How to Pull a Tube in a Power Boat
When you want to give the passengers on your boat the thrill of water skiing without the need for water skis, you can let them skim across the water on a tube towed by your boat. While towing a tube with a power boat may provide entertainment for the tube riders, it can be a harrowing experience as well. You must follow all of the same basic safety procedures used when towing skiers and a few procedures specifically applicable to tubes.
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Instructions
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Stop your boat in a location where there’s little vessel traffic. Shut the engine down and remove the emergency shutdown lanyard from the starting switch.
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Instruct the tube passengers to don life jackets. Assist the tube riders as they board the tube. Instruct the tube riders to paddle the tube away from the boat.
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Restart the boat's engine. Move away from the tube at idle speed until all slack is pulled from the tow line and the tow line is taut. Increase the boat speed until the tube begins to plane.
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When the tube ride is over, slow the boat. The tube should slow down at about the same rate as the boat.
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Shut the engine down and remove the emergency shutdown lanyard. Pull the tow line, coiling it as you pull it into the boat. Assist the tube riders in boarding the boat.
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Tips & Warnings
Inspect the tube's condition, the condition of the tow rope and the condition of the tow rope attachment point before you launch the boat.
Tube passengers must don life jackets before moving to the tube. They must wear life jackets at all times while on the tube, until after they reboard the boat.
Ensure you have significant space before you begin towing the tube at speeds greater than idle. Remember that you must allow "swing" space to avoid ramming the tube into obstructions like daymarks, buoys or piers.
If your boat is equipped with an inboard engine, turn on the bilge blower before shutting down the motor to disembark or reboard the tube passengers, to avoid accumulation of explosive gasses in the boat's bilge.
The safest way to tow a tube is directly aft of the boat.
To put the tube on the outside of your wake -- so the tube can jump the wake -- use a series of sharp S-turns.
Remember that wakes are cumulative. If your 2-foot wake intersects with the 2-foot wake of another boat while your tube passengers are jumping the wake, it will be as if they are jumping a 5-foot wake.
Towed in a straight line, the tube moves at the same speed as the boat. When towed around a curve, the tube will move faster than the boat.
As with skiers, use a spotter aboard the boat; do not allow yourself to be distracted from the duty to operate the boat safely. You're also in charge of the tube's movement. Slowing down may disappoint the tube riders, but its better than an injury.
If a tube rider falls overboard, slow down immediately, turning back to the tube rider's location, while avoiding a conflict with the tube. The turn will allow the tube to slow down quickly. Move the boat so the rider overboard is downwind and down-current of the boat and allow the boat to drift down to them. Remember the formula "Reach-Throw-Go." Reach to the rider overboard to help them aboard the boat, with hands or with an oar. If they are beyond reach, throw them a length of polypropylene line -- polypropylene lines float -- or another kind of line with a Type IV throwable personal flotation device, a floating seat cushion or life ring, attached. Only after these two alternatives have failed should you send a swimmer over the side, but do not leave the boat unattended.
References
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