How long ski rope

[carbineone]

Hey everybody,asking a question about the upcoming season.Some of you may know I have a little 10 foot GW Invader boat.I want to pull my 13 year old son on a tube and possibly water skis.How long of a rope should I use?I know they reccomend like 50 foot behind a big boat but only like 20 feet behind jetskis.Also which is easiest to pull a tube or skier up at first?A long or a short rope or is there a differance? Thanks

 

[arks]

Re: How long ski rope

Yeah, it makes a big difference. Might be best for you to experiment a little with various lengths.
With a low-HP boat I found it's easier to pull up a waterskier than get a tube on plane.

I haven't pulled in a few years but whan I did, we had rigged seperate towlines for each type (tube, kneeboard, skis).
As I recall, the tube towline was shortest- 40 feet. This one didn't have a handle because the tube was directly attached to the line (well, the line had a connector that attached to a nylon strap that wrapped around the tube). We used this on our 23 footer as well as a SeaDoo. The 85HP SeaDoo would work really hard for about 5 seconds to get the tube on top, then it was easy.
Our kneeboard line was 50 feet long. We found that to be the best length for wake-jumping behind our 23.
The regular ski line we used was the regulation 75 feet in length. It was AWSA approved and had pre-spliced sections that could be easily removed for slalom events. We only used this behind the 23.
Hope that helps.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: How long ski rope

We use 60ft for tubing and 75 ft for skiing. Pretty standard lengths as far as I know.

 

[carbineone]

Re: How long ski rope

Thanks to you both.I am maybe thinking 40 on the tube rope and 60 on the ski rope.I was talking to a guy that has a 10 foot Invader with a 25HP Evinrude and he claims with him at 190lbs,his sister at 130lbs in the passenger seat he can easily pull his 115lb nephew on a tube.Mine is a 28HP Johnson so from what he told me I am encouraged by my setup but maybe he is exagerating I do not know for sure,but thats what he claims using these lengths of tow ropes...Maybe I will do what you say,start with the longer regulation lengths and shorten them up in increments and see what works best for my situation..Thanks Again.

 

[Pickle fork jet]

Re: How long ski rope

When I taught my kids I looked behind the boat and found the smooth water about 50 ft back.
The stretch factor on nylon rope can make them bounce back & forth (rubber band effect)
I think #1 is the boat driver being lined up then a good even hard pull
#2 the size ski's to weight of skier!
I take off from the dock & a long rope stretches then snaps back when your weight hits the end. Turning 180 to head back is tough with a 75' rope (you'll be doing MPH coming around the curve)
Skiing is easer to learn than teaching kids to knee board ..
I learned to ski behind a 67 ford f-100!! We have irrigation ditch's here with roads along the top bank we stuck a 3" pipe in the bumper and didn't stop for 6 miles!!!!!! LET YOUR CONSCIOUS BE YOUR GUIDE!!!!