Hard to stay away

[Micahhaase]

This year I promised myself I would stay away from iBoats forum because it is WAY to addictive. I have had my toon out for the last two months and the family is having a blast (getting ready to tow it 4 hours to the lake for a camping trip tomorrow). Question is I tow a tube with the pully system since i dont have a ski-pole and i just bought one of those Power ball inflatable things that go on your ski rope to keep it out of the water. If heard of them but never used one and it says it will reduce drag and reduce the fuel consumption? Has anyone ever used one of these?

 

[lncoop]

Re: Hard to stay away

Welcome back Micah. Just give in to the dark force that is iboats. Do not attempt to resist. I'm curious. What's motivating you to add a rope float? Is the rope dragging in the water while you're pulling the tube? If not, you don't need one. I wouldn't look for any significant bump in fuel efficiency. Towing a tube with a party barge is a very inneficient proposition.

 

[Micahhaase]

Re: Hard to stay away

Yea the only problem with the tubing is when we turn the rope goes under the water. I have seen these for a while now and even though we dont tube very fast top speed is around 23 every little bit helps. Mostly we just dock by the shore cook out and let the kids swim and play but we also will take them out and sling them around a bit. Heck if it even bumps the fuel up slightly it should pay for itself over awhile? I also replaced the fuel gauge that didnt work so now i can acually tell if it will even help or just another gimmick

 

[winterfunguy]

Re: Hard to stay away

I don't think you will notice any change in fuel economy by using a float, unless you are always dragging your ski rope behind your boat. Some companies throw theoretical figures out there for fuel mileage increase but in the real world there are just way too many variables like load, wind, water conditions, fuel quality and RPM's. 3000 RPM is the preferred cruising speed for max fuel efficiency according to many studies.