inflatable nose dives...

[surfmonkey]

Bought a Wave Spyder by O'Rageous to pull my 10 year old grandson in the river. It is designed for 2 people, but wanted to make sure he was comfortable before bringing one of his friends. Using a 16' Jon Boat with a 50HP Johnson to pull him with. At idle, is seems to pull okay, but when increasing speed, the thing nose dives. I have the tow rope hooked to a bridle. The bridle is attached to the handles on the transom of the boat. Any idea why it would nose dive all the time. He weighs about 90 lbs.

 

[Augoose]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

I'm having the same problem. Told it was underinflation which causes it but havent been back out to verify

 

[choppywaters]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

The first thing to do would be to check inflation. I have my tube pumped up to where I can only push it down a couple inches if that when I push on it.

 

[skibrain]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

Check the attachment at the inflatable. Most are set up to pull A bit more from the bottom, helping keep the nose up. If not on plane, weight needs to be back on tube. Sometimes kids sit up front and put too much weight there.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

You need to run an Airhead Booster Ball on some of those flat tubes when your tow point is really low.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

You need to run an Airhead Booster Ball on some of those flat tubes when your tow point is really low.

Agree. However make sure you are fully inflated first.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

You need to run an Airhead Booster Ball on some of those flat tubes when your tow point is really low.

I bet it won't be needed if the tube is properly inflated and the weight of the rider is placed further back until the tube gets on plane. I've run tubes on countless boats with tow hooks right on/at the water line, and no booster ball was needed. They only submarine when they are under-inflated and/or the rider is sitting too far forward while trying to start off.

 

[scb1712]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

I'll be curious to see how this resolves as i have a similar problem with my Airhead 2 person tube. I've pumped it up so that it's quite firm but find that we still need to be really far back on the tube. I was able to ride last weekend, but two female friends both had trouble with it diving even once on plane. With my tube if you move too far forward by an inch or two when its up on plane it will still submarine...

 

[inthedirtagain]

Re: inflatable nose dives...

Given that this post has been dead for a month, I thought that I'd chime in to help others who may find this using the search feature. Our single tube would also nose dive with our 10yo on it and a low attaching point. We bought a Booster Ball and that has made a significant difference in how it pulls him. In fact, we attached a second tube to the ball this week, and I rode back there next to him! We didn't have a single problem with dive, either single or double tubing it.

Also, because of our low attaching point, the rope would get caught in the wake whenever he was on the tube or the kneeboard. He didn't weigh enough to pull the rope out of the wake, so he could only be dragged immediately behind the boat. Once the Booster was used, he was finally able to cross the wake on the tube and the kneeboard. The Booster Ball is much cheaper than installing a pylon and easier to store.