Attaching tow rope to honwave?

[Barter]

I have a T32 with the transorm wheels fitted, any advice on how/where best to attach a tow rope for a knee board for the kids?

[chipko]

Flip the factory fitted lifting eyes on the transom to the outside, or fit new double eyelet bolts in the same holes. Attach a bridle.

Would imagine you can’t tow with the transom wheels attached. Leave them on the beach, in the car, or don’t use them when you want to tow.

[Max...]

A link to how I rigged mine - M8/10 eye bolts in SS, spreader washers and female eye 'nuts' on the inside too - gives a couple of handy points to clip or moor to on the inside transom too.

http://www.rib.net/forum/f50/towing-...tml#post634234


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150885752...&ul_noapp=true

Pic of inside transom here (scroll down a little):

http://www.rib.net/forum/f50/rigging...tml#post714788

And the result

http://www.rib.net/forum/f50/watersk...tec-69883.html

[bigfatfool]

I have seen tow ropes done like this... but I worry about putting too much force on the transom and therefore on the join from transom to tubes.

The tow rope will be pulling at / twisting the transom in the same direction as the weight of the outboard as well as the thrust of the outboard.

Does no one else worry about this? Last thing I want of for me transom to fall off at sea!!

To get around this, whenever I have towed I have made the bridle up so it is attached to both handles on both sides of the sib, spreading the load as much as possible, and having it in line with the tubes as much as possible rather than pulling on the transom. I figured let the tubes take the pulling strain, and the transom take the outboard weight and thrust...

Is this a bad idea? Please do let me know before I do something stupid!!

All thoughts and experience appreciated!!

[Fenlander]

You mean your tow bridle is on your outer lift handles on tubes??

[Poly]

The thrust of the o/b is in the opposite direction to the drag of the tow rope is it not? I think you are better straight on the transom.

[Max...]

@bffool. I wouldn’t lose sleep over it, I’d happily pull a heck of a lot more than my 8 stone son with this set up.

[jeffstevens763@g]

Loose the ropes off the tubes that will cause problems just attach to the transom clock wise moments equal anti clock wise Ie; your engine is pushing the transom and then the boat your knee board is pulling in the opposite direction to the engine hence you go slower towing knee board is like a brake acting against the engine

[paintman]

The outboard is attached to the transom, so if the tow lines are attached to the transom the strain is on the transom & not the joins of tubes to the transom.
If you connect the lines to the tubes than the extra load is putting extra strain on the tube to transom joins when the outboard tries to propel the boat.

[Mikefule]

When you are under power, your outboard is pushing the transom forwards, which in turn puts a strain on the joint between the transom and the tubes — but a strain that the joint is designed to take.

If you attach a tow rope to the transom, the effect is to pull the transom backwards, effectively cancelling out some of the push of the engine, and therefore actually reducing the strain on the joints.

However, the prop is below the transom and therefore the outboard exerts a twisting force on the transom rather than a straight push. The effect is to push the bottom of the transom forwards and pull the top of the transom backwards, very slightly. The joints are designed to take this force.

If you mounted the towing eyes high on the transom, it would increase the twisting force slightly. However, I doubt that it would be significant compared to the twisting force exerted by the motor when accelerating hard on a choppy sea.

I'd be more worried about ensuring that there was no risk of the tow line fouling the propeller.

One thing I wouldn't do is attach the towrope to the tubes or tube fittings (handles etc.) as these are not designed to take forces in that direction.