Tubing behind an express cruiser

L

LRB

New Member
Oct 22, 2007
8
PAX River, MD
Boat Info
Looking for new boat
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Looking at buying used 340 or 320. Just sold 06 240, great boat. Any experience in tubing behind a larger 320 or 340? Spouse's concerned about the prop wash /wake making it not possible. Thoughts?

leon
 
I can't say I've ever seen someone being towed for recreational purposes behind anything over 30 feet. I don't think there are tow hookups built (ski eyes or harness connections at the corners down low, etc.) into these larger boats in the first place, and hooking to the cleats is probably asking for trouble on a lot of levels.

The turning radius/handling in turns on the bigger boats, particularly with inboards and hydraulic steering, is pretty much like driving a school bus. When we get the urge to tube, we just hook it up to the tow eye on the Sea Doo...
 
sfergson727 said:
Well, under normal cruise we get at best .8 to .9 mpg, and that is at an optimal 3450 RPM. Run the boat with continous accelerating and decelerating, plowing and so forth, you are probably going to burn in 30-40 gph or more. (26-27 gph at normal cruise) 30 to 40 gallons per hour at $4.50 per gallon adds up to some pretty expensive fun. (How does $180 PER HOUR sound?) Sure the wake would be fun, who wouldn't enjoy flying off of a 4 foot wave at 20 mph, leaving your teeth behind after spiking the landing, but you'd be better advise to do what I did.

Get the 320 or 340, and also buy a Boston Whaler 150 Super Sport. You can pull a tube in the super sport all afternoon on 6 gallons of gas.
Click to expand...


What he said!
 
i tow my son behind our 95 330, you need to use an extra long line as well as an extra long clip for the boat, if it is too short, the swim platform will push down the tow rope and swamp the tube, take a bit longer to get the tub moving, as well as the boat does not turn very fast but it is doable, and of course it is expensive if you go faster, but the turbulance is fine, I tried it a couple times and it was fine
 
The wake behind our 270 is big enough to not want to do it much - that and watching the gas gauge go down..... I use a tow bridle between the D hooks and then a reg tow line back to the towable. The pictures below don't really show the size of the wake since we are up on plane - but 18-20mph is a crazy time when you're back there. It's fun for a while but as Scott says - towing it behind the 13 ft Whaler is much more fun for everyone! We have 2 tanks for it - one 6 gallon to get us there and back and one as a reserve. The 270 can then sit at anchor and host the BBQ.

Behind the 270:
CIMG5683.jpg


CIMG5675.jpg


Behind the Whaler: - towed all day on a single 6 gallon tank of gas.
CIMG4933.jpg
 
tommyc_37 said:
How would a swim platform push down the line? I'm having a hard time envisioning that.

Also, is fuel consumption really that badly affected by towing a tube?
Click to expand...

The rope gets sucked into the rooster tail of the wake behind the platform. I don't think it's the platform pushing it down but rather the rope getting into the wake.
 
I'm still cringing just thinking about the fuel usage of towing a tube behind a 320 or 340. Ouch!
 
I've been wondering the same thing with our 280DA we purchased last fall. Currently also have a 175 bowrider that is a ton of fun to tube and wakeboard with, and burns a fraction of the fuel of the 280. But we need to sell the little one. There is another 280DA owner, Presentation, on these forums that does tube behind a 280; he has a YouTube video online, though I don't recall the web address.

I'm sure it can be done on a 280 or 320 or 340, but it is probably a little boring for the rider too (about as boring as that Whaler above looks), not to mention the fuel consumption. We like to throw our tube around on either side of the wake of the 175; the wake of the 280 probably wouldn't be so pleasant and fun for the kids!

My long term plan is to buy another bowrider, or maybe a outboard center console that's dedicated to water sports, and maybe trotlining for blue crabs, in a couple of years...

Tom
 
We used to tube behind our 340, it was great, the kids loved it. I imagine we did use a bit of gas, but it certainly didn't stop us. Now we have a dinghy to tube with. While it is nice to be able to anchor the big boat and take the dinghy. It was also a lot of fun to be able to bring everyone tubing.

In answer to your question, Yes, you can tube from a 340, we did it all the time and loved it. We used a standard length tow rope, 60'?, and usually just attached it to the stern cleat. We also sometimes used a bridle to get it in the middle.

Here is a thread I posted when looking at a bigger boat:

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/13044-Big-Boat-Tubing
 
Thanks all! I didn't say how long to tube behind a 340, I'm thinking 3-4 minutes, then back to the hook. I do appreciate the help.
 
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