January 25, 2026 • 11 mins
Originally aired on January 24, 2026. Doug's insightful interview with TowBoat US' Captain Pip Bauerlein, for your listening pleasure.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this segment, we're going to talk about boats and
boat maintenance and and just common sense stuff. They'll really well,
if everybody does what we're about to suggest, my guest
here wouldn't have much to do most days. I suspect
with that, I'm gonna bring in Captain Philip Barrelyne. Actually
Captain Pip is what we're gonna call him, because that's
what he likes to be called. From Towboat US. Welcome aboard,
(00:21):
Captain Pip. Huh oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Let me get him on here. Now I got you.
What's up, skipper?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh, good morning. We're glad to be here, Glad we
could be part of your show today.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
My pleasure man, is it fair to say that today
isn't a good day to be on the water and
tomorrow is not looking much better?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Oh, I'd say the next two or three days would
not be a good day.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, so, so first talk about talk about what you
do and maybe in how often your phone rings?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, you know, Towboat US Clear Lake, and now we're
about US Galveston.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
What we do.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
We're the largest to about US is the largest assistance
towing company in the United States. And what we do
is there's three hundred ports nationwide, we have something like
eight hundred thousand members.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Wow, what we do?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
And it depends on where your ports are because each
port is locally owned and operated, So it depends on
what we do. As far as you know, how many
calls we get our area, what would you say, Holly,
we get maybe I'd say on average we probably get
over the year, you you know and say we get
(01:41):
like two calls a day.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Wow. Wow. They don't always come that way. You know.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
What happens is we get four or five calls in
one day and then we have to day where we
don't understand that's okay?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Averages and when you when when the call comes in.
What's the most common reason somebody needs you to come
out and drag them back to port?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Uh? The most common reason is basically just what they
call engine failure.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, it be anything a debt, battery to you know, bad.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Fuel, and they don't know enough to tell you what
it is. Really just a b the boat won't start right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
A lot of times, that's exactly it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
You know, that's fine, that keeps you in business. How
often you get people who've run aground?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Couple of times you know, a couple of times a month,
maybe more, depending on what time of year.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And so my audience actually, I guess most of my
audience already knows this, but talk about the time it
takes you from the time they call and then you
got to go go.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
To the boat.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
You got to run your own checklist and then get
to where they are. It's not like you're calling a
cab to just come from down the street right.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Right right, It can't.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
You know, we usually within fifteen twenty minutes away from
leaving the dock when we get a call.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, except run down to the boat, double check everything.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Make sure we're ready to go, get our life jackets on,
things like that. Uh. Then Galveston Bay is a pretty
big complex, so it is. It can take us an hour,
hour and a half sometimes to get to somebody. It
(03:34):
could take longer if you have a couple of callshead
of them on a busy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. You know,
if we have three or four calls come in at
one time, it can take uh over an hour, but
most of the time we're there in less than an
hour less.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Solid Yeah, that's you know, if somebody, if it's their
own fault, which I suspect it probably is as many
times as they may need to sit there for an
hour to let it sink in and not do it again.
Captain Pitt Barline on the Dug Pike Show, Let's let's
talk about making sure that important stuff is ready. Your
your battery, your radio, your PFDs, your anchor, your fire extinguisher,
(04:15):
all that stuff is there. Who's got the best checklist
for these guys who just haven't owned boats long enough
to really know what they need to have on there.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
The Coast Guard used to have a checklist and stuff
that you put out, but since they've gotten away, they're
more of homeland security. I guess that list is still available,
I just haven't seen it anywhere right off hand. You know,
towboat us any one of the towboat US ports can
(04:49):
tell people the things they kind of need to have, call.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
What they want, you know, the big thing, the big
thing you need to make.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Sure is, of course, the Coast Guard requires that you
have have flares and life jackets and make sure they're
in life jackets are in good condition because they do
wear out people. They have the new hybrid what they
call Type five life jackets which are inflatable, but they
only count as a life jacket if you're actually wearing
(05:19):
it when you get stopped by.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
The Okay, that's interest. That's good to know.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Bring that life jacket for it to count as a
life jacket.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
But the things you want to do, you know, flares expire,
They make flare They make a electronic flare clip kit now,
so you don't have to get by the old style
flares all the time.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
If you don't want that, then, you know, the things
you want to do.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
You want to make sure you're you got good batteries
in the boat. You know, about three to five years
is all you're going.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
To get out of a boat. Battery.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Uh, you want to make sure that before the season starts.
You want to ensure you got good fuel filters. You
want to get oil change in both the motor and
the lower unit for the outboards. Inboard motors, people kind
of tend to forget about, you know, changing the oil
in those sometimes or fuel filters because they are taking oh, well, we.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Don't use the boat that much. Well, you still need
to take care of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, absolutely, again, kind of knowing that most of my
audience knows this already. Talk about the importance from a
safety perspective for everybody on board of a float plan
before you go somewhere.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Well, a good float plan, uh, you know, it doesn't
have to be a super written out this is what
we're going. We're going here, We're gonna be a different
It just needs to be some information that you leave
with a friend or a relative letting them know, you know,
(06:55):
we plan to go out here, we plan to fish
in this general area, we plan on being home at
such and such a time, And that's really all it
needs to be, as long as somebody on land has
an idea of what you're doing and where you're supposed
to be.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, we're going to be in West Bay. And if
you haven't heard from us by seven o'clock, callum.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Basically that's it. Yeah, that's all we need. And speaking of.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Where you're going to be, you're gonna be at the
Houston Auto Boata Show next weekend, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We are correct, We are going to be there. We're
easy to find.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
You just look for the big red tent, the big
red flags say tobot us on them. We'll be offering
a fifty dollars discount on all membership sign up.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That's nice.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's new members and renewals beginning a fifty dollars discount,
So the cost for membership is one hundred and sixty
five dollars at the show. It covers any kind of
breakdown if we have to tow you in, covers what
they call a soft un grounding run up on the sandbar,
or if you're fishing and the tide kind of goes
(08:03):
out and a little close to the shore.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You know, it gets that.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Covers battery jumps, fuel drops for smaller vessels.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
H then.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
We get it also covers any boat that you own, borrow, rent,
or charter, as long as the you know, you're not
doing it as a professional captain and you're out on
a because the owners of the boat should have their
own membership at that break.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, I got you.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I'm saying, what can you remember just one especially unusual
call where as soon as you got there, you're just
looking and say, oh, I'm going to talk about this
one for a long time.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
You know. It's kind of funny.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
We get several calls like that, so I just trying
to think of one off the top of my head, you.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Know, we got one.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
The guy was up in the trees. They were like somehow,
he said, they were turning the corner in the creek.
They lost steering and right at the bend of the creek.
So when he went to turn, the boat didn't turn
and they were about I don't know, ten to fifteen
(09:23):
feet up on the embankment, about thirty or four inland from.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
The god, oh my gosh. Lucky to be alive.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, exactly. Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well on that charmful, charming note.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And by the way, I'll let everybody know for you,
you're not a rescue service.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
That's the coast guardion.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You're like an ambulance for the boat, but not for
the people on board, right.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Correct, I mean we're just a water towing surface.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
When you buy your when you buy a tobot us membership,
you're not buying I mean you're not buying boat insurance
your bowl, You're buying towing.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Sure, yeah, there you go. That makes sense. So right,
all right, Captain Pep. Where can they find you online?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Uh? We have.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Is it towboat us clear lake dot com?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
All right, then they can also.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Uh get us on our Facebook page. Have uh uh
So one thing I.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Did want to say, you're talking about some safety equipment.
So many get out there, So many people get out there.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
And they we call and they say, well, you got
to come get us where a drift and we tell
them to put their anchor out.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Say they don't have an an lord.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean it's not required. It's not required, but it's
something something every boat should have. And something else every
boat should have is they need to have.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
People. Cell phones work great all over Galveston Bay.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yes, that's but what happens when that cell phone gets
wet or.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
The cell phone batterie dies, or you lose something overboard?
All right, K handheld BHL.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I gotta run, Captain Pip. I'll try to if I'm
out at the boat sharp. If I come to that
automotive automotive show, I'll be there. I'll for sure find
those big red flag and come say hi and shake
your hand.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Man. I'll be there Sunday for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
All right, I'll try to get out, thank you, Captain Audio, Yes, sir,
all right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Towboat US dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
We'll get you there and then type in clear Lake
maybe Galveston either one and you'll find him
In this segment, we're going to talk about boats and
boat maintenance and and just common sense stuff. They'll really well,
if everybody does what we're about to suggest, my guest
here wouldn't have much to do most days. I suspect
with that, I'm gonna bring in Captain Philip Barrelyne. Actually
Captain Pip is what we're gonna call him, because that's
what he likes to be called. From Towboat US. Welcome aboard,
(00:21):
Captain Pip. Huh oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Let me get him on here. Now I got you.
What's up, skipper?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh, good morning. We're glad to be here, Glad we
could be part of your show today.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
My pleasure man, is it fair to say that today
isn't a good day to be on the water and
tomorrow is not looking much better?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Oh, I'd say the next two or three days would
not be a good day.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, so, so first talk about talk about what you
do and maybe in how often your phone rings?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, you know, Towboat US Clear Lake, and now we're
about US Galveston.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
What we do.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
We're the largest to about US is the largest assistance
towing company in the United States. And what we do
is there's three hundred ports nationwide, we have something like
eight hundred thousand members.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Wow, what we do?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
And it depends on where your ports are because each
port is locally owned and operated, So it depends on
what we do. As far as you know, how many
calls we get our area, what would you say, Holly,
we get maybe I'd say on average we probably get
over the year, you you know and say we get
(01:41):
like two calls a day.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Wow. Wow. They don't always come that way. You know.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
What happens is we get four or five calls in
one day and then we have to day where we
don't understand that's okay?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Averages and when you when when the call comes in.
What's the most common reason somebody needs you to come
out and drag them back to port?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Uh? The most common reason is basically just what they
call engine failure.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, it be anything a debt, battery to you know, bad.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Fuel, and they don't know enough to tell you what
it is. Really just a b the boat won't start right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
A lot of times, that's exactly it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
You know, that's fine, that keeps you in business. How
often you get people who've run aground?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Couple of times you know, a couple of times a month,
maybe more, depending on what time of year.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And so my audience actually, I guess most of my
audience already knows this, but talk about the time it
takes you from the time they call and then you
got to go go.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
To the boat.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
You got to run your own checklist and then get
to where they are. It's not like you're calling a
cab to just come from down the street right.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Right right, It can't.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
You know, we usually within fifteen twenty minutes away from
leaving the dock when we get a call.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, except run down to the boat, double check everything.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Make sure we're ready to go, get our life jackets on,
things like that. Uh. Then Galveston Bay is a pretty
big complex, so it is. It can take us an hour,
hour and a half sometimes to get to somebody. It
(03:34):
could take longer if you have a couple of callshead
of them on a busy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. You know,
if we have three or four calls come in at
one time, it can take uh over an hour, but
most of the time we're there in less than an
hour less.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Solid Yeah, that's you know, if somebody, if it's their
own fault, which I suspect it probably is as many
times as they may need to sit there for an
hour to let it sink in and not do it again.
Captain Pitt Barline on the Dug Pike Show, Let's let's
talk about making sure that important stuff is ready. Your
your battery, your radio, your PFDs, your anchor, your fire extinguisher,
(04:15):
all that stuff is there. Who's got the best checklist
for these guys who just haven't owned boats long enough
to really know what they need to have on there.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
The Coast Guard used to have a checklist and stuff
that you put out, but since they've gotten away, they're
more of homeland security. I guess that list is still available,
I just haven't seen it anywhere right off hand. You know,
towboat us any one of the towboat US ports can
(04:49):
tell people the things they kind of need to have, call.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
What they want, you know, the big thing, the big
thing you need to make.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Sure is, of course, the Coast Guard requires that you
have have flares and life jackets and make sure they're
in life jackets are in good condition because they do
wear out people. They have the new hybrid what they
call Type five life jackets which are inflatable, but they
only count as a life jacket if you're actually wearing
(05:19):
it when you get stopped by.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
The Okay, that's interest. That's good to know.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Bring that life jacket for it to count as a
life jacket.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
But the things you want to do, you know, flares expire,
They make flare They make a electronic flare clip kit now,
so you don't have to get by the old style
flares all the time.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
If you don't want that, then, you know, the things
you want to do.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
You want to make sure you're you got good batteries
in the boat. You know, about three to five years
is all you're going.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
To get out of a boat. Battery.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Uh, you want to make sure that before the season starts.
You want to ensure you got good fuel filters. You
want to get oil change in both the motor and
the lower unit for the outboards. Inboard motors, people kind
of tend to forget about, you know, changing the oil
in those sometimes or fuel filters because they are taking oh, well, we.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Don't use the boat that much. Well, you still need
to take care of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, absolutely, again, kind of knowing that most of my
audience knows this already. Talk about the importance from a
safety perspective for everybody on board of a float plan
before you go somewhere.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Well, a good float plan, uh, you know, it doesn't
have to be a super written out this is what
we're going. We're going here, We're gonna be a different
It just needs to be some information that you leave
with a friend or a relative letting them know, you know,
(06:55):
we plan to go out here, we plan to fish
in this general area, we plan on being home at
such and such a time, And that's really all it
needs to be, as long as somebody on land has
an idea of what you're doing and where you're supposed
to be.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, we're going to be in West Bay. And if
you haven't heard from us by seven o'clock, callum.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Basically that's it. Yeah, that's all we need. And speaking of.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Where you're going to be, you're gonna be at the
Houston Auto Boata Show next weekend, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We are correct, We are going to be there. We're
easy to find.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
You just look for the big red tent, the big
red flags say tobot us on them. We'll be offering
a fifty dollars discount on all membership sign up.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That's nice.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's new members and renewals beginning a fifty dollars discount,
So the cost for membership is one hundred and sixty
five dollars at the show. It covers any kind of
breakdown if we have to tow you in, covers what
they call a soft un grounding run up on the sandbar,
or if you're fishing and the tide kind of goes
(08:03):
out and a little close to the shore.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You know, it gets that.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Covers battery jumps, fuel drops for smaller vessels.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
H then.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
We get it also covers any boat that you own, borrow, rent,
or charter, as long as the you know, you're not
doing it as a professional captain and you're out on
a because the owners of the boat should have their
own membership at that break.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, I got you.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I'm saying, what can you remember just one especially unusual
call where as soon as you got there, you're just
looking and say, oh, I'm going to talk about this
one for a long time.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
You know. It's kind of funny.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
We get several calls like that, so I just trying
to think of one off the top of my head, you.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Know, we got one.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
The guy was up in the trees. They were like somehow,
he said, they were turning the corner in the creek.
They lost steering and right at the bend of the creek.
So when he went to turn, the boat didn't turn
and they were about I don't know, ten to fifteen
(09:23):
feet up on the embankment, about thirty or four inland from.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
The god, oh my gosh. Lucky to be alive.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, exactly. Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well on that charmful, charming note.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And by the way, I'll let everybody know for you,
you're not a rescue service.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
That's the coast guardion.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You're like an ambulance for the boat, but not for
the people on board, right.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Correct, I mean we're just a water towing surface.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
When you buy your when you buy a tobot us membership,
you're not buying I mean you're not buying boat insurance
your bowl, You're buying towing.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Sure, yeah, there you go. That makes sense. So right,
all right, Captain Pep. Where can they find you online?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Uh? We have.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Is it towboat us clear lake dot com?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
All right, then they can also.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Uh get us on our Facebook page. Have uh uh
So one thing I.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Did want to say, you're talking about some safety equipment.
So many get out there, So many people get out there.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
And they we call and they say, well, you got
to come get us where a drift and we tell
them to put their anchor out.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Say they don't have an an lord.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean it's not required. It's not required, but it's
something something every boat should have. And something else every
boat should have is they need to have.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
People. Cell phones work great all over Galveston Bay.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yes, that's but what happens when that cell phone gets
wet or.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
The cell phone batterie dies, or you lose something overboard?
All right, K handheld BHL.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I gotta run, Captain Pip. I'll try to if I'm
out at the boat sharp. If I come to that
automotive automotive show, I'll be there. I'll for sure find
those big red flag and come say hi and shake
your hand.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Man. I'll be there Sunday for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
All right, I'll try to get out, thank you, Captain Audio, Yes, sir,
all right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Towboat US dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
We'll get you there and then type in clear Lake
maybe Galveston either one and you'll find him
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