Breakdown recovery with no bill to the guest
Free towing
A disabled vessel is our problem to solve, not your invoice.
Included on every New Zealand charter
If a chartered vessel becomes disabled — engine failure, a fouled prop, flat batteries, a gearbox that will not engage — recovery to the nearest safe berth is arranged and paid for between BoardMyBoat and the operator. Guests are never asked for a card at the towline, and a breakdown does not become a negotiation while you are drifting.
What's included
- Recovery of the chartered vessel to the nearest safe berth or mooring.
- Coordination with Coastguard or a commercial tow operator, whichever can reach you safely first.
- Return transport for your party from the berth you are recovered to, back to your departure point.
- Pro-rata refund of unused charter time where the trip is cut short by a vessel fault.
How to use it
- Make the vessel safe first — anchor if you can hold bottom, life jackets on, note your position.
- Contact the captain or operator through the BoardMyBoat relay. If you are drifting into danger, call Coastguard on *500 first.
- We coordinate the tow and settle it with the operator — you are not invoiced at the scene.
- Unused charter time is credited back against your booking once you are ashore.
Terms
- What is covered
- Mechanical or electrical failure of the chartered vessel, and grounding or fouling that is not the result of the charter party's misuse. Recovery is to the nearest safe berth — not necessarily your departure marina — and onward transport is arranged from there.
- What is not covered
- Damage or breakdown caused by operating outside the charter limits, ignoring the captain's instructions, use under the influence, or taking the vessel beyond the agreed cruising area or forecast conditions. In those cases recovery costs may be recharged to the party responsible under the charter agreement.
- Settlement
- Towing is settled directly between BoardMyBoat, the operator and the recovery provider. Where a guest pays a recovery provider directly because no other option was safe, send us the receipt and we reimburse it in full.
A BoardMyBoat commitment delivered with operators and recovery providers, not a third-party membership. Exact recovery provider depends on where you are on the water.