On water towing service experience

[mbowers]

We had a motor not starting and suspected a run down battery. Trim motor sounded like it had enough power so we just need a jump start. A local tow service company offered a jump start. Nothing, not even a partial crank like before cables were attached. Checked the cables in our boat and we had red to positive, black to negative. Asked tow company to check their connection and guy said it was correct, but we didn't inspect. Tow company offered a tow for fee but said they wouldn't have charged for a jump and so we accepted. Trim motor barely worked so battery was now really dead. Paid for tow and took boat home. Immediately jump started from another battery and motor cranked right up. WTF!

Any possible reason for jump start from tow company to not work and finish off the battery other than tow company got the jumper cables backwards on their side?

Is that an intentional practice to drain batteries of distressed vessels and make sure boater who only needed a jump now has no choice but to pay for a tow?

 

[fishin solo]

Highly doubt it .... never met anyone on the coast who wasn't more then willing to give a hand or help out a fellow boater....

 

[aheny]

We had a motor not starting and suspected a run down battery. Trim motor sounded like it had enough power so we just need a jump start. A local tow service company offered a jump start. Nothing, not even a partial cran upk like before cables were attached. Checked the cables in our boat and we had red to positive, black to negative. Asked tow company to check their connection and guy said it was correct, but we didn't inspect. Tow company offered a tow for fee but said they wouldn't have charged for a jump and so we accepted. Trim motor barely worked so battery was now really dead. Paid for tow and took boat home. Immediately jump started from another battery and motor cranked right up. WTF!

Any possible reason for jump start from tow company to not work and finish off the battery other than tow company got the jumper cables backwards on their side?

Is that an intentional practice to drain batteries of distressed vessels and make sure boater who only needed a jump now has no choice but to pay for a tow?

I assume you mean c-tow, they consist of individual service providers. I'm guessing the provider was either incompetent or crooked, but I wouldn't necessarily blame the company.
Years ago I had a tow from them, the guy showed up in a rib with no equipment. He couldn't even get a line on my bow eye. It was his first day and he was completely incompetent.
Not a great experience and in my opinion they don't have any standards

 

[Corey_lax]

The new jumper battery pack things are so small. I suggest you buy one of those and keep it on the boat with a full charge. Sounds like your battery was very dead. And replace your boat batteries and get at least two and a battery switch. You should be able to pull start it anyways but I know that weird things happen with batteries that are very dead.

 

[ziggy]

We had a motor not starting and suspected a run down battery. Trim motor sounded like it had enough power so we just need a jump start. A local tow service company offered a jump start. Nothing, not even a partial crank like before cables were attached. Checked the cables in our boat and we had red to positive, black to negative. Asked tow company to check their connection and guy said it was correct, but we didn't inspect. Tow company offered a tow for fee but said they wouldn't have charged for a jump and so we accepted. Trim motor barely worked so battery was now really dead. Paid for tow and took boat home. Immediately jump started from another battery and motor cranked right up. WTF!

Any possible reason for jump start from tow company to not work and finish off the battery other than tow company got the jumper cables backwards on their side?

Is that an intentional practice to drain batteries of distressed vessels and make sure boater who only needed a jump now has no choice but to pay for a tow?

Maybe a bad jumper cable connection?

 

[trophywife]

prolly had a bad ground on the jumpers...

 

[mbowers]

Yes I don't really think there was any ill intent (hence the smiley face) but it was just funny how that theory fit the facts. I can't think of any cause for the failed jump start but reversed cables on the tow boat tho.

We tried 3 pull starts but before we got it going, the tow boat was there and we figured a jump was much easier. We were so wrong, should have kept pulling.

Battery pack will be on next trip (our fault obviously) and undersized single deep cycle battery provided by boat dealer will be supplemented with a proper cranking battery per Mercury's requirements. No shortage of incompetence in new boat rigging by dealers either..

Why doesn't the tow boat have a battery pack to pass over? Safer, easier and completely eliminates the possibility of crossed cables. I'd guess a jump is something they do daily.. As aheny said they are not always properly equipped nor competent.

 

[Corey_lax]

https://www.amazon.ca/Discharge-Por...8328105&sr=8-14&keywords=battery+jump+starter

Cheap insurance

 

[Canso]

We tried 3 pull starts but before we got it going, the tow boat was there and we figured a jump was much easier. We were so wrong, should have kept pulling.

When you do your pull start get someone to turn the key to the start position, it will help out considerably if you have a little juice left in the battery.

 

[Slayr]

Intermittent starter failure? Might try tapping it gently with a hammer if it happens again...

 

[beemer]

give me a break .... sounds more like a starter or solenoid problem not a battery issue , yet you seem to not have a problem with maligning someone's character or business? Hopefully next time the c-tow operator leaves you out there!

beemer

 

[bullyjack]

My kid hade a loose connection on his ignition switch.

 

[Corey_lax]

give me a break .... sounds more like a starter or solenoid problem not a battery issue , yet you seem to not have a problem with maligning someone's character or business? Hopefully next time the c-tow operator leaves you out there!

beemer

Agreed that we don't need to bash a business publicly that may not deserve it. I've never dealt with them but I'm glad they offer some sort of service to get you back to the dock. Obviously the previous poster did not have a good experience with them.

But...... In my experience, most issues come from dead batteries, or bad grounding wires. Not the starter or solenoid. Even if you clean your battery terminals, that will solve lots of problems. The OP has already said that he has an undersized battery that needs to be swapped out. I think its fair to assume that having a proper battery (and two batteries so that you always have backup). I am amazed at how many people neglect their batteries.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

I was in Winnipeg in the winter and father in law was going to lend me his truck that literally pulls his boat to go fishing a few times in the summer. Battery was dead. He pulls this thing out: http://thepowerall.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=93 and I'm thinking this little box is never starting a full size V8 truck in -30 weather. Hooks it up and bam truck fires right up! I was dumbstruck......needless to say he sent me one in the mail a few weeks later. Pretty cool little gadget. I also keep an eye on my voltage displayed on my sounder. Gets low fire up the main.

GnB