[Southborough_man]

Last night my boat broke down in Center Harbor Bay about 8:30. I pay yearly dues of $52 to BoatUS so I called them. Their guy was towing someone else but would get back to me. .Never did despite repeat calls to the BoatUS 800 number. BoatUS could not raise the captain of the boat. They called the Marine Patrol who very nicely towed us back to the Center Harbor docks. The local BoatUS guy called his competitor, SeaTow who came from Alton to get us about 11:30. Bottom line is we didn't get home until 2AM. It was a nice night and we were in no danger. The marine patrol guy said that yesterday (a Saturday) a lot of people were taking their boats out for the first time and some were getting into trouble. Maybe if our problem hadn't happened on such a day we wouldn't have been stuck so long. The one thing I just can't get over is why the local BoatUS captain was unable to be raised. He told us he was soon leaving his shift but would have the next guy call us. Did he just turn off his phone leaving us stuck? I don't know. For me the jury is out on BoatUS until I can talk to the owner to find out what happened. BOTTOM LINE: Just because you have signed up for a tow does not mean it will happen quickly.

Post Script: I just talked to the owner of the BoatUS franchise on the lake. He said that normally he has two guys on the lake. One guy was away at a graduation. The other experienced guy is a long shoreman and is away for two weeks. So he had a newbie who didn't know the area of the lake I was in. BoatUS is out of Gilford. I will stay with my yearly $52 with BoatUS and assume/hope I don't get unlucky again the next time this happens.