Boat towing at Deacons

One of the services we provide at Deacons Marina is boat towing. As every boat has its own characteristics when manoeuvring under power, our experienced team use our custom made aluminium workboat to move vessels around.

Boat towing is done for various reasons. Most of the time this is because owners of boats are unable to come down to shift their boat when its required. This can be within the marina itself, such as moving to a new berth or to the lift dock to be lifted ashore, or one of the many boats on the River Hamble Harbour Master moorings that lift ashore at Deacons Marina. We can also collect or return to other marinas on the river.

Due to Coronavirus, we have been providing this service free of charge on the river in lockdown situations to allow customers to keep complying with government guidelines. Within the marina, we normally attach our workboat onto the bow of a vessel, in effect pushing the boat astern. Experience has found that this method makes its easier to manoeuvre the boat within the confined space of the marina.

When towing on the River, we would attach our workboat to the stern of a vessel, pushing the boat forwards. Effectively we are using the workboat to provide the power, while still using the vessels helm to steer the boat. Three lines are used when attaching our workboat to your vessel. A bow line is attached to the midships of your vessel to the front of our workboat, and a bow spring is attached to the bow or stern of your vessel (depending on method of towing) from the front of our workboat. This provides the load transfer when pushing/pulling your boat. A stern line is also attached from the back to the

bow/stern of your vessel to hold the workboat into your vessel. All lines need to be as tight as possible to enable safe control of both boats.

If you would like to take advantage of this amazing service, please let our staff know.