Tubing <from the tower?>

[Jameson Clark]

Obviously you should believe what makes sense to you, but I have to ask: have you ever experienced the force on your boat from that tube submarining? I find if a tube is slightly underinflated it is very easy to submarine by accident, and I've no doubt the force of that could pull my 242X right over if it was pulling from the tower at an angle from the boat.

No wakeboarder or surfer could ever produce as much drag as a submarined 3-person tube like ours (a super mable). We also have no difficulty flipping this tube 180 degrees and dumping everyone in the lake even at "kiddie speed" (30kph / 18mph), or getting enough air that you can only see the bottom of the tube from the boat, all while attached to the transom.

View attachment 100010

I have had tubes submarine on me at idle speeds plenty of times. If you have a tube submarine on you at any speed on plane, you are doing something seriously wrong.

But, even with that force, no I PERSONALLY do not believe for one minute it could capsize my boat. The pulling force that would take is extreme and would have to be a crazy angle to pull 90 degrees to the side and fast enough that the boat didn't just "mush" sideways in the water. Once again, every one do what you think is safe.

Hasn't really been a worry for me since lately everyone just wants to ride the tube right off the back of the boat and hang out and talk while going down the water!

 

[Ancient canoe]

Maybe it's a great design but I'm not really that impressed with the robustness of the tower on my AR210. It looks great, but I was kind of shocked how light it felt when lowering. Maybe it hinges in a way that the base still supports a lot of it's weight, but it's not strut assisted and I can lower/raise with ease.

 

[2kwik4u]

Maybe it's a great design but I'm not really that impressed with the robustness of the tower on my AR210. It looks great, but I was kind of shocked how light it felt when lowering. Maybe it hinges in a way that the base still supports a lot of it's weight, but it's not strut assisted and I can lower/raise with ease.

Sounds like you're not impressed with the weight more so than the robustness. You'll be hard pressed to damage one with normal usage.

Keep in mind the shape of the material is more important than the mass of it. Think about lightweight bicycles, airplanes, and bridges. All safety critical structures made from relatively light structures with very specific shapes. Tower is the same way

 

[Ancient canoe]

Yeah I'm certainly not an engineer, I just expected it to be heavier.

 

[swatski]

The AR240 tower is heavy.

I have installed several after market towers in various boats, and looked carefully at all Yamaha towers across MYs. All the post-2015 240/242 towers are completely overbuilt for towing.
Compared to any pre-2015, my 2016 AR240 (properly adjusted) is the most rigid and stable, structurally, by a long stretch. There is no give, or play, or movement. As long as all the bolts are tight. The 242 LS and X are even more rigid and stronger/ base mounts.

The weight of the AR240 makes it best to use help when lowering/rising.

—

 

[Matt Phillips]

This is always an interesting question that seems to be brought up just about annually. I don't tow tubes all that much any more as most people want to wake board or surf however, when I do, the option for them is the rear tow hook. I'm not too concerned about flipping the boat or breaking the tower as it seems very robust. My larger concern is is that tow rope breaks and whips back then there's the potential for a lot of people who are in the boat to be hurt.

Additionally, the manuals on the boat and tower do say not to do it and in our litigious society, that's a point any good lawyer would argue in court. One I don't feel comfortable dealing with.

Again, to tow from the tower or not, that's a choice. Just make sure you as the captain are making the safest one for you and your crew.

 

[Buckeye Boater]

Ski tower on boat breaks, hits 5-year-old girl in head at Lake Alexander

 

[swatski]

Ski tower on boat breaks, hits 5-year-old girl in head at Lake Alexander

Well... Yamaha towers can collapse suddenly even on their own! ...mine did that once in rough water. That was fun (not)!

Come to think of it, had I been towing a tube from the tower at the time (I had not) I would had probably been spared!

Lol
Sorry, I had to.

—

 

[Osric]

I have had tubes submarine on me at idle speeds plenty of times. If you have a tube submarine on you at any speed on plane, you are doing something seriously wrong.

As I said, this can happen if the tube is underinflated. I do agree it's wrong to take a tube out that is underinflated, but it's easy to have it happen by accident once in a while, and when the tube hits a 2 or 3' tall wave and gets soaked down it's more likely to submarine later.

All that said, I haven't had it happen to me since we very first started boating and didn't realize how critical inflating properly was. If there are other scenarios that I'm not thinking of I'd be keen to learn as we're not very experienced boaters.

 

[swatski]

(EDIT: moved this from the wring thread)

Here is my 0.02

Here is a 60ft rope - shorter is easier to control the tube (so, potentially somewhat safer although excessive speed is more dangerous anyway) but there is lots of spray that can ruin the experience:


Double the rope, problem solved!


(I know, I know, it may or may not be legal... in some states, blah, blah)
(but 1. I hate pulling tubes anyway and never go over 20mph, usually hold 16-18mph on RideSteady, and 2. I dont give a f@ck anyway because bad towing technique is far more dangerous than a longer rope, IMHO)

Here are the wonders of a longer (2x60ft) rope:
one kid


three kids


But, I do tend to go slow

--

 

[Ancient canoe]

Is 120' of rope what it takes? I currently have 60' and my kids mention the spray, when I look back at them tubing I think another 10' - 15' is what I need. Is that not enough?

 

[chrisinslc]

I have had tubes submarine on me at idle speeds plenty of times. If you have a tube submarine on you at any speed on plane, you are doing something seriously wrong.

But, even with that force, no I PERSONALLY do not believe for one minute it could capsize my boat. The pulling force that would take is extreme and would have to be a crazy angle to pull 90 degrees to the side and fast enough that the boat didn't just "mush" sideways in the water. Once again, every one do what you think is safe.

Hasn't really been a worry for me since lately everyone just wants to ride the tube right off the back of the boat and hang out and talk while going down the water! View attachment 100021

Does the jet wash go under the tube?

 

[Jameson Clark]

Does the jet wash go under the tube?

Yeah it does. The way I have it attached, it sits perfectly on top of the jet wash. I don't let anyone back there until we're on plane though. When coming off plane, the tube gets hit by the wave in the back and slides to one side, pretty funny to watch!

 

[swatski]

Is 120' of rope what it takes? I currently have 60' and my kids mention the spray, when I look back at them tubing I think another 10' - 15' is what I need. Is that not enough?

I’ve not confirmed the length, I’ll do so. Those are two standard tube ropes together.

Works absolutely great but I am super conservative and very careful not to get any slack in the rope.

If I do - For example when slowing down for larger wakes or turning etc and there is slack on the rope I come to almost complete stop and make sure that the rope is taut before accelerating again.

—

 

[swatski]

Is 120' of rope what it takes? I currently have 60' and my kids mention the spray, when I look back at them tubing I think another 10' - 15' is what I need. Is that not enough?

I reuploaded pictures in that post.

—

 

[PaulyB]

75 ft is usually enough to get out of the jet spray at 8,000 rpms in my experience, they may get it while under acceleration Above 8k rpms.

 

[swatski]

I was talking to Kate (wife) about this issue right now as she was asking about some posts she read on FB. (I'm thankful I'm not on FB, lol, what a bunch of total crap!!! OMG).
Anyway, she was quick to point out the obvious - no tube we ever pull can put the kind of torque on the tower as when I wakeboard! She also pointed out that the only time the tower makes any noises (like creaking or knocking) is when I wake board and pull sideways hard. We never hear any noises pulling a tube.

My wakeboarding skills are only on the "advanced beginner" side of the range, but... when I dig in heel-side in a sweeping turn around the boat... I literally tilt the tower to that side. I don't think any tube I ever pull can do that, unless it submarined or something.

--