Towing a disabled boat

[sabre]

I've found myself providing much more assistance to disabled boaters this year and looking for experience and details on where to hook up the tow rope (both to my boat and the disabled boat)? what speed to tow? What rope length? Should people stay in the mechanically disabled boat or join us in my boat? If it's many miles to the nearest marina with a mechanic, do you simply pull them to the nearest public dock/marina?

thanks

[TrickyNicky]

Tow from your ski pylon and their bow ring. Keep at least one person in the disabled boat to steer. We usually tow about 20-30' back. We don't really ever have to tow far so speed is always 'no-wake' speed and I can't comment on the marina with a mechanic part. If it's that far, than just tow them to a dock marina where they can fend for themselves. No point of ruining two boats days on the water.

Edited June 22, 2010 by TrickyNicky

[Ndawg12]

Not from your tower sorry couldn't resist. Rear tow hook to bow hook is how we did it with no issues. Have plenty of rope to get out of the way when stopping or preparing to catch the boat as it floats up on you. We go around 5 mph max. Letting them on your boat is totally circumstantial.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Ndawg12

[bhay09]

Only let the good looking girls in your boat.

[wienrdog]

When towing, we've towed from the rear tow eye to the front bow eye of the disabled boat.

We tow at just above idle speed, not up on plane at all. As long as there is no risk, there's no reason for the people to not stay in the other boat - you shouldn't overload your boat. As long as they stay in an area to limit risk of injury if the rope breaks & snaps back, they should be fine. (Same for passengers on your boat).

Fortunately, all of the tows we've done are either on a smaller lake or were near their home marina.

[MalibuKarl]

Tow from your ski pylon and their bow ring. Keep at least one person in the disabled boat to steer. We usually tow about 20-30' back. We don't really ever have to tow far so speed is always 'no-wake' speed and I can't comment on the marina with a mechanic part. If it's that far, than just tow them to a dock marina where they can fend for themselves. No point of ruining two boats days on the water.

This will be my first summer in my new 'bu. I too have found myself over the years providing assistance to stranded boaters - from dead battery (have that great jumper box from harbor freight - works every time) to towing them to the dock. My question back is - does the sky pylon have the anchorage to support towing antoher boat - especailly if its rough out? with that jerking you can get towing? Should't we be hooking to the tie down u bolts in the back of the boat? I will admit - if the ski pylon has the strength - that would be much easier...

Thanks!!

[tvano]

I've found myself providing much more assistance to disabled boaters this year and looking for experience and details on where to hook up the tow rope (both to my boat and the disabled boat)? what speed to tow? What rope length? Should people stay in the mechanically disabled boat or join us in my boat? If it's many miles to the nearest marina with a mechanic, do you simply pull them to the nearest public dock/marina?

thanks

imho this also depends on the circumstances.

they run out of gas? nearest safe place.

maybe safe boating practices will move higher on their list if it's inconvenient to run out of fuel.

failure that isn't due to lack of maintenance or stupidity? i'll do what i can.

you really can't expect me to have taken a day off work, found a hole in the kids/cfo schedule, expend an hour to rig, trailer and float the boat (with the promise of another hour to trailer home and hoe it out); then offer to loose 2 hours of that "water time" towing because you were too lazy to maintain your rig.

[JDubya]

For the safety of your ocupants always tow from the rear U bolt. These are designed to handle the stresses and weight of the boat. Your ski pylon is designed to tow a skiier (or two). Just to put this into perspective, how many of you would feel safe if someone wanted to lift your boat by the sky pylon? Always err on the side of caution.

Tow from the rear u bolt, always slow 5 MPH or so.

[TrickyNicky]

This will be my first summer in my new 'bu. I too have found myself over the years providing assistance to stranded boaters - from dead battery (have that great jumper box from harbor freight - works every time) to towing them to the dock. My question back is - does the sky pylon have the anchorage to support towing antoher boat - especailly if its rough out? with that jerking you can get towing? Should't we be hooking to the tie down u bolts in the back of the boat? I will admit - if the ski pylon has the strength - that would be much easier...

Thanks!!

The ski pylon is designed for towing. Every other towing point on the boat is a substitute, ie the tower, boom, rear grab handle are all secondary to the ski pylon. Also as mentioned aboveyou shouldn't be towing very fats so the load is not going to be very large relative to, a slalom cut, large tube, deep water barefoot start.

The other option is definitly the transom D-rings and they are used to hoist the boat at marinas so they certainly have the strength to tow a boat. I usually don't because I liek a symetrical pull and I'm far too lazy to hoot up two ropes (1 for each d-ring).

[Bill_AirJunky]

I've only done it a few times with the Malibu & only short distances. I've always used the pylon (gotta use it for something), using 30' or 40' of rope & at speeds around 5 or 8 mph. And they ride in their own boat (humility is a b1tch, huh).

The only caution I'd give it to be careful about stopping too quickly with too short a tow rope.

[Malibuzer]

I've only done it a few times with the Malibu & only short distances. I've always used the pylon (gotta use it for something), using 30' or 40' of rope & at speeds around 5 or 8 mph. And they ride in their own boat (humility is a b1tch, huh).

The only caution I'd give it to be careful about stopping too quickly with too short a tow rope.

We helped 2 stranded boats a couple of weekends ago. Both were family friends, and both ran over their tow ropes! Neither one had a mask or a knife. Hard lesson to learn, but one you will never forget.

Oh yeah, take pictures and post them on Facebook! That's even more embarrassing.

Like this one.

We did tow from the bow eye on his boat. He was just goofing around that he caught a Malibu!

Edited June 22, 2010 by Malibuzer

[MalibuKarl]

We helped 2 stranded boats a couple of weekends ago. Both were family friends, and both ran over their tow ropes! Neither one had a mask or a knife. Hard lesson to learn, but one you will never forget.

Oh yeah, take pictures and post them on Facebook! That's even more embarrassing.

Like this one.

We did tow from the bow eye on his boat. He was just goofing around that he caught a Malibu!

Gotta love the "armstrong" towing tenique.....lol

[Malibuzer]

Gotta love the "armstrong" towing tenique.....lol

He's going to kill me when he sees that picture. They ran over the rope and then were so focused on removing the rope that they drifted into the weeds and had to be towed out of there first!

[InvisibleMask]

My first trip out with a brand new malibu I was asked to tow a pontoon in. A group of drunk college guys drained the battery and were asking for a tow which would've been about 8 miles. I had to turn them down considering I had less than 5 hours on the boat and it was a pontoon with about 10 dudes in it.

Just be careful what you tow....

I towed another group of guys in a small boat weeks later and not even a thank you. They just untied the rope, threw it back and never said anything.

[obski]

I keep a rope with a loop at one end and a clip at the other in the boat just for towing or being towed if needed. It is about 30' long and has come in handy a number of times.

I hook up the rear eye to the bow hook and go about 5mph.

[Planefreak]

I use a rope I made from a couple stainless hooks and a long piece of rope. It works great.

And I always tow from the rear hooks to the bow of the other boat. I've seen other people tow from their poles with wakeboarding ropes and such but I would never do that. It seems unsafe.