Can I pull a tube?

[dbltrblpapa]

When I got my boat my boys had zero interest in tubing. Now that they have been on the water and seen the other kids having a blast they have changed their minds. That wasn't really part of the original plan when we made the purchase but I guess I should have seen it coming.

So how much power/speed is needed to pull a tube? The boat is an 18 footer with 24 inch tubes pushed by a Mercury 40HP Big Foot. We are not equipped with a speedometer or GPS so I can only guess at WOT speed. We are just past the break in on the engine and I am guessing with my wife and I and our 10-year old twin boys we are somewhere around 17-18 mph @ approximately 5600 rpm. I have read some reviews on 20 footers with similar power where they claim to hit 20 mph but that seems a might optimistic.

So what do ya think? Am I gonna have enough oomph to drag a couple 10-year olds on a two person tube? Will I be able to build enough speed to make it worth their while? If we drag one or two of their little buddies along will that dramatically impact performance?

Thanks for your insight.

[curtiscapk]

it one be hair raising but it'll work!! Teach em how to lean into turn and even better. Adults probably not.

[dockholiday]

Best I can say is give it a try. Even when people mention their kids are young an don't care about tubing or skiing. I always ask how long they plan to keep the boat. Those kids that are 7&8 turn 16 pretty quick. Kids seem to graduate from tubing to knee boards then to skiing.

doc

[Venturous]

Good news is as I understand, wakeboards and kneeboards require even less speed than tubing to be fun. I read (here I think) the best speed for knee boarding is around 15 to 20 mph. I suspect your boat will top out at around 12 to 15mph based on what I was able to do on some rental 18 footers with a 50hp the past few summers. When I ran them like I stoile them (hey they were rentals!) I was able to get 16mph trimmed just right and wind to my back.

[captain kurt]

If you get it trimmed right and don't have too many passengers. Do you have a friends tube you can barrow before you invest ? Even better thought, I'm sure you can pull them downhill easily try that. Should be quite exciting and for us all please bring you camera pictures are a must.

[Bamby]

Your signature states the current motor is a 2010 so it's almost new. Is there any chance you could go back to the dealer and plead ignorance. Then just "maybe" they would take pity and possibly exchange it for a bigger motor without dinging you real terrible at this point.

Your 40 may pull a tube "abit slowly" and the kids may be happy temporally. But you're almost guaranteed that they won't be happy very long. Hopefully they'll work with you, since your boat is so new.

[HandymanHerb]

My 50 will pull a tube at 14 mph and will suck that tank dry quick, the only time the older kids liked it was when I could cross someone wake and shake them up.

But it would be perfect to learn to board or ski behind as you don't have the wake wave you hit with a boat, that was the hardest thing I remember about learning to ski was getting past the wake.

[dbltrblpapa]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I guess for the most part ya'll confirmed what I already suspected. I may go ahead and give it a try ...... or not. We bought the boat for fishin' and cruisin' and to just hang out with the boys before they reach that age where they don't want to hang out with mom and dad. We bought it as a package deal at a really attractive price so I'm really not looking to throw money at it to repower. Besides which, I was so overwhelmingly unimpressed with the dealer and their "service after the signature" that I am not inclined to go down that road. Maybe we'll explore the kneeboard option instead.

Thanks again!

[toondog]

it [wont] be hair raising but it'll work!! Teach em how to lean into turn and even better. Adults probably not.

Here are a few tricks that may help you.
1. don't use too long of a rope.
2. a flat tube will have less drag.
3. don't do sharp turns. A slow back and forth will let you maintain your speed.
4. have the rider learn to steer (see curtiscapk's post)
5. they do sell steerable tubes now. just a little pricey.

I don't care if you are only doing 17mph, once you get outside the wake it still feels like your going 100mph.

Here is my son at age 16. Flat tube, easy back and forth and he is leaning into the turns.


My boat is built for a small motor, so it is well matched and can regularly get 17 -20 mph. World record for my boat is 22 mph (gps). If you have a boat built for a large motor (say a 150 hp) and hang a 40-50hp motor on it, your going to be disappointed.

[pontoon shine]

I say yes you can pull those kids. I have a 18 foot with a 2003 honda 50 and I pull a big 4 person tube with four kids in it at a time, ages 7 to 15 and they have a blast and the boat does 18mph (gps) going straight. The tube I have is called Big Bertha, it has a solid bottom on it and it is huge. Go for it and have a blast.
Neal

[dbltrblpapa]

Thanks Neal! You convinced me to give it a try.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I picked up a two person tube (Airhead World Industries Grim) with harness (in like new condition) for 25 bucks at a yard sale this morning. At that price I don't see how I can go wrong

[pontoon shine]

You got a great deal on that tube! Anxious to hear how much fun you guys had. I spent the day polishing mine. I can comb what hair I have left on my head by looking at my reflection, just have to do the inside of each tube tomorrow.

Later
Neal

[curtiscapk]

here is a pic of me behind mine doin 15 mph.

as you can see it was a lot of fun

[BrianP]

Venturous mentioned this already, but I thought that I would point it out more. We do tubing, wake boarding and knee boarding behind our boats and JetSki. The kids love it. The one that I thought I would mention specifically though is knee boarding. It has almost no pull, and the kids prefer me to go slower. They can control where they go themselves and make it more mild or wild. They can do some tricks too. The only suggestion I would make if no-one knows how to knee board is to watch some videos on the web. I have seen neighbors totally bomb because they didn't know what they were supposed to do whereas my older one got up on her first try and went for at least 15 minutes before falling off. I can try to explain how to do it if you want as well. I would suggest you buy one of the newer knee boards that holds the rope for you though. It holds it until you get up and they can take the rope themselves. It makes it MUCH easier on the kids. Your boat should be able to easily do this while making it about as wild (or mild) as the kids would ever want it.

[dbltrblpapa]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I think we will eventually end up trying all of the above. Its gonna be a great summer if we can get the tornadoes, thunder storms and rain out of the way