Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

[kennyh]

Hi Guys

I've a sportboat, and I'm thinking of purchasing an inflatable tender to use instead of beaching my nice new boat.

Q. How fast can I tow it? My boat can do 50mph, but how fast can I safely tow it behind me. I was thinking of getting a 2.3m inflatable with a inflatable keel/floor.

Cheers
Kenny.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

kennyh, it really all depends on how the towing harness is rigged. you are not going to tow it 50 mph, probably not 20mph.

it's not like towing a trailer, on smooth road, everything in it will have to be secured, or you will throw everything out of it. the tow boat is going to hit waves, at different times than the inflatable, putting stress on all the equipment.

if your talking about a long haul, i'd consider, installing a compressor on your boat, and inflating on arrival.

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

Well ...... you would need about at least 100kg in the tender to keep it on the water if you wanto tow it at 50mph, cause if the wind comes up a little it will have the same effect as towinf a tube at WOT doing a really sharp turn ......

 

[Martinique]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

You can take the tender with you as fast as you want using a dinghy sling from Harbormenmarine.com. Then your tender won't flip over or get torn apart at high speeds. I used one all last year going about 45 knots sometimes around cape cod area Towing is too slow.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

You aren't supposed to tow above hull speed.

 

[mattttt25]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

you can easily tow it 25 mph. the key is a proper harness and a long enough line. set the line a good 30-40 ft back and proceed to get on plane. you'll need someone else onboard to adjust the length... you want to have the inflatable match your boat with the wave period. so as you hit a wave, the inflatable is hitting a wave, but 5 or 6 wave lengths back. hopefully that makes sense.

good friend with a 43' post tows a large inflatable this way. he cruises his normal 25 mph with no problems.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

Yes, you can tow them at any speed In fact that's a great idea. The majority of replacement tow rings we install on inflatables come from people doing 25 mph and greater....And we could always use the extra business.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

this post is almost a year old.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Inflatable Tender - how fast can you tow it?

this post is almost a year old.

And he aint reading the answers either! LOL! Love this post, good info anyway.

kennyh kennyh is offline
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Last Activity: May 14th, 2007 11:08 AM