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Tie Down for Towables while underway

MCSD12

MCSD12

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Lake of the Ozarks, MO
How does everyone secure their towables while underway on the lake? I have the open stern with center walk-thru. Need to figure out how to secutre it while enroute to point of use on the lake. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
We wait til we get to the area where we're going to tube and inflate the towable on the spot. We used to have a Big Mable (just sold it last weekend) and it was too big to cruise around with it before and after using it.......
 
We have a 2575 I/O.  We just hook the tube to the pylon and it rides on the ski platform.   
 
We have a 12 volt inflator pump. It blows up the tube in about a minute. Works very well for us.
 
Get a high pressure pump. Tubes should be quite firm or they won't last as long. Every time ours got soft, it got a hole in it. The vinyl is easily pinched open when they get soft.

After using ours for about 20 minutes, I pull it in and top it off with more air. I seem to have better luck that way. This means you need a pump on the boat. Don't use the typical blow up mattress pump. Not enough pressure. But you can top it off by lung too. It takes a while.
 
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We use one of these when tubing.



 

Great little device to have along whether its for the trailer or truck tires, or for the tube.

It does high pressure low volume for tires, and low pressure high volume for the tube. Super feature-packed little compressor. Also - for tires, you just set the pressure you want, on the compressor itself...press the 'go' button, and it shuts itself off when the tires are at that preset pressure.
 
Let me clarify my earlier post. You want a low pressure, high volume pump, but you want a strong one (which is what I meant when I said high pressure in my other post). A tube needs to be pumped up to say 2 psi, which is pretty full and firm, but some cheaper air mattress pumps may only get you to 1 psi in the tube, which will be soft. I don't know if the 1 and 2 psi numbers are correct, but they are in the ballpark, and they are meant to make the point that you want a strong low pressure high volume pump, not a weak one. Nor do you want a low volume high pressure pump that can do 150 psi (or it may take all day to pump it up, and then at some point it will explode). Hope that makes more sense.
 
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We have adjustable length web belts with a suction on one end and a plastic buckle and attach the suction cups to the fiberglass/plastic surface under the rear loungers and run the belt through the tube hand holds and let it ride just behind the rear lounge fence and in front of my

outboard.  Stays in place and is out of the way.

Jack
 
We let it lean back against the tow bar, laying on the end of the tube, with the rope tied gently around the fence so the rope doesn't work it's way down into the prop. Note that the motor can't tilt up much without hitting it, but that's just something to be aware of. I just don't tilt up much when it's back there. It seems to sit fine like that if we're just cruising around at slower speeds. Plus it drains and dries quickly since both top and bottom are exposed to the air.
 
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I use a ac/dc inverter that stays in the boat combined with a ac powered inflator/deflator. Makes short work of it. Much safer than trying to transport on roadways.

The rockin Mabel gets shoved against ski pylon and a few bungees to the ss handrails along the loungers.

When done it goes in storage meh bag in the center toon
 
What brand/model inverter?
 
When I am moving on the water after the towable is inflated, I generally just put it behind the ski pylon upright, and then attach 2 straps with plastic clips around the towable handle to the fence rail. 

Picture posted.

 
MCSD12 said:
How does everyone secure their towables while underway on the lake? I have the open stern with center walk-thru. Need to figure out how to secutre it while enroute to point of use on the lake. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Ours straps to the top of our bimini.
 
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Landscapper, my friend's Benny has the hybrid top as well.  He hesitates to use the tie down on top of the bimini not sure of his reasoning.  What are the pros & cons of using it
 
I have a neighbor that used to tie his to the top of the bimini until it bent the whole frame like a pretzel. The hybrid frame looks to be a lot more robust though.
 
We actually have the "Toy Hauler Hybrid" which is specifically made for this. I haven't had any issues at all and yes our frame is tube steel so maybe just stronger than normal Bimini.

Pros: Strong enough to travel full speed and can carry tubes on top.

Cons: Does not fold down and is 13' high when trailered. Have to be careful of low branches.
 
I put our towable on the extended rear deck with the bottom resting against the ski tow bar and lean it against the rear fence. I then cleat a line off and run it through the handles of the towable and cleat the line off on the other side. I then run a line from the top of the towable, usually the tow strap or harness of the towable, down to the rear fence and tie it off. Careful as others have pointed out not to tilt the motor up too much as it may make contact with the towable. Rearward visibility is reduced with towable on board but in all, a slick way to retrieve and stow while underway.
 
Thanks for the reply Landscapper, I am going to tell my friend that you have no problems with towables on top at full speed.  He also doesn't like the fact that his hybrid bimini doesn't fold down and he told me that he might try to make an adaption that allows it to do so
 
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