Sea Tow serves boaters on Table Rock Lake

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by Maria Hoover|ret||ret||tab|

Inside Business Editor |ret||ret||tab|

mhoover@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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Since opening for business April 15, the Table Rock Lake franchise of Sea Tow Services International Inc. has been busier than its owner expected.|ret||ret||tab|

"We really hadn't planned on any business until maybe after the first of May, when boating season kind of begins," said Dwight McNiel, owner of the Sea Tow Table Rock franchise. But the weekend of April 16-18 proved to be brisk in terms of business. |ret||ret||tab|

"We had a lot of calls and a lot of interest " McNiel said. "We had a boater who keeps his boat at Shell Knob. They had put in at Shell Knob and they had motored almost 50 miles down to a place called Combs Ferry. They were right around the corner from Showboat Branson Belle and their lower unit went out. The group, which included a small child, needed help getting their boat back to Shell Knob. |ret||ret||tab|

"We towed them back to Kimberling, put them on a trailer and got them back to Shell Knob so they could get their boat repaired," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

In another situation, a boater was able to move in reverse, but not forward, because of a locked-up lower unit, and the 35- to 40-mile per hour winds were propelling the boat toward rocks. |ret||ret||tab|

"There was no Water Patrol and there was no one on the lake close. He called. We ran up, put a line on him and towed him back to Kimberling and lifted him up and put him on a trailer so his mechanic could repair his drive," McNiel said. |ret||ret||tab|

McNiel said Sea Tow was founded on the East Coast in 1983 by Joe Frohnhoefer.|ret||ret||tab|

"Back in 1983, Congress basically mandated that the Coast Guard stop responding to non-life-threatening calls by boaters. Up until that time, if you were off shore or if you were anywhere the Tennessee River, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico and ran out of fuel or your battery was dead, you could call the Coast Guard and they'd come and tow you back to home port, no charge, just a courtesy," McNiel said. But when funding got tighter, the courtesy calls were one of the first things to go and commercial marine assistance towing began to grow. |ret||ret||tab|

"It would be the same as if the Highway Patrol found you stranded on the shoulder of Interstate 44. They'll stand by and call a wrecker for you, and make sure you have help on the way but they don't tow you, that's not their job," McNiel said. |ret||ret||tab|

Boaters are referred to Sea Tow by marinas and the Water Patrol, which works closely with the company.|ret||ret||tab|

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Membership and services. |ret||ret||tab|

Sea Tow is structured similarly to AAA Auto Insurance, McNiel said, and membership costs $119 a year.|ret||ret||tab|

"Members are towed free; they get unlimited towing, unlimited fuel drops, jump starts, whatever the boater needs, wherever they are, whichever boat that they own that they're in, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we come take care of them," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Assistance to nonmembers is provided at a rate of $120 an hour, McNiel said, making membership something of a no-brainer.|ret||ret||tab|

"There are two kinds of boaters those of us who have been towed and those of us who are getting ready to be," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

McNiel said that in the short time his franchise has been open, he's been surprised by the number of members who have signed on.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're kind of surprised by the response on our membership. We probably will never disclose our membership (numbers), but we anticipate membership in the thousands. There are literally tens of thousands of boats that are dedicated Table Rock Lake boaters and we anticipate within a couple of years having a minimum of 10 percent or 15 percent of the boaters as full-time members," McNiel said. |ret||ret||tab|

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Ship captains|ret||ret||tab|

Sea Tow is operating with four captains, including McNiel, and two boats. Sea Tow Unit I is a 24-foot Sea-Ark pilothouse commercial/rescue utility craft and Sea Tow Unit II is a 25-foot center-console off-shore Wellcraft rapid response towing and salvage vessel. |ret||ret||tab|

"To operate one of these boats, you're required by the United States Coast Guard to have captain's licensing, commercial assistance towing endorsements enrolled in random drug testing programs, be CPR and first aid certified pass a Coast Guard physical, a Coast Guard vision exam. The testing requirements for a captain's license are incredibly extensive to go through," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

McNeil said his captains will primarily run the Sea Tow franchise, because he's still operating another business venture as a private investigator with his 15-year-old civil/criminal investigation company, Midwest Intelligence Inc. |ret||ret||tab|

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Getting started|ret||ret||tab|

McNiel has a law-enforcement background, which includes a stint in the 1980s as the Christian County sheriff. His friends in Water Patrol encouraged him to put a towing company together for Table Rock Lake, and the Sea Tow franchise was a good fit. |ret||ret||tab|

McNiel knows of five towing companies on Lake of the Ozarks, but he said Sea Tow is the first company of its type on Table Rock Lake.|ret||ret||tab|

"The Water Patrol, good Samaritans, just whoever happened by are basically the people who have always gotten boaters off the lake," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Having spent 30 years on Table Rock Lake, McNiel said he's watched it change with the growing population and the different boats, which he said are wider, longer and faster. "It's not a sleepy little lake any more," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

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Other services|ret||ret||tab|

In addition to serving members, McNiel said Sea Tow will assist the Water Patrol by towing boats for impoundment in drunken-boating cases, and will do salvage work for insurance companies. |ret||ret||tab|

"These boats have lift bags, compressors scuba gear. Two of our captains are scuba divers, and we'll be doing salvage work on behalf of several of our insurance clients," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

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