Anyone ever tow another boat with their nautique?

[ag4ever]

RE: Re: RE: Anyone ever tow another boat with their nautique

I guess it depends on the model boat you have. I keep forgetting the direct drives have a single lifting ring at the rear.

I was reffering to one of the two rings on my SANTE. Those are thru bolted on the transom, and are IMPO the best thing to tow with.

For that matter, they are the best thing on most boats, as most boats you have the coice of the transom tie-downs or a cleat. I have towed with just a cleat on a different boat, and it was fine, but I ONLY tow others at idle.

If you stay at idle, it really does not matter. You could even just have a person hold the rope and not tie it to your boat as long as you only tow at an idle.

[Andrew]

Re: RE: Anyone ever tow another boat with their nautique?

i dunno, as the boat speeds up there is less of it in the water, and less area for resistance.
not that i recommend towing at that speed by any means, but i don't really think there is a lot of stress on the tow point.....

If that was the case, you would need less and less power (ie smaller and smaller engine) as you sped up. It is true that once you go from displacement to planing, the drag decreases a bit, but then it begins to build again.

It takes significantly more power to tow a boat at 24 MPH than at lower speeds.

The other problem is steering. At 24 MPH, if the other boat starts to veer off course, you would have no reaction time to stop him from possibly capsizing you.

When towing a stranded boat, always have them keep their outdrive in the water to act as a rudder and keep them pointed straight ahead. Also discuss with them before starting to tow how you will release at the end. I like to have them start steering to the left while I go to the right and release the rope with us taking different navigational lines preventing the following boat from drifting into me. But you have to be careful. I had one swing around with thei engine tilted up and scratched my hull with his skeg. Cost me a few bucks to get it fixed.

Regardless, if you plan to tow at anything more than an idle, I would suggest using the rear lifting rings as the atachment point. It is much stronger than the tow pylon.

yeah, now that i think about it, once u get the boat on plane u begin to get resistance from the actual weight of the boat. its almost like trying to pull it out of the water vertically.....

[mf01]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone ever tow another boat with their naut

I guess it depends on the model boat you have. I keep forgetting the direct drives have a single lifting ring at the rear.

I was reffering to one of the two rings on my SANTE.

My DD Sport Nautique has two lift rings on the transom.

[darrel409]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Anyone ever tow another boat with their

Ive looked at the mounting of the rear tow spool on DD boats. (95 SN) Its just an alum spool thru bolted with a small backing plate. The fiberglass isnt all that thick under or around it. I dont think i would tow at much more than idle speed.