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Great thread. I use to tow anything from my old 1997 seadoo 1800 challenger. I mounted the four point standard tower myself and made custom aluminum backing plates for the inside of the hull to distrubte the load better than the large washers that came with the tower and also used compression lock nuts instead of the plastic ring kind that came with it. Towed a three person winged deck tube from it regularly and aggressively with no adverse effects. Now that I have a 2016 242ls I am hesitant about towing from the foward arched tower for hull stress reasons as well as the side tipping given the backwards set mounting point. I look foward to further thoughts and experience regarding the 2015 and 2016 24' Yamaha foward arched towers.
If I remember correctly the manufacturer recommends only towing skiers from the tower. All tubes are recommended to be towed from the tow point because of structural integrity of the tower and the pressure towing tubes from the tower put on the connection points to the boat.
I'd love to see a photo of this setup if you think about it next time you're at the lake. I just can't quite envision how you have this set up from the description.
My kids hate being pulled from the ski ring because of the spray caused when the rope goes across the jet-what-ever-you call-it. I usually pull off the tower for this reason, so anything to potentially reduce stress would be nice.
I use an airhead bungee tube tow rope along with an extra 20' or so of ski rope line. It's a smooth comfortable splash free tow. No more big stress on the tower.
Go talk to your local Fiberglass Repair shop... They will tell you the truth.. My guy showed me 4 boats in his shop a few years ago that the towers ripped out of from towing tubes.. (usually with 2-3 riders on them. )
I mostly tow from the transome, but have towed from the tower on occasion. Usually with 1 rider. I have noted that riders get more air when towing from the tower. So, if I have smaller kids, I always tow from the transome. Frankly had never thought that the tower would not be able to handle the weight of the kids on the tube... May have to rethink that as they get bigger...
The other issue is geometry. If your towing a 3-4 person tube with adults and really whipping them side to side boats have actually been pulled over sideways from the tower. That high a tow point with that much weight gives it a lot more leverage. Why chance it? It has happened before and will happen again.
The tower cannot handle that much side load. I know there is a specific load rating for it somewhere, but if you use a longer rope 65+ft the spray wont affect the riders much if at all.
OMG, someone had to resurrect this dead horse. Please let this topic die. Way too much false information, do what "YOU" are comfortable with. Pretty soon someone will mention that it will flip the boat..... sigh.
OMG, someone had to resurrect this dead horse. Please let this topic die. Way too much false information, do what "YOU" are comfortable with. Pretty soon someone will mention that it will flip the boat..... sigh.
That's ironic, as it's a total CYA warning then on Yamaha's part, as their marketing material in that past showed photos of an AR towing tubes. So again, opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one. but do what "you" are comfortable with.
I bought an AirHead Kwik connect. Loop that through itself and place on the tow hook. Then just attach the rope to the Kwik connect. Works great, super simple.
Anyone else have any issues with spider cracks around the transom hook that tows tubes from there? I've got several on my 2014 212x. They developed a year plus ago. Haven't wanted to tow tubes from there since the cracking.
Great thread. I use to tow anything from my old 1997 seadoo 1800 challenger. I mounted the four point standard tower myself and made custom aluminum backing plates for the inside of the hull to distrubte the load better than the large washers that came with the tower and also used compression lock nuts instead of the plastic ring kind that came with it. Towed a three person winged deck tube from it regularly and aggressively with no adverse effects. Now that I have a 2016 242ls I am hesitant about towing from the foward arched tower for hull stress reasons as well as the side tipping given the backwards set mounting point. I look foward to further thoughts and experience regarding the 2015 and 2016 24' Yamaha foward arched towers.
