What you need to know about hooking up tow ropes, tow harnesses and ski tubes!
Ok, this may seem basic, but there are lots of different kind of boats out there and various options of how to hook them up to ski tube tow ropes. The first place to start is to make sure that you have the right tow rope for the right ski tube.
Now take that appropriate water ski tube tow rope and loop it through the eye on the end of the water ski tube and back through itself. Some ski tubes have plastic quick connects on them to attach to the eye in the end of the line. For ski tubes like these pass the eye in the end of the line through the hole in the center of the quick connect and then loop the top of the eye around the sides. Here is a picture of this done properly. With the heavy duty tow rope you will have to twist it as you try to push it through, but it will go!
Now the line is ready to be attached to the boat. If you boat is less then 10 years old and is NOT an outboard you most likely have a ski ring. It may be on a pole or attached to the back of your boat. Here is a picture of what one looks like.
If you have one just pass the loop through the ring and the pull the top of the eye down over the sides and your all set to go.
If you boat is over 10 years old or you do have an outboard engine you most likely do not have a ski ring. Instead you will have two lifting eyes on either side of the back of your boat. You will need a tow harness or a rope "Y" to attach to these points with clips. You can then loop the end of the tow line through the quick connect on the harness just like you did with the quick connect on the boat tube above. Here is a shot of how our tow harness and heavy duty tow rope connect to each other.
Notice we never used a knot to complete either of these set ups. Knot are bad as
they weaken the strength of the line by as much as 80%!
So that is how it is supposed to be done. Follow this link for all our ski tube tow ropes and ski tube tow harnesses that we sell.
For a great discussion on how to tow multiple ski tubes at once please follow this link.
