Re: ghetto tubing
Picnic table?
When we were younger we would take a rope and make a handle, and tow an old VW hood across the water. All was fine till someone finally got enough money to buy a real boat, with enough power to make it dangerous. The hood ride worked fine until you got dragged at high speed through shallow water and ate mud.
We'd tie a short piece of rope to the front of the hood for a hand to lean back on, and tie the hood off to it's handle or through a hole at the point. The only bad part was that the hood was a goner if it broke free of the rope, we lost a half dozen or so in the river over the years, and a few got smashed out of shape on stumps too. Those were really daring would get towed through the lily pads and marsh areas where you couldn't see the stumps in the weeds. Somehow no one ever got hurt. The most common 'life preserver' was an inner tube around your waste or what ever was in the boat when you bought it. Thinking back on it, I'd venture to guess that half the gang back then weren't even good swimmers. Its amazing we all survived I guess, but things like beer were more important back then than a life vest. These days they'd probably write us all tickets.
. the faster ya'd go, the more water would come up the slot. until the sailboat hull planed.. then the slot was out of the water till it bounced a little. high pressure gushers would come through intermittently. 
