Ski Tow Bar

jbkenn331

I've seen some discussions regarding the use of the ski tow bar for pulling inflatables.  General consensus is to attach a harness to the stern eyes and attach the tube to the harness instead of the pylon.  The reason being the stress the tube could put on the pylon.  This makes me wonder if these pylons can handle the stress put on them when pulling a 200lb slalom skier out of the water.  It's water ski season in Southern NJ and I'm anxious to put my 2014 188 SS to the test.    I've powered it with a 150 e-tec so I'm not concerned with the hole shot.  What concerns me is the durability of the pylon.  The pylon with the 188 SS has the ring/pin configuration at the top, not the one I wanted but it's what is standard with that model.

Is the pylon solid steel throughout or is it a hollow tube?

How far below the deck does it extend?

Is the area below the deck reinforced?

Do the pylons have a "stress rating" or something equivalent to it?

Has anyone rigged their Hurricane with a barefoot boom (just entertaining that idea)?

Appreciate your responses. 

skibum

Have you ever pulled a towable and have it launch out of the water then dig in upon landing? Imagine anywhere from 2000 to 6000 pounds of force on the towbar. This is the reason. The force a professional,slalom skier exerts on the pylon is roughly 1000 pounds. The average joe skier will have no effect on the towbar, unless they weigh 300 plus.  Look at the ratings on a tournament ski tow line, the best are rated at 1000 pounds break strength.  A towline designed to handle a towable with 3-4 riders has a break strength of roughly 4100 pounds.  

Long story short, you will be fine skiing off the towbar. Unless it mounted improperly. 

Most are made from tubular stainless steel.

skibum

I hope my post was not interpreted as smart a*#, But I see a lot of boats (9 out of 10) towing tubes off the ski pylon. Makes me cringe knowing what WILL happen one day to those folks. It is just a matter of time.

I ski at an amateur tournament level (best run I have had is 5 balls at 38 off) and put some good flex on a towbar and broken my share of ropes.

timhannan

Can't believe I found this post.  I recently bought my first motor boat and i am 48.  It is a used 2004 Hurricane 232 GS.  I love the boat having been out on the water 4 times.  The second time we used it, the ski pylon broke while pulling a 12 and 10 year girls on a tube.  I called Hurricane and asked about it and they said to use the stern hooks for tubing and the pylon is not for tubing.  The pylon is rated for 500 lbs.  We have been using the stern eyes for tubing and kneeboarding.

Lesson learned.  I hope the repair bill isn't too much.  I was hoping like a snowball in **** that they would take some faulty safety ownership of this and help me out with the repair bill.  The whole thing let go from about 12-18" below the mount on the stern deck.  The plywood ripped out......the weld where the pylon meets the bracket broke.  The pylon is bent at the stern surface mount. It was bent when I bought it but thought it was part of a design and hard to tell until the whole pole is out of the boat.  I hope this helps.

nquirk

@timhannan... Thanks for sharing this.  The most important part of this experience is the girls were ok.  Hopefully others will come across this post and realize the importance of NOT using the ski pylon for anything BUT skiing/wakeboarding and pulling towables on the stern eyes.

Being a 2004, you most likely no longer have the warning label on the ski pole, but all boats with a ski pylon from the manufacturer have a warning label indicating this information.    That is why there is no ownership on part of the manufacturer.

Again, a valuable lesson learned and the most important is those girls are unharmed as I've seen other examples where the riders on the towable weren't as fortunate.

Thanks again for sharing.

FlyingV5

The label on my 2012 FD196 is very inconspicuous. And the tow hook is so convenient. I confess to pulling a tube with the tow bar before I read the warnings on this forum. I was lucky. Lots of incidents occurring. Seems like the label could be more prominent.

HydroCanis

Thanks also for the info. Guess I'll have to go find a Y-shaped thing. No labels or at least none left on my 2003 boat. I'm pretty sure the previous owner pulled a tube with the ski pylon for years, as I've done a couple of times, but he only had a single person tube. I will say though that if the pylon was already bent, it's likely that you (timhannan), with just a couple of young girls, only added the straw that broke the camel's back, and that the serious damage had already occurred before you got the boat.

MikeP

Has anyone ever seen the video (produced by Hurricane) on YouTube showing a two person tube being pulled by the ski pylon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOpgk2o1mrY

HydroCanis

Hadn't seen that. Interesting.

Last year I bought the Y adapter for the the tow eyes, which resulted in a lot of submarining of tubes and less bounce (the fun part). So I just bought the Booster ball (big football-shaped thing Airhead) that goes inline halfway to the tube. Looking forward to warmer water to give it a try. First thing daughter and friends said when they saw it inflated was "can't wait to ride that thing!" meaning the booster itself. Yet another thing to say no to.

cjjjdeck

+1 on the performance of the Booster Ball!

nquirk

cjjjdeck said:

+1 on the performance of the Booster Ball!

+2...safest way to go.

89checkmate

Yup the booster ball is the ticket, works great!

jbkenn331

To everyone who responded, thank you.  Had a great season last year and I'm looking forward to a great 2015.  To "skibum", I especially appreciated a response from a skier who could give me some actual numbers.  The sales people where I bought the boat basically had no clue about the stresses put on the tow bar.  I did use the harness for my inflatables; now I need the booster ball. 

And Hurricane, or Nautic Group, you need to edit that video.

HydroCanis

jbkenn331, I ordered the Airhead booster. It is, as a good tube is, totally encased in heavy nylon. There's another brand on the market that's less expensive, but it appears to be not as stoutly made (haven't seen it up close, though). I think I found the best price on a sale at iboats, and they did ship the 2015 version.