Re: Looking for a new tube...
My first tube was one of those doughnut hole ones, it was fun to ride butt in the hole, leggs out front, leaning back till the back of my head almost touching the water, arms straight back over my head, no need to hold on to anything just concentrate on keeping my butt in the hole, that was just my gig and usually got bucked off pretty fast but that was the fun part for me.
My next tube was the Sportstuff Chariot Warbird II, it's a huge pain in the rear to transport when not in use, it's bulky even when deflated, in use it's very stable and forced extractions are nearly impossible, has a nice canopy option for adults just tooling along relaxing, the kids act like it doesn't bounce them around enough because It seems like they're always manually tying to get it bouncing and shifting their weight side to side without much action, and when they do fall off it's on purpose and we found it impossible get back onto without help from the boat.
I bought a new tube last fall and haven't had it out yet to trial, it's a Airhead Big Slice, I like the low profile taper at rear so kids can climb back on after being tossed, unlike the Warbird that requires help from the boat each time and that gets to be a pain, also it's not quite so huge and heavy to stow, it's a flat bottom and I can't wait to try it out, but in all, all I have to say the plain ol doughnut hole one was best so far.
. I would guess it's about 72" at the widest point, maybe 80" max. I've pulled it with a 20' ski boat, a 17ft bass boat, and 98 Kawasaki Jet Ski. All had no problems with it, even with 2 200lb guys on it.
