Re: Towing a Zodiac?
Okay I can understand towing from the stern on a RIB, but not so much a SIB. Logic tells me running a rope/strap over almost a 90 degree piece of wood covered in fabric
will cause abrasion. Using four points of contact, with the front as a primary and the stern as a secondary would make sense though.
We always towed the dingy behind the sailboat off the tow bridles, and only for short distances. Otherwise the dingy was brought on deck for longer cruises. Some of the smaller sailboats boats always towed their dingys, but they probably did not have had a self inflating life raft either.
West Marine who rebrands boats and sells them also sells this over priced tow bridle.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...&subdeptNum=50602&classNum=50609#.UABKjsWjJ8M
My current bridle is not used for towing and would only be used in case of a breakdown. Since my fear is what you stated, one of the d-rings pulling loose, I use a centered knot in the front with the carabiner which gives redundancy. I found running it through the handle to be the most accessible for recovery of the line, and also the boat seems to ride the swells a little better keeping the bow down. Not as much up down action. Towing it might be another story.
It is different when you are towing a water skier etc. from the stern since the forces working against each other (skier/motor) are attached to the same bock of wood/fiberglass.
The best one I saw was someone had their tow bridle hooked to the transom, but to where you are supposed to clip the motor too. The pull was on wood screws and straight, so not very strong. Plus that is just cast aluminum.