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 ski tube tow rope and loop it through the eye on the
end of the 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.
