TowBoatUS Bay St. Louis now offers 24/7 on-water assistance to boaters

by D. Scott Croft on 27 Jul 2016 Capt. Conrad Morris, the new owner of TowBoatUS Bay St. Louis, a 24-hour on-water towing and assistance service for recreational boaters, knows what it is like to get stuck on a sandbar in Mississippi Sound. “It happened to me countless times when I was a kid,” he said. “Sometimes we had to spend the night waiting for the tide to come in – there weren’t any towing services around back then.”

There is now with the reopening of TowBoatUS Bay St. Louis. Morris is on call day and night to help boaters who have a mechanical breakdown, run out of fuel, need a battery jumpstart or a gentle tow off one of the area’s ubiquitous sandbars. Much like an auto club for boaters, TowBoatUS offers an on-water Unlimited Towing Membership Plan for saltwater boaters and anglers for just $149 a year that includes BoatUS membership. Boaters face costs that average $700 per towing incident – with some paying into the thousands out of pocket – when they don’t have an annual BoatUS towing plan.

Morris, who grew up boating and fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and nearby bays, rivers, and bayous has spent his entire professional life around boats, first working for an outboard sales and repair center, then as a USCG-licensed boat captain. Since 2010, he has been running workboats for a marine logistics company that specializes in oilrig support and environmental work, and he is still an avid recreational boater. “This area is a Mecca for inshore fishing,” he said, “particularly around Cat and the other barrier islands. There are boats of all sizes here.”

Morris said he wanted to open a TowBoatUS port in Bay St. Louis to help his fellow recreational boaters since the previous owner retired, but the time wasn’t right for him until now. With his wife Lindsey, who handles dispatch and office work, as partner, he opened the business this summer, basing his assist boat at Bay Marina on the Jourdan River.

The boat, a rugged 24-foot Boston Whaler Justice, the same model used by many law-enforcement agencies, is the “quintessential tow boat,” Morris said, “capable of running in offshore chop and in the shallow waters around the barrier islands and the river system north of Bay St. Louis.” It is powered by twin 175 HP Johnson outboards and is fully rigged for towing and salvage, with powerful pumps, battery jump packs, dive gear and extra fuel.

Boaters can reach TowBoatUS Bay St. Louis by hailing them on VHF channel 16, calling the company directly at 228-233-7879, by phoning the BoatUS toll-free 24/7 Dispatch Center at 800-391-4869, and via smartphone with the free BoatUS Towing App. More information can be found at BoatUS.com/towing or call 800-888-4869.