Would this ski pylon work and be safe

JoshOnt

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I have been trying to find used ones but seems no one is selling them. I found this one on ebay and have no idea if it would work, looks like it is missing the 2 support arms?
 

oldjeep

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1) What pylon?
2) For what boat?
3) What are you intending to pull from the pylon?
 

SkiDad

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The pylon is for I/O boats I believe. You want a tripod style from swivl-eze if you have an outboard. That is what I use. Not recommended for pulling tubes. If you want to pull tubes get a booster ball on Amazon and hook to transom rings. Be safe.
 
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JoshOnt

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The pylon is for I/O boats I believe. You want a tripod style from swivl-eze if you have an outboard. That is what I use. Not recommended for pulling tubes. If you want to pull tubes get a booster ball on Amazon and hook to transom rings. Be safe.
Why would a ski pylon not be safe for tubing? I see it often around here, more often than I do tubers attached to the transom eyes.
 

oldjeep

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Why would a ski pylon not be safe for tubing? I see it often around here, more often than I do tubers attached to the transom eyes.

Because they can't handle the enormous load that happens when the tube submarines. Danger of ripping up your deck and sending a very heavy projectile towards your tuber. Lots of folks do dumb things, and honestly people pulling tubes are not normally the most experienced folks. Some folks pull tubes from towers too, doesn't make it a bright idea.
 

JoshOnt

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Because they can't handle the enormous load that happens when the tube submarines. Danger of ripping up your deck and sending a very heavy projectile towards your tuber. Lots of folks do dumb things, and honestly people pulling tubes are not normally the most experienced folks. Some folks pull tubes from towers too, doesn't make it a bright idea.
What would be a good solution then instead of using s ski pylon or the transom eyes as the rope then just stays in the water. Those rope tube/ball things are not an option as there is barely enough room in the boat for 3 people and a tube so adding that would not be possible without getting rid of the spotter which I don't think would be too good.
 

skibrain

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I would recommend sticking with pulling from the transom eyes. You could get a bridle with slider or pulley if you want share load from each eye. Raising the tow point on a pylon high enough to clear the outboard may make it harder for your boat to get on plane with a skier. (My experience a fiberglass 15' with 85 hp outboard and 200# slalom skier - could only make it work from transom eyes).
 

littlerayray

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My solution to cramped space on a boat is an inflator I have one on my boat and only inflate the tube when I'm ready to go tubing I also deflate it once we are done it saves a lot of room
 

JoshOnt

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My solution to cramped space on a boat is an inflator I have one on my boat and only inflate the tube when I'm ready to go tubing I also deflate it once we are done it saves a lot of room
Doing that in between each rider or every second if they are teens? That seems like it would be a royal pain. Is there not a safe way to just get the tow line up out of the water a foot or two?
 

littlerayray

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You don't want the tow rope high out of the water on a tube it's dangerous easy to flip my rope goes on the tow eye and unless I'm making a huge wake the rope stays out of water
 

JoshOnt

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You don't want the tow rope high out of the water on a tube it's dangerous easy to flip my rope goes on the tow eye and unless I'm making a huge wake the rope stays out of water
What kind of boat do you have, because I have a feeling mine is much smaller and mine has no tow eye since it is an outboard
 

JoshOnt

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The one in my profile pic it's a good sized boat with a 3 liter mercruiser
Yeah mine is a 14 ft run about soon to be a 14 ft speed boat/ Thundercraft V142 so major difference. There is little wake, so the fun is in swinging the tube around and going semi fast in a straight line with it. Lifting the line up would really be nice. I have one of those self centering lines that goes on the transom eyes and it creates a spray of water back onto the tuber which they don't like too much.
 

littlerayray

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Then a booster ball is what I recommend or possibly lengthening the bridle and using the stern cleats
 

JoshOnt

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Then a booster ball is what I recommend or possibly lengthening the bridle and using the stern cleats
Would a squared U shape metal pole attached to the transom work? Because as mentioned above the only way use a booster ball is to remove the spotter. Someone suggested pumping the tube and ball up in between each rider as I go to shore to switch riders out as I only have limited space and limited HP.
 

oldjeep

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I'm confused. Why do you think you need to remove the spotter to use a booster ball?
 

skibrain

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If the bridle harness dragging in water and spraying riders is the issue, Shorten your bridle attached to the transom eyes. Most are around 12' long. It only needs to be long enough to reach between the two eyes and clear the back of motor. My eyes were set in from the corners of boat so The bridle I used was about 3 1/2' long.
 
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