Pulling 2 people on a tube

[Guy on the water]

Hi all. I'm brand new to PWC's and just bought an '03 GTX Supercharged last week. We just took it out for the first time this weekend. What a blast!

Anyhow, we tried (2 of us on the ski) pulling 2 people on a tube. I don't know whether this is a bad idea or not. I couldn't get the ski to go more than about 5-6mph for 20-40 seconds or so. The load just had too much drag, I think. At any rate, I tried both varying throttle and steady throttle (around 6krpms) and neither seemed better than another. We did this 3-4 times.

Each time the ski would eventually accelerate beyond 6mph and then easily cruise at a fast enough speed (25-30mph) to tow the tube. The trouble is just getting it going!

Is there a particular technique for launching with this kind of load?

Is this too big a load to be pulling? (Is it too hard on the motor??)

Thanks in advance!

 

[markrvp]

Hi all. I'm brand new to PWC's and just bought an '03 GTX Supercharged last week. We just took it out for the first time this weekend. What a blast!

Anyhow, we tried (2 of us on the ski) pulling 2 people on a tube. I don't know whether this is a bad idea or not. I couldn't get the ski to go more than about 5-6mph for 20-40 seconds or so. The load just had too much drag, I think. At any rate, I tried both varying throttle and steady throttle (around 6krpms) and neither seemed better than another. We did this 3-4 times.

Each time the ski would eventually accelerate beyond 6mph and then easily cruise at a fast enough speed (25-30mph) to tow the tube. The trouble is just getting it going!

Is there a particular technique for launching with this kind of load?

Is this too big a load to be pulling? (Is it too hard on the motor??)

Thanks in advance!

If you can't get over 6mph smoothly, then you are most likely getting too much resistance from the tubes digging in. You might try just towing one person with only one driver/rider to see if it's still the same problem. If not, then you know it's too much weight.

Check the laws in your state, but typically not legal to have more people on the water than your PWC was designed to hold. The GTX is a three-seater, so that means one driver and two in the towables, or two on the ski and one in a towable. 2 on the ski and 2 in the water is one too many.

Now having said that, I usually always have one more person in the water than my ski will hold (RXP 2-seater, have two kids with me). Keep an eye out for the lake ranger.

I regularly pull two tubes at once with my RXP 215hp supercharged with no trouble. I've found with experience that I go ahead and throttle up to 18 mph fairly quickly. The quicker you can get on plane, the quicker you quit dragging the stern through the water. Make sure your tube is fully inflated. If the tube is not tight tight tight in the cover, then it has a tendency to dig down into the water and create enormous drag - so much so that the ski just won't go. Also instruct the people on the tubes to keep their weight back. Leaning forward will cause the towables to dig down into the water.

One of the biggest problems I found towing tubes and such is that the rope drags through the crest of the wake. This can actually be dangerous for the rider as the tube will shoot across the wake and then the rope will get stuck in the crest and then pop out which jerks the rider. I have alleviated this problem somewhat by routing the tow rope over and through the handle on the back of the seat and then down to the eyelet ring. There will be several who tell you this isn't a good idea, that it could pull through the handle. If that happens to me I'll buy a new handle. So far the handle has been rougher on the rope. I need to find a piece of rubber/neoprene to wrap around the handle to protect the rope.

 

[jbholcom]

We usually pull a tube with our 06 GTX Wake. The Wake has "spot-n-tow" mount on the back which eliminates some of the drag. It also keeps the rope away from your impeller and helps the spotter hang on. You can buy an after market "spot-n-tow" from places such as Overtons (http://www.overtons.com/modperl/pro...cname=Accessories&aID=10O&merchID=1009&r=view). It's a little pricey, so you might check around.

We have pulled four kids (around 50 lbs each) and had two adults on the boat (around 200 lbs each). I noticed absolutely no problems towing. Check out the tube to make sure it is not the source of your problem.

 

[Guy on the water]

Thanks for the info, guys! We took the ski out this morning for our 2nd time now. We didn't tow anything, other than my wife water-skiing. It's really easy to get her up and out and to get going.

If you can't get over 6mph smoothly, then you are most likely getting too much resistance from the tubes digging in.

I really think that's what it was. Next time I'll make sure that tube is nice and plump and instruct tubers to try to center their weight flat on it, if possible, to get going.

Do you guys normally have the spotter face backwards? I hadn't thought of that.. but not that I would probably do it anyhow since my spotter is my 4-yr old daughter. Hmmm.. will try that... seems much easier. (I told you we were brand new to PWC!)

 

[oct6454]

about the spotter being turned backwards. Yes i found myself that it is not a difficult as it may seem to sit backwards. As longas you put your feet where the footwells slant up it is not very hard your daughter could probably do it.