Hello,

My wife and I went to the BW last summer for the first time in a long time. We used an outfitter at EP 25, Moose Lake. Last year, we paddled ourselves the entire trip. This year, we are staying with the same outfitter and being towed part of the way by their staff so that we can travel farther afield. We are being towed into the BW on the first day and being towed out on the last day.

Is there etiquette for tipping the tow boat pilots? Yes, no, maybe? A certain flat amount, or a percentage of the tow fee? Something else I don't know? I can carry cash in my pocket.

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

We tip.

Factors in how much: how far was the tow (how long was he helping us), how many people in the group, how good was the service.

Some guys are just out there going through the motions and just want to get it over with. Some will help load gear, talk with you about your trip, give you campsite and fishing tips, etc. Guy B will get a bigger tip.

I'd say the range is $5-$40. With $5 being one canoe, a quick ride across a lake, no bells and whistles. $40 being a group of 7 with 3 canoes and a bunch of gear, and hearing about some good walleye holes on the lake we're targeting!

We usually give $10-20 depending on the size of group.

20 bucks

One canoe and two people - $20. Maybe if you want them to carry all your gear across a portage, 30-40. If they're especially rude, unhelpful, and impolite $10 to 0. Never had that happen.

On my last trip with a tow service I had a solo canoe that I helped load and I loaded and unloaded my own pack and paddles myself. Pretty basic, no frills tow service. I gave a $10 tip coming and going. The tow service was $50 so I figure 20% or $10 was reasonable.

walllee: "20 bucks"

For one canoe and gear help

walllee: "20 bucks"

My one tow was a 20 tip. Plus another twenty when he carried everything across a fair portage. But beyond that I’d go broke... I still had over thirty days to go and a lot of portages...

I think most of the folks driving tows and juggling gear are relying on tips for a big percentage of their income. We have had some that were great and offered more useful information than the outfitters they work for. We have also had some who were in a drunken bar fight the night before and were not very chatty.

Tip accordingly.

MossBack

Some, not all, are college or high school kids who do the towing as a summer job. They are not getting rich doing this. The locals seem to have the best information. Most are willing to chat and be helpful, but consider that when they go the extra mile, they expect compensation for it. If you want them to hump your gear over a portage, it’s best to be upfront about it. It may depend on how tight their tow schedule is.

$20 is what we've usually done.

After reading some of the posts, I was surprised that people actually inquire about the tow operator helping to bring gear over the first portage. Not saying it’s wrong, but I have never considered it. I figure those tow boat operators are on a tight schedule to pick up other parties or a million other things they do at the resort or outfitter they are employed .

We tipped $10.00 per boat each way but we also helped load/unload. I discovered that the outfitter we used encourages or requires the employees to pool and divide all tips.

walllee: "After reading some of the posts, I was surprised that people actually inquire about the tow operator helping to bring gear over the first portage. Not saying it’s wrong, but I have never considered it. I figure those tow boat operators are on a tight schedule to pick up other parties or a million other things they do at the resort or outfitter they are employed ."

I never inquired. One trip the driver just picked up a canoe and carried across PP.

Yep. Tip. $20.

I'll be brave and say I've not tipped my tow operators. Reason 1, I don't bring my wallet into the BW (just my ID) and never think to bring cash with me for any reason, and reason 2, I'm already paying $30/person/way and as far as I'm aware the outfitting profession doesn't underpay employees forcing them to rely on tips for a livable wage. I would not be opposed to tipping $10 if the service was exceptional (super friendly and absolutely insisted on carrying my packs across the very short portages to Sucker/Splash which I have always done and never had offered to me anyway), but it's not something that even crossed my mind. My group this year did however tip the guy who drove us back from EP16, though I must admit it was not my idea. Again, not opposed to it, it just didn't cross my mind. I just remembered, that guy claimed to have gotten to Alice Lake in 5 hours from Lake One on opener weekend. I kinda wanted to call BS but he was friendly enough.

I promise I'm a nice guy!! I was raised to tip wait staff but anything beyond that would have to involve someone providing a service and blowing my mind with it, so much so that I really feel like giving them more money than I already am.

If I'm providing the tow service, tip me a grand.

So from reading the replies, I guess $15 is the number.

Seems it would depend on the tow too, is it something longer on LLC or is it just Moose to PP, or Burntside to Crab EP? Seems in those couple instances $10 would suffice.

missmolly: "If I'm providing the tow service, tip me a grand. "

Who brings a piano let alone a grand piano. Haha!

In my case the operator did the help on the portage on his own. He also took pics for me of me paddling through the first set of rapids.

HowardSprague: "So from reading the replies, I guess $15 is the number.


Seems it would depend on the tow too, is it something longer on LLC or is it just Moose to PP, or Burntside to Crab EP? Seems in those couple instances $10 would suffice.
"

Moose Lake to Lincoln Island in Basswood Lake.

$20 each way

nctry: "

walllee: "20 bucks"

My one tow was a 20 tip. Plus another twenty when he carried everything across a fair portage. But beyond that I’d go broke... I still had over thirty days to go and a lot of portages...
"

Awesome photo!

We just did a 20 dollar tip for a 1/2 hour tow at Voyager Canoe Outfitters.
During our stay there we learned that the entire staff pools all tips and they split it up equally at the end of the week.
They had 10 full time staff so they all got 2 bucks.
Just sayin'.

A few years ago we the tow on Moose lake to Splash portage. We tip $5.00 per guy per trip. Two John boats loaded with our gear and 6 guys was $15.00 to each tow driver, or a 28% tip on a $18.00 tow. We plan to have the money beforehand so we don’t have to dig in packs for money or forget to pay the driver. Tips get treated like any other expense in our groups, talked about beforehand and split up between the group.

I always tip. I truly appreciate these hard working folks and I’m betting their pay without tips likely SUCKs. Perhaps I come from a long line of bottom feeders. Okay, okay, I do! But at least I’m not cheap.

I tipped $20 per trip.

Good on all of you for tipping. These tourism are jobs don't pay much more than minimum wage and no benefits. They are the bottom of the food chain, the average is about 20,000.00 a year.

I'll have to admit I made a trip my first trip this spring and had a tow on moose after paying the bill at the outfitters the wallet got put away never crossed my mind about a tip. Feel kinda bad tow operator did excellent job just not a lot of things I do that require tipping other than occasionally eating out and haircuts. My apologies

flynn: "I'll be brave and say I've not tipped my tow operators. Reason 1, I don't bring my wallet into the BW (just my ID) and never think to bring cash with me for any reason, and reason 2, I'm already paying $30/person/way and as far as I'm aware the outfitting profession doesn't underpay employees forcing them to rely on tips for a livable wage. I would not be opposed to tipping $10 if the service was exceptional (super friendly and absolutely insisted on carrying my packs across the very short portages to Sucker/Splash which I have always done and never had offered to me anyway), but it's not something that even crossed my mind. My group this year did however tip the guy who drove us back from EP16, though I must admit it was not my idea. Again, not opposed to it, it just didn't cross my mind. I just remembered, that guy claimed to have gotten to Alice Lake in 5 hours from Lake One on opener weekend. I kinda wanted to call BS but he was friendly enough.


I promise I'm a nice guy!! I was raised to tip wait staff but anything beyond that would have to involve someone providing a service and blowing my mind with it, so much so that I really feel like giving them more money than I already am."

Ditto

As a former towboat driver, I appreciated all tips I ever received. The people who mention wages being low are correct and while I never expected a tip, I always appreciated one. I learned over time that by going above and beyond would raise the tip amount from people already willing to tip and would sometimes encourage those who historically didn't tip, to dig into their packs and pull out some money. As a towboat driver I would always: load the towboat, be mindful of expensive canoes and fishing rods/reels, double check paddles and lifejackets, double check the destination, engage with customer if they were looking to engage, unload towboat and save last pack and canoe for myself to carry across. If picking up customer, wait on other side of portage if customer not there yet, help carry gear across, load towboat, engage about trip, upon return to outfitter unload towboat and carry gear to parking lot for easy loading into customer's vehicle. If this service got me a tip, great. If it didn't, that was fine too, hopefully it added to the enjoyment of their experience.

I remember as a kid my Dad handing me "folding money" to tip the driver on four mile portage. The driver in turn gave me some good fishing hot spots as a tip for me. I have always tipped the portage drivers and tow boat drivers ever since. I will admit in a life of growing up in the B-dub I could count on one hand the number of times I got a tow for my canoe.

The wife and I did a 6 day base camp on Basswood on our 25th anniversary. The tow driver set up our deluxe camp with screen cook tent and all. We tipped him 30 bucks. The package we paid for was set up and tear down, I was a little thirsty on the last day and I packed it up myself so we could have a cold adult beverage and a big steak. He only got 15 for the tow back to Moose lake

flynn: "I'll be brave and say I've not tipped my tow operators. Reason 1, I don't bring my wallet into the BW (just my ID) and never think to bring cash with me for any reason, and reason 2, I'm already paying $30/person/way and as far as I'm aware the outfitting profession doesn't underpay employees forcing them to rely on tips for a livable wage. I would not be opposed to tipping $10 if the service was exceptional (super friendly and absolutely insisted on carrying my packs across the very short portages to Sucker/Splash which I have always done and never had offered to me anyway), but it's not something that even crossed my mind. My group this year did however tip the guy who drove us back from EP16, though I must admit it was not my idea. Again, not opposed to it, it just didn't cross my mind. I just remembered, that guy claimed to have gotten to Alice Lake in 5 hours from Lake One on opener weekend. I kinda wanted to call BS but he was friendly enough.


I promise I'm a nice guy!! I was raised to tip wait staff but anything beyond that would have to involve someone providing a service and blowing my mind with it, so much so that I really feel like giving them more money than I already am."

Honestly also - I've done a tow on a couple of occasions, and never thought about it. Never had money with me getting in our out of the boat, never crossed my mind. As I am adding up the cash I am dishing out, between shuttle, tow, boat rental for other members of the group, t shirts, showers, bunkhouse, beers etc...I'm usually dropping $500-$800 at the outfitter as is. Now I kind of feel bad. Hmm...

flynn: "I'll be brave and say I've not tipped my tow operators. Reason 1, I don't bring my wallet into the BW (just my ID) and never think to bring cash with me for any reason, and reason 2, I'm already paying $30/person/way and as far as I'm aware the outfitting profession doesn't underpay employees forcing them to rely on tips for a livable wage. I would not be opposed to tipping $10 if the service was exceptional (super friendly and absolutely insisted on carrying my packs across the very short portages to Sucker/Splash which I have always done and never had offered to me anyway), but it's not something that even crossed my mind. My group this year did however tip the guy who drove us back from EP16, though I must admit it was not my idea. Again, not opposed to it, it just didn't cross my mind. I just remembered, that guy claimed to have gotten to Alice Lake in 5 hours from Lake One on opener weekend. I kinda wanted to call BS but he was friendly enough.


I promise I'm a nice guy!! I was raised to tip wait staff but anything beyond that would have to involve someone providing a service and blowing my mind with it, so much so that I really feel like giving them more money than I already am."

I think this is completely fair, and I generally agree with it. I feel this way about several industries that normally get tipped. Still, I tipped. I could have not and had a clear conscious.