Do any of you guys pull a tube or skiers?

TheSalt

If so, just wondering how?  I don't have a tow hook on the back of my transom like my other boats in the past.  The guy at the marine store sold me a ski harness that attaches to the rear cleats...  Does this seem legit?

Thanks..

Matt

rinker312

prior to purchasing a jet ski for the kids, I used to pull them around in the tube all the time.  All i did was to take a short section of rope and tie a bowline loop in both sides run this rope through the loop in the tow line and attach it to both cleats.  Worked fine.  The only reason I would say not to do this, is that I have noticed some spider cracks around my cleats now.  I cannot really say that they are because of pulling them around, they are not very noticeable at all, just wanted to let you know about it.  I have had the jet ski now going on 3 years and I have probably saved enough gas money to pay for it.  An option to think about if your kids like to do that kind of stuff.  

Michael T

I have a buddy who has been towing kids and friends in tubes, waterskiing etc for several years with no spider cracking BUT he does not use his cleats as his tech told him not to, for that reason. He uses the two trailering "U" bolts on the aft hull. They could pull stumps out. He modifies a line using two caribiners that clip on with a loop tied in the middle of the span. He runs a tow line off that. Sometimes he takes it off  other times he leaves it on for the weekend. There is a cheap little float in the middle to keep the line from snagging on a drive. I'm pretty sure the harness isn't long enough to reach a prop but I have seen him pull it up to go for a cruise and just wrap one end of the harness around a cleat to hold it flat across the back of the swim platform until the kids go again. He can reach down to clip it on/off by lying flat on the transom but he usually has one of the kids do it anyway. :-) MT

212rowboat

Google three point self equalizing anchor.. we use it as an SOP for rappelling and climbing, as there is no better way to distribute the load.. I don't see why it wouldn't work off a transom, and using two points instead of three..

floater212

long before wake towers the rear tie downs were the only place to hook up the towing harness. we used the ones with the movable equalizer float, it was built on to the harness.

TheSalt

Yeah...  I figured that the tow hooks were much better suited for pulling tubers.  The crummy thing is that the tube gets pulled down rather than up higher, like where the cleats are..  oh well...  it works and the kids are as happy as can be.  :-)

Michael T

Salt, you're right that the stern cleats pull the tube down a bit BUT you can still give the kids the ride from H*LL - which is half the fun - right. We were out on my friend's boat with his 22 yr old and a couple of buddies on a tube. One of the guys said his dad has a mastercraft - now that's a real tow boat. My friend looked at me and said they're all adults, right?  Let's scare the sh*t out of these guys. I said OH YEAH! He pinned the throttles of the twin 350 mags and did a couple of hard overs. All three smart a**es went airborne. We got a picture of the guy whose dad has the mastercraft "real" towboat. He skipped off the water and his boarding pants were down around his ankles with his a** up in the air. All the way back he sat slouched with a towel over his head while we discussed captions for the picture that we were going to put on the video at his wedding coming up this summer. He was a dead man and knew it. As for me,  I won free beers for the night with my caption - "It's about time Sean got married as he can't keep his pants on anywhere!"  LOL  I asked him if he learned anything. He's actually a pretty smart kid. He said NEVER tease a guy who owns a RINKER or you'll get thrown into the water with no pants on and then get photographed. My buddy replied **** right kid - and that's on a good day. Mastercraft tow boats my a** - GO RINKER - hard a** boats for REAL men! We'll tow anything, any time -  BUT - our way :-) MT

TheSalt

This is pretty much all that happened...  haha  My daughter, myself, my two buddies and my dog.

raybo3

Awesome pic looks nice and relaxing. I think the dog is looking to steal that beer....lol

Black_Diamond

Nice pic. I agree about the dog. Sneaky little guys.

summerx

Here is our 310 pulling a triple tube last weekend.  I used a ski tow bridle from the transom eyes.  It worked, but I need to determine a way to get the rope up higher.  Too much spray for the kids.

Michael T

Not sure of the regulations in your area but is that a 75 foot tow rope? If not, is a longer tow line possible? Are your drives trimmed up, if so is it possible to trim them down a bit while towing? If no to everything - how about swim goggles? :-) They ARE supposd to get a bit wet, right?  Mine never had time to worry about the spray because they were too busy watching my hands on the wheel to see when I was going to throw the next 90 degree turn at them. Airborne kids, gotta love it - they did! MT

summerx

they had goggles on, but were still complaining....ingrate kids...lol.
Not sure what, if any rope length rules there are for the chesapeake, and also no clue what size my rope is.  I had my drives tucked under as well as tabs down to help.  I think the biggest issue is that it attached right at the water line. 
Does anyone think that hinged transom has enough strength to put a single tow eye on it?  I worry that the drag from a triple tube could be too much force for the 2 hinges and front power connecting arm?  Thoughts?
that made me think I need to find 2 attachment points outside of that moveable section and continue using the bridle.

Michael T

I don't worry about a constant pull as much as the on and off loading or "snap" loads that occur during a tube pull. I don't think there is any way to damage the trailering "U" bolts by tubing but I wouldn't want to subject my cleats to that. I'd fear spider cracks in the gel coat or worse. I know the cleats are designed to hold the boat at a dock, even in windy conditions, but - if there are multiple lines, some of which are probably spring lines, at the dock I would think there wouldn't be anywhere near the loads on the cleats from dock lines that there would be from tubing. My 2 cents MT

summerx

I agree MT.  I won't use the cleats for the same reason.  I am trying to figure out how/where to mount tow points, either a single in the middle of the boat, or dual ones, out near the cleats?  sadly on the 310 with the bumper storage, there arent any great options jumping out at me...

Michael T

If I mounted a single tow "eye" somewhere in the transom I'd get a 1/8" aluminum backing plate say 6" high by 10" long, spread a skim coat of 3M 5200 on it and use it as a backing plate to spread the load.  IF you can find a spot. Alternatively, I wonder if you could rig-up two ss "U" bolts with backing plates at each side of the hull above the swim platform? I guess it all depends how much you are willing to modify your boat for the kids. MT

summerx

MT, I am leaning towards doing the latter, with placing U-bolts above the platform somewhere to accommodate  the water sports.  I was planning on a backing plate of some type as well.  With the kids being young, we spend a lot of time tubing, knee boarding, etc, so the the modification is worth it to me.
thanks.

TheSalt

The picture below is of the tube, hooked to the tie down eyelets...  which sit about 6 inches below the water.  Works but sprays.