Do you tow a tube with your tower?

JustAnotherBoat · Jun 24, 2009

I am looking at adding a tower but I have noticed that some of the manufactures do not recommend towing an inflatable(tube) with the tower. Is there really that much difference between a tube and a wakeboarder? I feel the boat being pulled harder by the wakeboarder when they cut out than the tube is sliding around back there. I see people doing this everytime I am at the lake, so are they just ignoring the safety guidlines or is there anything really wrong with doing it. I am looking at both buying a tower or having one built from some of the designs of the diyers from this website. http://bierbower.net/diytower/

Would any of these hold up to towing a tube? The tube we use is only a single person anyway.

bigpoppakdog · Jun 24, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

Well, having pulled people on a tube with my 7 ft pylon. The thing I notice is that you can really get that tube to fly. The higher pulling point, gets the tube to skim the water. I have a monster tube that can hold four people and with two kids in it(approx. 230 lbs) I had to be cautious when turning as I could probably have bounced them pretty high in the air. This was the first time I pulled this big monster tube. Plus, I do think pulling a tube does put out more stress than a wakeboarder, especially if you are making those aggressive turns when tubing. So, I would say be cautious on those whip turns, and be carefull if the tube gets to the side of you to not gun it and put strain on your tower.

My 2 cents.

IVAZ · Jun 24, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

I don?t think your suppose to tow tubes from the tower due to the risk of capsizing. Wake boarding does not "pull" on the boat thru turns as much as a big tube.

Utahboatnut · Jun 24, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

Plus if the tube were to ever get submarined which can and does happen and you didn't see it as the driver, the amount of drag created is enough to rip the tower off. I wouldn't even think of pulling tubes from mine but thats just me. Talk to any of the tower mfgs and get there take on it, see what reasons they give and let us know. For me it isn't worth the risk of trashing my boat due to a fluke thing while towing something the tower strictly states not to do.

overload · Jun 29, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

We tube off of a tower, a 7' pylon actually, all the time. It also says not to tube behind it on a small warning sticker. I think we were tubing off of it for 5years before we realized that you were not supposed to, so we just kept using it anyway.

Tabes117 · Jul 2, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

I pull my little kids off my tower. I don't like pulling adults, because of the weight and drag.

wall37 · Jul 13, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

I pull our tub with Insanity Pylon, works great!

salty87 · Jul 13, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

no way

Showtime22 · Jul 13, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

I wouldn't tube off the tower. Tubes load with water when capsized creating a lot of drag. Most of the time I have ripped a tubes stitching happened when it was upside down.

Also on my boat the tower is not nearly as reinforced as the transom. I haven't heard of anyone tearing off a tower or pylon but I wouldn't feel right hitting the throttle with passengers in the backseat that could catch an aluminum sandwich. Even if they were the in laws.

LS1_SE7EN · Jul 29, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

Last summer I watched a boat towing a tube with one guy on it. The tube hit a bump and flipped upside down. When it landed, it snapped the top of the tower in half. It turned one continuous piece of 2.5" round aluminum into two pieces in one quick snap. I'll just stick to the ski pylon for tubing.

Flying Sushi · Jul 29, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

We have a tower but never pull tube with it. They are not designed for toeing tube. We have a Ski Pylon which is an option for latest Four Winns large sport boats. It is about 2? high and they are designed to work with tube so we use it for tubing and skiing. We use tower for Wakeboarding only.

SeanT · Jul 30, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

it snapped the top of the tower in half

Are you sure it didn't just break at the hinge point? Nearly every tower I've ever seen has some way of folding down so that boats can still fit in a typical garage.

I'm not saying there wasn't damage done, I just find it very unlikely that a 2" aluminum or steel tube snapped right in the middle when it most likely came apart at a junction or one of the mounts.

LS1_SE7EN · Aug 2, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

the break looked porous as if it were at a weld. It was definitely not at a folding point though. It was in the middle of the horizontal section at the top. Looked like a freak accident.

bigpoppakdog · Aug 3, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

A tube generates substantial more pull than a wakeboarder. 200 lbs on a tube versus 200 lbs on a wakeboard is waaaaaaaaay different.

PitchFork · Aug 4, 2009

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

We pull only wakeboards and kneeboards from the Aerial Tower. Tube gets hooked to the transom hook.

mikenbecw · Feb 17, 2010

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

Does anybody have the Pro X Wakeboard tower? I see on their website they allow you to pull tubes with it (they claim they are the only ones who do). Made out of stainless steel and claim to be the strongest tower on the market. I would be interested in the comments of someone who owns one.
Link to their website:
http://wakeboardtowersusa.com/

divepig · Feb 19, 2010

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

Hi,
I don't have a tower yet but everything I read says not to tow tubes with a tower. We have a short pylon that came on our Four Winns, that we tow everything from.
Glad to hear someone else is going to build a tower. I'm in the process. This way I can get exactly the style I want and make sure it fits in the garage!

kyle f · Feb 19, 2010

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

HAhahaha, LOL LOL LOL LOL

A tube pulls more that a wakeboarder... LOL, HAHAHAHAHAHA LOL.

Obviously nobody on this board has had a serious wakeboarder behind thier bot or has paid attention to whats going on when they are back there.

A wakerboarder cutting hard at 24mph can bring a bow rider that is weighted down off plane form the drag... tubes don't do that.

Go watch dentetion 2012, it will show you in one section where somone getting up the wrong way can put 400lbs of line tension in the rope to the tower.

All you have to do is not submerge your tube, and not whip anyone too hard. Which if your tower tow point is anywhere near the center of your boat you will not get a whip the way you can off the back.

A tube is always skimming accross the top of the water... a wakeboarder cuts into it and creates considerable more drag.

TahoeQ4Pilot · Mar 19, 2010

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

I cannot answer could you/should you question, just tell you my experience. I pulled more tubers last year from my tower than wakeboarders, and only once ever had a concern. I did have the tube pulled under once and it gave me concern of swamping the back of the boat, but I chalk that up to my newbiness. Fact is it is possible, so pay attention no matter your skills. I will continue this year to pull folks on the tube from my wake board tower.

sebber83 · Mar 20, 2010

Re: Do you tow a tube with your tower?

I personally would never tube behind my or anyone else's tower. The danger and damage factor are too high and having read about several accidents occurring when doing this, I would just not risk it. That said, I have seen videos of people getting pulled from the tower on a tube, and to be honest, the tubing experience does not appear to be that much special, which in return would not entice me to risk my tower, my boat, my safety and my family/friends/passengers safety. You have a transom hook, use it! You can buy tubes that are designed to barely skim off the water, tubes that can be steered, tubes that almost fly, etc. Don't risk 2000$ tower, a 20 000$ or a 2 000 000 life insurance policy so that your tubers have a 2mm bigger smile!

Do you tow a tube with your tower?

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