ever lost a jet-ski while towing behind your boat

jmunro123

Member
Feb 2, 2008
370
Gran Bend, Great Lakes
Boat Info
2004 Sea Ray 390 Motor Yacht
Engines
8.1's
I was wondering if anyone has ever lost a jet ski while towing it and what to look out for. I know about the water shut off and have had the ball valve installed by the shop. I am planning a trip which will be about 300 miles round trip. I have ordered a tow line so the jet ski will travel 100 feet behind the boat. The tow line has a bridel so it will run straight behind the boat. The tow line has a 4,000 lb test and the ski is 1,000lbs. I am wondering if the eye on the ski will break. The top end speed will be 22mph - so pretty slow and the water will be pretty flat behind the boat.

Have I missed anything?
 
I would do a test run preferably in the rough water to see how the rig works before the big trip. I think that there's always a chance for the ski to roll over if it crosses your wake at the wrong angle.
 
1000 lbs at 22 mph will stop in what distance? I had a friend that used to tow small boat that weighed about 1000 lbs, and it did a lot gelcoat damage when is ran into the back of his sedan bridge. Another boat cut him off, and he had to stop quickly and the little boat did slow down a quickly...
 
Let me know what you learn, as I'm planning to pull my ski behind my boat as well (but not NEARLY that far).

I've seen the local Sea Ray dealer tow a jet ski behind a 320 up on plane. The ski just followed, no issues.

And I'd be suprised if the jet ski didn't stop much faster than the boat.
 
I have some experience towing jet skis, but with older and lighter skis.

We use to tow 2 Kawasaki 650's behind my friends 30 sundancer back in the 90's. His twin 260's would easily tow them on plane in the ocean. We did loose one at night just before coming under the Verrazano Bridge. There was a ship following us in and I needed to jump in, swim to the ski and drive it out of the channel. There wasn't enough time to tie it back up and tow it. (That was a fun experience ) I think those skis only weighed 450lbs each.

I have also towed my 3 seat Sea Doo GTX (2-stroke) with my old Kawasaki ZX1100 at 40+MPH. I think that ski weighs around 700lbs. Getting the ski on plane is toughest part, once up and running flat, the resistance isn't too bad.

Your boat shouldn't have any problems towing a single ski. There are 2 schools of thought on how long the rope should be. Some feel that it should be short so the ski rides very close to the back of the boat. I wouldn’t try that with a rope, you would need rigid tow bars for that set up. If you are using a rope I would let out at least 50 to 75 feet.

Outside of getting on plane, the biggest stress that you will put on the tow line/ tow hook will be if the ski takes a nose dive through a wake or large wave.

In the end I think you will find that towing a PWC is a royal pain in the ass. When I did it years ago, there were always a few other guys on board that could jump in and drive the ski or drive the boat if needed. Now my crew is made up of my wife, kids and friends that are usually clueless about being on the water. If there is a problem, my 12 year old son is the only one that I could call on or help. Not the best option.
 
I found towing a jet ski to be a pain. That is why I sold it and bought a dinghy.
 
I found towing a jet ski to be a pain. That is why I sold it and bought a dinghy.

I was tossing the idea for a while and for the same reason decided just to upgrade my dinghy to a larger one with motor.
 
My brother, KRB64 on this forum, had a jet ski rented for one weekend. He went to pick it up and they did not have it. Turns out the fellow before him that had it rented was towing it with a house boat. Well he tied the jet ski up by the handle bars, yep, you probably see where this is going. This was a brand new jet ski, I think he was the first to rent it. I guess they never checked on it while under way because when they got back to the marina all that was left on the rope was the handle bars.

I think that is how the story went, my brother can chime in and correct me if I am wrong.

Must of pulled the nose down and drug it down to the bottom where it served as a very expensive anchor...
 
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I've towed my two stroke skis before, but only short distances from the house to the island- only 5 miles or so...

I can tell you that one issue I've discovered is water ingestion.

I'm assuming that even newer 4s skis still have the venturi scoops in the bilge to evacuate the water that enters through the air intakes while riding. While the engine's running these remove the water from the bilge.

When towing the ski may ingest a large amount of water this way while crossing your (and other's) wakes- and with no auto bilge pump I would find a disconcerting amount of water in them when we got to our destination. For a long tow, I would cover/block the air intakes to prevent this from happening. 'Course, this is based on my experience with older skis and their design- could be different on the newer ones.

Then there's the "pucker" factor- constantly looking over your shoulder to be sure everything's OK. If I were going to tow long distance, I'd rig up some sort of short, rigid towing setup keeping the ski close to the stern.
 
It's a pain. And no matter what, if you are towing it that fast, it will feel like you are towing an anchor back there. Plus, like the above post, you will be looking over your shoulder often. We tow ours 10-12 miles at a time and pull it at about 10 knots. Often, we simply fire it up and meet the boat there.
 
My brother, KRB64 on this forum, had a jet ski rented for one weekend. He went to pick it up and they did not have it. Turns out the fellow before him that had it rented was towing it with a house boat. Well he tied the jet ski up by the handle bars, yep, you probably see where this is going. This was a brand new jet ski, I think he was the first to rent it. I guess they never checked on it while under way because when they got back to the marina all that was left on the rope was the handle bars.

I think that is how the story went, my brother can chime in and correct me if I am wrong.

Must of pulled the nose down and drug it down to the bottom where it served as a very expensive anchor...

Yep, whoever rented the houseboat had no clue. Brand new seadoo, they tied the rope off to the handlebars and never looked back. Why they didn't tie lower I don't know. I assume it just took a nose dive and the water resistance tore it loose. Probably due to not much experience on the water I bet.

Worked out good for us though. Since they couldn't find another until later in the day they let us have it all the next day too for the same price. The houseboat guy however had to pay for a brand new jetski even though all he had was some handlebars...
 
Towing a ski is a pain in the butt. I tried it. First I tried 70 or 80 feet of towline. That was ok, but controlling the ski was a pain in the butt. The person watching the tow line wasn't paying attention and the line wrapped around the prop. Two hours and many dives without scuba equipment and I cut it all way with a galley knife. Yuck.

Bought a Towdster V. (see above for the linky) That didn't work. As soon as the boat started to plane the wake nearly flipped the ski. Added a section to make Y. The ski still wanted to flip when starting to plane the boat. Added 50' of 3/4" nylon with the towdster. Let the nylon out when going to plane and pulled it in when running slowly for better control. That was OK, but as the planing speed increased, the wake would reach further back and when it reached the ski, I figured it would flip. I could manage about 20 kts with that towline and the towdster. Once, when trying to beat a storm, I edged the speed up and the wake reached and flipped the ski. Pain in the butt!

Finally tried just one 8' section of the towster on the port side. That works. Just have to bring the boat up and down slowly on and off plane, but the ski runs smoothly, doesn't threaten to flip and with decent controllability.
 
All things being equal, I'd rather have a lift. But the boat is too small for one, and while I would love to have a bigger boat (with a lift) it isn't in the cards right now. We got the ski so that we could do water sports with our daughter (9). A dink just isn't going to cut it for that.

So far, we haven't tried towing ours. We just go out on the ski and do that part, then take the boat out. I imagine we'll give it a shot before the summer is over. Nice to see all of the stuff to watch out for here.

I still don't have a clear answer from anyone on whether the STX-12F will have water ingestion problems being towed. I know the 4 cycles are different than the 2 cycles (which were notorious for this problem).
 
Yes, you have to close the raw water line for 4 strokes just as you did with 2 strokes. Despite my new one having closed cooling AND the heat exchanger being built into the ride plate, some raw water is still plumbed into the boat and injected into the exhaust system to cool it. That's where the problem would be if you don't close the water inlet. Water injected into the exhaust would backup into the engine.
 
Please read the owner/operator manual about towing. I remember reading something, somewhere about water getting into the engine of certain PWCs when towed. I don't remember all the specifics.
 
Please read the owner/operator manual about towing. I remember reading something, somewhere about water getting into the engine of certain PWCs when towed. I don't remember all the specifics.

Well, the manual says something like "don't tow it". But it also says "don't jump wakes". Often I think it's hard to tell if they are trying to prevent problems for the owner, or for themselves (liability) with statements like this.
 
I think they think about themselves and their $ first and foremost and then you.
 
we have a 4 stroke - 2006 Sea Doo 155 Wake. I talked to the service department where we get it serviced. They installed a water shut off with a ball type valve, so we are good there. We tested the ring on the bow to make sure it coiuld handle the strain. We have orded a line with a bridel so it will track right behind the boat at 100 feet.

I would absolutely like a lift - without a doubt. Maybe next year but I am leaving for vacation on Friday so I need to work with what I have.

Its a long way to two a jet ski, and I think I will see if my son wants to drive it for some the way but it will primarily be towed. I will be sure to get some pic's
 

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