Cleats on a 460?

[Raeoflight]

My daughter wants to ride the tube so bad I'm forced into thinking about pulling it behind the big boat. I can't drive both boats at the same time. Are the cleats over the swim platform strong enough for me to tie a "harness" between them to hook on a ski rope to pull a tube? She doesn't care all that much about speed or jumping wakes but I need to know if a tube would put too much pressure on them. I don't want to rip a cleat out of the fiberglass. Has anyone else thought about or done this?

 

[hottoddie]

Better check your insurance policy first. I know my yacht policy specifically excludes towing water toys and skiers. How old is your daughter 7 or 27? 50lbs or 250lbs? Either way I'm sure the cleats will hold.

 

[Raeoflight]

She's 10yo. Tips at 100lbs. It's a big tube. Three seater but will only be one rider.

 

[Lazy Daze]

It's going to be a pain in the butt pulling a tube with a big boat (especially if they fall off as you have to circle back to get them), but it is physically doable and your cleats (and underlying reinforcement) are MORE than up to the task. Even just one cleat will be way more than adequate.

Along the lines of if/when someone falls off. I would hesitate to do this if the area is congested. She's going to be in the water, with only her head visible for a bit of time till you get back there. Not all boaters watch the water they way they should.

Can someone else drive the smaller boat?

 

[sandydlc]

We have a 450 and I would never consider pulling someone on a tube much less a child of 10 years old. In our old boat (a 30'), we occasionally took our kids tubing and even that boat had too large of a wake to go tubing safely.

The only way to consider it would be if you could go at very slow speeds but certainly not up on a plane. Our first boat was an 18' runabout and we could pull a tube at about 15 knots - anything faster was just not fun.

Regarding your question on the cleats - yes they would be strong enough.

Sandy

 

[Raeoflight]

Been tubing and skiing and kneeboarding for 20 years. I am smart enough to know where and where not to attempt this. Same thing on speed and wake size. She is my daughter and I would not put her in danger. I'm not one of these yayhoo's you see on the evening news. I'm not planning on filming X-Games or Red Bull Extreme Sports! Just a slow, easy ride. I just wanted to know about the stress on the cleats. Will they hold the incredible amount of pressure from the water dragging against the tube?

Hell, down here we tube straight line 75 mph behind Fountain boats! Problem is, finding a tube that won't shred at those speeds. How y'all tube up there? Slow and safe with mom onboard? I bet it hurts tubing in the rain. Nah, not at 15 knots!