2kwik4u
Jetboaters Fleet Admiral
- Messages
- 7,717
- Reaction score
- 10,211
- Points
- 577
- Location
- Buffalo, NY
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2017
- Boat Model
- AR
- Boat Length
- 19
First.....Please go re-read the title in the best "Tommy Boy" voice you can muster. I can't stop giggling, and I hope you do too 
Now, For the post content that might actually be useful. Click images for fullsize.
The question of "how to deal with a giant tube" seems to come up often. Many people inflate/deflate back and forth. Maybe people avoid tubes all together. Typically the kids love the tube, and some of the adults love them as well. Here's how I deal with ours, and it's worked out decently for years. Both on the Yamaha, and on our old Rinker.
First, I start the day with the tube deflated. This is the best for moving about the boat, and having plenty of space. I carry a handheld inflator, but I'm seriously considering adding a permanent onboard device. I keep mine stored in the starboard rear storage area. It stuffs back in there pretty well, and leaves us plenty of space for other stuff, including the tube rope.
Once we're out on the water, I use the HVLP pump, with a cigarette lighter extension cord and blow up the tube on the rear . No pictures of this, but you get the idea. Once inflated, we tube/play/etc for as long as we like. Once that's all done, we have to either deflate or "stow" the tube somewhere. I choose to just leave it inflated so I can dry it fully at home later.
To stow the tube while underway, I do two things. I take the tube rope and tie it off to the starboard rear cleat with about 6' of "slack" between the tube and the cleat. This gives us the ability to move the tube out of the way if anyone needs on/off the platform without actually unhooking it from the boat. I tuck the remainder of the rope into the rear storage tray and close the lid over it. Keep the rope away from the latch, and away from the safety switch back there.
I'll then take the rope still attached to the tube, and hook it on the rear tow point. This gets the tube up on "most" of the swim platform. it will ride back here all day with no real poor side effects. Speed and fuel mileage seems mostly unchanged with the tube back there. It also just "hangs on" when we pull the boat out of the water at the ramp. It'll just ride there until we get to the tie down lanes, and can unhook it and move it aside.
If we stop to swim, or go to the marina, or otherwise need on the swim platform for any reason, it's super simple to just undo it from the rear tow eye, and let it float. The extra line to the cleat keeps it from escaping, and gives it enough line to be out of the way. We've found it works really well, and even the 9yr old can "hook and unhook" the tube if needed.
Once we're done for the day, we just leave it hooked to the boat and pull out on the trailer at the ramp. No big deal. After we have the boat all cleaned out, and just before we put the cover on, I'll wipe down the tube (because it's been wet and sitting on the ground and I don't want that dirt in the interior) and place it like shown below. It "wedges" in there fairly tight, and takes a little coercion to get the plastic attachment piece away from the window. Once in place, it's good and secure. We always trailer with the cover on, so we just pull the cover over and go about our trip home. Once home, we hang it on the garage wall and let it dry, then I'll take a few minutes one night to deflate it with the pump, and fold/roll it back up and stow it.
So, there you have it. It's not a perfect system, and it might not work for all, but it does well for us. Overly large tubes might not work as well, smaller ones might work better. If you trailer uncovered that might be an issue. We towed our Rinker uncovered, and would throw a rope through the steering wheel and grab handles to keep the tube "in the boat".
Hopefully this helps a person or two along the way.
Now, For the post content that might actually be useful. Click images for fullsize.
The question of "how to deal with a giant tube" seems to come up often. Many people inflate/deflate back and forth. Maybe people avoid tubes all together. Typically the kids love the tube, and some of the adults love them as well. Here's how I deal with ours, and it's worked out decently for years. Both on the Yamaha, and on our old Rinker.
First, I start the day with the tube deflated. This is the best for moving about the boat, and having plenty of space. I carry a handheld inflator, but I'm seriously considering adding a permanent onboard device. I keep mine stored in the starboard rear storage area. It stuffs back in there pretty well, and leaves us plenty of space for other stuff, including the tube rope.
Once we're out on the water, I use the HVLP pump, with a cigarette lighter extension cord and blow up the tube on the rear . No pictures of this, but you get the idea. Once inflated, we tube/play/etc for as long as we like. Once that's all done, we have to either deflate or "stow" the tube somewhere. I choose to just leave it inflated so I can dry it fully at home later.
To stow the tube while underway, I do two things. I take the tube rope and tie it off to the starboard rear cleat with about 6' of "slack" between the tube and the cleat. This gives us the ability to move the tube out of the way if anyone needs on/off the platform without actually unhooking it from the boat. I tuck the remainder of the rope into the rear storage tray and close the lid over it. Keep the rope away from the latch, and away from the safety switch back there.
I'll then take the rope still attached to the tube, and hook it on the rear tow point. This gets the tube up on "most" of the swim platform. it will ride back here all day with no real poor side effects. Speed and fuel mileage seems mostly unchanged with the tube back there. It also just "hangs on" when we pull the boat out of the water at the ramp. It'll just ride there until we get to the tie down lanes, and can unhook it and move it aside.
If we stop to swim, or go to the marina, or otherwise need on the swim platform for any reason, it's super simple to just undo it from the rear tow eye, and let it float. The extra line to the cleat keeps it from escaping, and gives it enough line to be out of the way. We've found it works really well, and even the 9yr old can "hook and unhook" the tube if needed.
Once we're done for the day, we just leave it hooked to the boat and pull out on the trailer at the ramp. No big deal. After we have the boat all cleaned out, and just before we put the cover on, I'll wipe down the tube (because it's been wet and sitting on the ground and I don't want that dirt in the interior) and place it like shown below. It "wedges" in there fairly tight, and takes a little coercion to get the plastic attachment piece away from the window. Once in place, it's good and secure. We always trailer with the cover on, so we just pull the cover over and go about our trip home. Once home, we hang it on the garage wall and let it dry, then I'll take a few minutes one night to deflate it with the pump, and fold/roll it back up and stow it.
So, there you have it. It's not a perfect system, and it might not work for all, but it does well for us. Overly large tubes might not work as well, smaller ones might work better. If you trailer uncovered that might be an issue. We towed our Rinker uncovered, and would throw a rope through the steering wheel and grab handles to keep the tube "in the boat".
Hopefully this helps a person or two along the way.
