Towing a tube with a 20hp SIB?

[Slayer33]

So here's the gist of it.. my wife wanted to get a towable tube for our daughters to ride in, so we looked online and found the one we wanted to get.

Its a 2 person towable tube, how it would work since my daughters are only 4 & 6 years old, is that my wife will be in the tube with one of my daughters.. my question is, is this too much weight for my setup? (not calling my wife fat btw)..

The total weight will be around 170lbs inside the tube with my wife and 1 kid..

I don't need to go fast.. just let them enjoy the ride.. but I also need to be able to get onto a plane for that to work.

Here's my setup: Salter Mountaineer 360 (12'6" length), aluminum floor, tow hooks installed into transom and a new Mercury 20hp 4-stroke with the stock 10P prop installed. I have a spare 9P prop also.

I'll have 2 adults in the boat, myself driving and another at the bow to keep the nose down.

Thoughts?

Oh and here's the towable we picked up...

[Starovich]

The Gear you have is fine.
At that age id keep the speed sub planing. the impact of hitting the water at planing speed will not be good for youngsters and possibly put them off.

[Poly]

Have you been in an inflatable and been ejected at speed? Have you done it with two people on the inflatable? What you are proposing is probably common place around the country but in my limited experience of this sort of thing: multiple people being ejected leads to risks of limbs and faces being bashed against each other. Sort of amusing for teenagers, possibly terrifying for a 4 yr old. Different body sizes exacerbate this. If the wee one ejects (and that looks likely as the style you have is about strength to hold on) is mum voluntarily ejecting ? (even then a 20 knots she may be too far to swim quickly back to the child) or waiting until you notice? Your other adult is not just for balance - they need to be your spotter.

I think you will manage to get on the plane (eventually). I think when they are 8-10 they will pester you take them out - if you don't terrify them at 4 and 6!

[Stigomery]

Yeh, what Poly says... I think I jumped the gun with my daughter and a ring. Boy, although younger, loved it... daughter not so much and she's now quite anti the SIB in general... there'squite the division in the house, mum and daughter like the serene candaian canoe, the boys like the fast things...

But yeh, point being, go really easy with the ring, I think for now it's a mere trailer to your SIB rather than a planing fun playing for the summer...

(daughter was 8, boy 6)

Oh, and the other thing... you'll find the towing at speed quite unnerving at first, because you don't really have any sort of V keel worth talking about your SIB will be all over the place till you get the knack, even then, it's pretty skippy...

[HDAV]

I wouldn't put anyone who isn't a strong and confident swimmer in an inflatable and tow it, towing slowly at sub planing speed will mean probably little or no control. Try towing with an adult first (andventorus teenager ideal) see how boat handles (or doesn't) and how you handle the towable (designed for high speed use)

[Slayer33]

Obviously a responsible parent wouldn't want to toss or eject their young children from a tube. That wasn't what I was looking for and perhaps I should've clarified that better.


With my youngest daughter she would just be trolled along with my wife at slow speed.. my older daughter who loves to go hard will probably ask to go faster than what I am capable of and what my wife is at all comfortable with. So no we wouldn't be pulling either of them too quickly or trying to knock them off.


I am going out this weekend to test to the tube out with my friends on a "guys" fishing trip. I'll be attempting to tow the tube with 1 adult male in it to see if it'll even work. average weight will be around the same as my wife with kid (160-180lbs).


I think what I was looking for was if my boat can tow this style of tube with weight and get on a plane. It sounds like it should.

[chipko]

That's a big old tube behind a sib!
You should be fine though, we've pulled toys, kneeboards, and wakeboards behind our 3.5/3.8m sibs and 20hp all with relative ease.
Also pulled 2 teenagers on an Airhead Slash....a real hoot evidently.

I'm sure you will take care with the 'tinys' aboard. Have fun.

[simonl]

Make sure it's well inflated to minimise drag

[Slayer33]

Thanks! I'll make sure to keep it fully inflated.. what if I tried towing a 1 person tube/donut style one? I'm assuming this would be better? Speed wise..