For boat owners
On-water assistance.
Reliable towing and assistance across East Texas, from the Gulf coast to Arkansas — what a towboat is sent out to do, what a TowBoatUS membership covers, and how to raise help.
What we offer
On-water assistance, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Emergency boat towing, battery jump starts, emergency fuel delivery, soft ungrounding, and marine salvage and recovery — for bass boats, fishing boats, recreational boats, pontoons, personal watercraft and jet skis.
TowBoatUS members are served according to their applicable towing coverage. Non-members are also welcome, and non-member pricing varies by type of service, location, distance, time and circumstances of the call.
Call (844) 262-8869 24 hours a day.
Breakdowns
The single most common reason boaters call.
Mechanical breakdowns of engines, transmissions and drives are the most common reason boaters call for on-water assistance. Breakdown assistance covers engine, transmission, drive and electrical failures: what can be fixed out on the water is fixed there, and what cannot is towed in.
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Open blue water, boat on the line.
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Steady speed, tow astern.
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Running the tow home.
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Wheel and towline, mid-tow.
Where the tow ends
Your choice of trailer, slip, marina or repair shop.
A boat under tow goes to the owner's choice of destination: their trailer, their slip, or any marina, ramp or repair yard — including dock-to-dock tows straight to a repair facility.
Fuel & batteries
Brought out to the boat, at any hour.
- Fuel deliveryFuel is brought out to the boat on the water, at any hour. On a member's fuel delivery, the member pays only for the fuel itself.
- Battery jump startsIf the jump start does not hold, the boat is towed to a repair facility.
Aground
A soft ungrounding is a fifteen-minute job — or it is salvage.
A soft ungrounding is a boat that is upright, undamaged, surrounded by water and freeable in about fifteen minutes with one boat and one line. Anything else is salvage, and the captain says which it is before a line goes on.
Salvage is not covered by any towing membership and is normally paid by the boat owner's insurance.
Divers
Dive services, in the water.
Prop and line clearing, underwater inspection, and recovery of lost items.
Membership
What a TowBoatUS membership pays for.
TowBoatUS and BoatUS members' covered services are paid 100% by BoatUS, with no paperwork. Covered services are towing, soft ungroundings, battery jump starts and fuel delivery; on a fuel delivery a member pays only for the fuel itself.
Non-members are served at posted rates, quoted before the boat leaves the dock. A single non-member call typically runs $300 to $500, against about $130 a year for an Unlimited freshwater TowBoatUS membership.
Insurance
Have Marine Towing on your insurance?
Great News we work with most marine assistance programs to make your experience as hassle free as possible!
Carriers we can work with.
We work directly with customers and their insurance carriers on authorization, scope and billing when towing, salvage or recovery may be covered by a policy.
These are carriers we can work with, not exclusive partners, sponsors, affiliates or endorsements, and coverage varies by individual policy and claim.
Raising help
Three ways to get a boat answered.
- H2O Boat Tow24/7 emergency dispatch: (844) 262-8869
- BoatUS24/7 dispatch on 800-391-4869.
- VHFBoaters can also raise help on Channel 16.
Which lake are you on?
H2O Boat Tow LLC operates the TowBoatUS ports on Sam Rayburn (which also covers Toledo Bend), Lake Fork (which also covers Lake Tawakoni), Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Livingston and Sabine Lake, and serves Lake Tawakoni, Lake Ray Hubbard and Lake Lavon. Crews travel to any lake in the eastern side of Texas, from the Gulf coast to Arkansas.