Traveling with boat in tow

How many of you tow your boats to fishing locations that are a day or more away from home? If so, do you stay in Hotels/Motels? Do you slip the boat while there or launch/retrieve everyday? If no slip, how about security of boat while at Hotel/Motel?

I am considering fishing a few different locations that are 1-2 days away. Also thinking of a truck camper on my truck bed to avoid hotels, but then there's the hassle of launching retrieving (putting things away in camper before launch), no vehicle to sight see or go into town, etc. What are all of you doing in these scenarios?

Pics would be great!!

Thanks!

I have stayed at motels many times while towing my boat. My bow mount trolling motor is bolted on, my transom trolling motor as well as my outboard are padlocked. My Hummingbird unit has a quick release and is removed. I don't leave any gear in the boat. My trailer is locked onto my truck. This keeps all honest people honest. I've never had anything stolen so far.

If unsure about the area, add extra chains/locks to the wheels of the trailer. Anything to slow a thief down will help discourage them.

Years back before my wife became dissabled, we towed with a motorhome, a class A, 28'. A rear camera made launching pretty easy. By staying in the MH with a window open we could gear if anyone was messing around. We never had an issue but also parked overnight in well lit areas like truck stops etc. Choose where stay carefully and lock things up as best you can....

I drag my boats thousands of miles every year, either fishing or hunting. I'm in NC and the boats have been in WI, NM, MI, TN, AR, MO, LA, AL, FL and SC. I stay at hotels/ motels and everything on the boat is either detachable or locked to the point that it would take considerable effort to steal.
I even drilled the hitch ball and cross pinned the nut to the shank. I also use wheel locks on the trailer and have a security system installed in the boat. I always get a room that is within 25 yards of my room so my pistol skills are at their optimum range...... But that's just me.....

I pulled into a rest stop one day on my way to TN and there was a guy in the parking lot with several state police around looking at his boat. He stopped to grab a meal and came back and someone took a sawsall and cut a chunk out of the transom and stole his outboard. It was a fairly new bass boat at the time, so it was likely a decent size motor they took.

I worry more at the local ramp about whether or not my truck and trailer will be there when I get back. More than few people have come back after dark to find someone had cut the trailer hitch or bumper with a torch to steal the trailer while they were out on the water.

OOOF! Some tough stories there.

It really depends on where we are going, how long we are staying and how many of us there are.

Our last trip, the boat went to the hotel with us, electronics, Li battery and trolling motor taken off, and the boat backed against a wall, locked to the truck hitch. I'm sure someone could get it off, but it would be a lot of work, and it was right outside our window.

Another trip, the boat never left the water. We fished in shifts. one group operating the boat while others went back to the hotel or their truck to sleep.

Back in the mid 90's I was towing a buddies boat, which I had been storing and was using while he was in the service, after he got out he bought a piece of land out in MO. His brother and myself were going to meet him there to both take him his boat and assist in him getting the new house finished that summer. Plus we were going to spend some time fishing Table Rock Lake about 40 miles away.
The drive was going to take about 3 days since I was in South Florida at the time, and his brother was near Mooreville, NC.

I left out of south FL and headed to pickup his brother in NC., then turned toward MO
After stopping for something to eat and some rest in Knoxville, we picked up a couple of hitch hikers at bar just north of Knoxville.
We were heading out the third morning on Rt 24 near Clarksville when one of the girls we picked up hollered that there's someone in the boat. I look in the mirror and there's a guy trying to stand up in the boat while we're doing 75 mph.

I pulled over near a weigh station and both of us ran back to deal with the guy. I turns out he got drunk and passed out and slept in the boat over night, I had backed the boat down in the corner against the building at the motel so no one cold unhook it or get to the motor, so the next morning we just jumped in the truck and left, not knowing we had a stowaway.

I left the guy at the weigh station since I wasn't having a bum in the cab with us and he couldn't ride in the boat or bed of the truck, nor did we have time to deal with him. How he got home was his problem. It was bad enough our two hitch hikers were still with us.

(They rode along until we decided we couldn't show up at his brother's place with both of them tagging along. Plus, my buddies wife was good friends with my girlfriend back home, so we gave them each a few bucks to get some warmer clothes at a Walmart just outside of Springfield and left while they were in the store. We then went on to Chestnutridge).

Before we got to my buddies place we stopped at a truck stop and pressure washed the boat out because it smelled like urine from the bum who crashed in the boat two nights earlier.
After that happened, look my boat or trailer over closely before driving off.

Lots of great tips and ideas! My TM is bolted and I do have lockers that are locking.

Many of my trips may be solo, so the safety part is very important.

Do any of you travel solo to these 1+ day away destinations?
Any traveling solo advice?

I stay at hotels in rural areas and stay away from large cities.

boatyard said:

Back in the mid 90's I was towing a buddies boat, which I had been storing and was using while he was in the service, after he got out he bought a piece of land out in MO. His brother and myself were going to meet him there to both take him his boat and assist in him getting the new house finished that summer. Plus we were going to spend some time fishing Table Rock Lake about 40 miles away.
The drive was going to take about 3 days since I was in South Florida at the time, and his brother was near Mooreville, NC.

I left out of south FL and headed to pickup his brother in NC., then turned toward MO
After stopping for something to eat and some rest in Knoxville, we picked up a couple of hitch hikers at bar just north of Knoxville.
We were heading out the third morning on Rt 24 near Clarksville when one of the girls we picked up hollered that there's someone in the boat. I look in the mirror and there's a guy trying to stand up in the boat while we're doing 75 mph.

I pulled over near a weigh station and both of us ran back to deal with the guy. I turns out he got drunk and passed out and slept in the boat over night, I had backed the boat down in the corner against the building at the motel so no one cold unhook it or get to the motor, so the next morning we just jumped in the truck and left, not knowing we had a stowaway.

I left the guy at the weigh station since I wasn't having a bum in the cab with us and he couldn't ride in the boat or bed of the truck, nor did we have time to deal with him. How he got home was his problem. It was bad enough our two hitch hikers were still with us.

(They rode along until we decided we couldn't show up at his brother's place with both of them tagging along. Plus, my buddies wife was good friends with my girlfriend back home, so we gave them each a few bucks to get some warmer clothes at a Walmart just outside of Springfield and left while they were in the store. We then went on to Chestnutridge).

Before we got to my buddies place we stopped at a truck stop and pressure washed the boat out because it smelled like urine from the bum who crashed in the boat two nights earlier.
After that happened, look my boat or trailer over closely before driving off.

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Wow. That is worse than a Zebra Mussel.

I’m actually in MO at this moment. We were on Lake Taney Como yesterday. Mind blowing huge trout on the walls of Lilley’s Landing. Towed my boat 9 hours up here from South La. Leaving this morning to go fish Table Rock as soon as I get off this toilet!!! LOL

I dropped the trailer so we could go eat in Branson without the trouble of parking. I did my normal tongue lock, plus ran a security cable through the wheel and around axle/trailer. I removed fish finder/rods/ice chest. I realize that a battery powered sawz all can cut both in 30 secs. I thought about jacking up trailer and removing a wheel, but didn’t. Short of that don’t know what more can be done.

The majority of MY travels are solo but that means I only have ONE person to look after instead of 2. The "secret" (if there is one) is to be the Grey Man......

Hitch Hikers?? What, are you asking for something to go wrong, in a BAD way?? The only person I'd allow to ride with me would be Jesus or his father.....

Battery Sawzalls are only half the problem, now they have battery powered 4 1/2" grinders with cut off wheels so locks, cables and chains don't even stand a chance.

I buddy was out this way from KS with his boat, he travels with it where ever he goes. His first night here he lost both trailer wheels. He said they weren't even new tires, just two old used car tires he slapped on it for the trip. $200 off Marketplace and he had two new wheels plus $20 for lug nuts at Napa.
Two days later he left it locked up at the motel where he was staying down the shore, they went out bar hopping and left the boat behind. When they got back around 3am the found the lower unit gone off his old 70hp Evinrude and the trolling motor mount which was bolted down with through bolts was all cut up but they failed to get the bolts cut off and left it behind.
They did steal the prop off it though but he found that in grass about 30ft away. When he called the police, they said there was nothing they could do. While the police were there, they got a call for the other side of the same motel, someone woke up to find his lower unit thrown through the back window of their Firebird and all four tires were slashed.

He eventually got the lower unit back but it was busted up a bit. He went to another motel the next night and brought his boat to my place. I found him a donor motor for $500, and picked that up and swapped over the lower unit and the cover as well since his was in rough shape.
He took the boat that night and headed south, he called me from VA saying he got out on the water at Smith Lake there and when he opened the livewell to pull the plug he found someone had taken a dump in the box. When he got home a month later he found three NJ citations for operating a vehicle without proper registration or tags. (KS don't have trailer tags and NJ don't care I guess). When he finally got the lower unit back from the PD, it looked like they had removed it with vice grips or a chisel and dragged it across the pavement for a few blocks before throwing it through some woman's car window. He was glad to get his stainless prop back though, which he retrieved when he came back to fight the tickets.

A buddy of mine in FL kept having things stolen out of the back of his truck. Then he had a placard made that said Warning: Venomous Snakes and he kept a repltile box in the back with some tools in it marked the same way with a stencil. Not a thing has been taken since.

My son and I use to travel 1-2 hours away to fish small lakes, rivers, and resivors. On far trips, just rented boats or guides. These days, we maximize our time on the water by staying close to home, 20 minute travel time. It helps that it is probably the best fishery within an hour or so.

#1 best thing to do is have your boat well insured with an agreed upon value. Like others have said, the evolution of cordless power tools has really helped enable thieves and many times there is nothing that can be done aside from having good coverage that will help offset the financial part at least some.

That aside make sure you park in well lit areas and remove anything and everything you can if possible. Backing into a wall or other immovable object will at least keep the whole rig from being stolen if they cut the coupler lock and make it very hard to take the outboard too.

My car insurance company was pushing to sell me boat insurance for a while, they wanted more for insurance per year than I paid for my boat, motor, and trailer.
I almost fell over when they wanted as much to insure an aluminum bass boat as I was paying to insure a new truck at the time.

Not to get started on insurance here but insurance companies have gotten out of control, it costs me, a 61 year old man with never so much as a speeding ticket or fender bender $5,600 per year to insure a 25 year old car and 24 year old truck. They wanted $1,800 to insure my then 14 year old Sea Nymph 16ft bass boat.
There's huge differences in how insurance companies deal with boats and trailers too.
A few require the boat and trailer to be insured separately, others just consider what your towing as part of your tow vehicle when it comes to the liability part. Many won't cover the boat beyond that. For the most part until recently, a boat parked in your yard was covered under your homeowners policy, not suddenly having a boat means your not insurable.
I've been going through all sort of issues over having two boats in the yard, getting dropped by a company I've had for 10 years, then another after 1 year, each claiming that they can't insure a home with a boat, diesel powered vehicle, or 'commercial vehicle' parked on premise.
They consider my pickup as commercial since its a 3/4 ton diesel, as well as the 16ft open car trailer parked behind it.
Only two will write a policy and both want over $2k/mo. where as I never paid more than $600/yr in the past. (My house is only assessed at $81k and I paid $50k cash for it 14 years ago).

I don't know where you guys are going for insurance but it sure sounds like you expect your homeowners company to be the best. Think outside the box and find a NEW, MARINE SPECIFIC company to handle your needs.

Personally I use A.J. Gallagher (independent Broker) and I use their Charlotte office (704-362-2992) but they do have other locations. Both of my policies are agreed value and very affordable. P.S. I have NO relation with them other than my boat insurance.

wmk0002 said:

#1 best thing to do is have your boat well insured with an agreed upon value. Like others have said, the evolution of cordless power tools has really helped enable thieves and many times there is nothing that can be done aside from having good coverage that will help offset the financial part at least some.

That aside make sure you park in well lit areas and remove anything and everything you can if possible. Backing into a wall or other immovable object will at least keep the whole rig from being stolen if they cut the coupler lock and make it very hard to take the outboard too.

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^^^THIS^^^


SHOP for insurance! I started out with Boat US insurance, and after a couple of years, they started jacking up the rate, so I went with Erie and then Travelers. All of them were great for years, but then they went up. I went back to Boat US, and they went up again.

Now, I have bundled my boat with our home and cars with Allstate, and Allstate is the cheapest insurance EVER! Full coverage, agreed values including trailer with in-water boat towing and roadside assistance included! I'm thrilled all over again, just thinking about it.

The price was so good that I kept asking the agent to double and triple check the numbers. They were sure, and I examined the policy with a fine-tooth comb, and it was true. I don't want to state numbers openly, but it's crazy affordable bundling with Allstate.

One note... you must speak with an agent who understands underwriting boats, and not just cars. If they don't, have them transfer you to someone who does, or they will just be confused, not knowing what to do.

The one time I did it, I rented an Airbnb in a decent area. Like most on here I always remove the graphs and lock them up. Everything else is bolted down or not worth stealing in the first place.

I was also able to make an arrangement with the owners so that I could leave the boat for a couple days after the stay while I visited family a few hours away, and I picked it up on the way home. Saved me quite a bit of gas and the stress of pulling a boat through the city.