met was pretty sandy so I didn't wind up having to call the towboat. But I did have to get wet.

 

[Tassie 1]

I have Progressive and Boat US. Check your policy - some require you to pay then they reimburse, some only pay a portion, or a limit. A 20 mile tow is about $1100 (a 1/3 mile tow is $375) however the tow insurance is only $160/year. Well worth the second insurance policy

Do they have a lower premium or loyalty price for long term clients who haven't needed their services?
Have you needed to be towed much?

 

[southkogs]

Do they have a lower premium or loyalty price for long term clients who haven't needed their services? Have you needed to be towed much?

Inland version, no. I haven't had to be towed but one time in the 5 years that I've had the service. I think my fee actually went up a few bucks a year ago.

 

[Tassie 1]

I live in Australia,
there isn't a commercial towing recreational focused service in the two states where we have lived,
can't say for sure about the others but l haven't heard of any,

Around here ( coast ) you wave someone down or put a call through via VHF or phone and wait for someone to come get ya
volunteer coastguard, water police etc if no-one else around
l've only had to be towed once in 20 + years and that was by my son 6? months ago

 

[Scott Danforth]

Do they have a lower premium or loyalty price for long term clients who haven't needed their services?
Have you needed to be towed much?

I have been towed 3 times here in FL. once for getting stuck, twice for equipment failure

over the years I have been towed in many times, a few rock vs lower unit events, a few equipment failure events

I have also towed in dozens of boats myself.

 

[dingbat]

Do they have a lower premium or loyalty price for long term clients who haven't needed their services?
Have you needed to be towed much?

Up until 3 years ago, I carried unlimited inshore and up to 75 miles offshore. With my fishing and boating club discounts it cost me $129 USD a year.

Having not used the service in 20+ years. I decided to drop my unlimited coverage and use the $500 towing allowance included with my boat insurance.

Hat didn’t work out so well. Had fuel issues 20+ miles down Bay. Called towing to come get me. Estimate to tow me back to the ramp was $2,100.

The tow guy knew of a community ramp close by and towed me there. From there I called a taxi to take me back to get the truck and trailer. Two hours later I’m back where I started from.

Good recovery actually. Paid $460 for the two. Another $25 for the taxi and $16 for the toll over the bridge to go get the boat.

Needless to say, I’m back to my full coverage towing service. The $2,100 fee was an eye opener given the fact that I was still pretty “local” for me. Not unusual for my to venture 4-5 times that far on a given day

 

[Tassie 1]

Well worth it in those circumstances,

after thinking about it about l can only think of one other occasion where the family/ mates mob have had to be towed,
b-i-l's blueband piston expired on the water in the mid 80's,
thats a fair few boats that have had their fair supply of luck,
outboards, fw ski inboards, diesel inboard ( sw ) twin petrol inboards ( sw )
fw lakes and rivers, coastal bays and offshore boats USED offshore lol
probably 50 to 60 boats at least between 7-8 different groups since the mid 70's

a lot of luck used up there lol

also can only remember towing one boat where just plain stupidity or arrogance....probably a bit of both reigned

was a passenger in a mates half cabin when we came across a flash, purty exxy looking ski boat on a Victorian fw lake many miles from his camp...had just bought it, had 3 or 4 little kids in it,

out of fuel...

took at least an hour to tow it back to his setup, couldn't just leave them there even though it caused us all sorts of drama getting back to where " our " trailer was...late arvo...running out of light in a lake full of dead trees and stumps,

so continued on to where another mate was camped and he drove us in his car right around the lake...a looong, looong way..to get the vehicles.

early 90's

 

[DouglasW]

Never been towed in my 65 years of boating. But about 1963, my father's boat got towed by a fellow boater. Does that count? We were very resourceful in those days. Nevertheless, I do have a BoatUS Unlimited policy now. Getting too old to be very resourceful now ;-)

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I need to look into Tow Insurance. Never even heard of it before coming to iboats. Maybe another Ontario Canada boater will chime in. I did need a tow 3 times. The 1st was within site of the Coast Guard station and they towed me in at no charge but did say the next time it would cost at X dollars per kilometer. The other 2 tows I waved down boaters to get me off a sandbar in the river. I was also following an older GPS route and found myself in a foot of water.

 

[oldrem]

Got caught with a dead engine 10 miles out on Lake Michigan many years ago. Young and dumb. No radio. Coast Guard vessel waved back at us when we tried waving them down A sail boat finally came by and slipped us a line almost an hour later and towed us into the harbor and got us close enough to the docks that I was able to dive in and swim the boat to a dock.