Help w/Ski Rope Poles

[jasonm]

When I bought my boat last Saturday the seller gave me an arm full of poles. A couple I figured went with the bimini top. One was a flag pole. Then I have what I thought was the pole I put the ski rope on to pull skiers, tubes, etc.

I opened the aft starboard storage compartment to find the pole that is pictured laying on the boat. The one I photoshopped in was the "extra" one.

Couple of questions...
What is the pole pictured on the boat for? What is supposed to go into the port storage compartment (the other ski pole doesnt want to fit there)?
Thanks!

ski pole.jpg

[Red Stripe]

The pole with the loop is the original ski pole that came with your boat. I am not sure what the pole with the ball on the top is used for. We use the original pole to pull tubes, skis and knee boards.

[Ytmsn]

Dang, you beat me red stripe!

As he said he one on the right came with the boat and the other is a newer style. As far as what else you can do with that mount? Add some shade..

Screenshot_20180821-071211_Gallery.jpg

[jasonm]

Lol. I was thinking about having a metal guy friend of mine cut the ball off and add a plate to hold an umbrella. Before I had him chop it off I wanted to make sure it was not something I needed.

[Ytmsn]

PMd you Jason

[jasonm]

Yep. Got it. Thanks! I was sort of thinking the same thing. My buddy works in a custom drive shaft place.I think he might be able to duplicate the pole. I think at least get the right OD and make the cut the same size for the locking mechanism. I might have him drill a couple holes and weld some nuts over the hole for a tightening screw to help hold the umbrella in place.

[ajcampen]

This is pronably wrong but check to see if it fits on the tower. The top of it looks like it is related to how ropes attach to my tower.

Do not chop it off yet.

I looked at your picks of your boat and rig and didn’t see any place for tow rope so I am pretty sure it slides in there somewhere

[jasonm]

There is a circle and hook type attachment on the tower. Plus there is a place in the swim deck for that pole to insert.

[AsLan7]

JasonM

You got the old style pole and the dealer happen to throw in the new style. The old has the belt buckle. Both should work for ya. Old style will fit for sure.

Btw, the tower hook is for wakeboarding, knee boarding etc if you desire. ....just Not for tubing due to load forces imposed when tubes submarine.

[jasonm]

AsLan7,

Thanks!

Jason

[Bfun220]

There are a number of aftermarket towers rated for tubing. Are you sure none of the factory towers are rated for towing ?

[Big Block Power]

I'm pretty sure like AJ posted in another tubing thread that is the one you attach in the bow to pull the tubes from the bow.

[cmattj]

I'm pretty sure like AJ posted in another tubing thread that is the one you attach in the bow to pull the tubes from the bow.

I like that you won’t need that pesky rear view mirror.. AJ is ahead of his time

[AsLan7]

There are a number of aftermarket towers rated for tubing. Are you sure none of the factory towers are rated for towing ?

.
It’s not really a tower weakness. It’s a fiberglass weakness. When the pulling load is leveraged 5x by the height of the tower, it attempts to distribute that force to the fiberglass hull. This is what will cause the gel coat to spider crack or worse...fiberglass failure

See below....

http://blog.bigairwaketowers.com/2017/0 ... h-a-tower/

.

[Bfun220]

There are a number of aftermarket towers rated for tubing. Are you sure none of the factory towers are rated for towing ?

.
It’s not really a tower weakness. It’s a fiberglass weakness. When the pulling load is leveraged 5x by the height of the tower, it attempts to distribute that force to the fiberglass hull. This is what will cause the gel coat to spider crack or worse...fiberglass failure

See below....

http://blog.bigairwaketowers.com/2017/0 ... h-a-tower/

.

I dont have a tower and if I did wouldn't pull tubes from it. But I know there are/have been some boats with towers that have been rated for towables. I also think the numbers used are a little miss leading. They use the 4000 pound rope rating for the tube but not the rating for the wakeboard rope. So this number should/would be much higher than 200, maybe as high as 1500. I know it's still well under thier number for the tube but they should compare apples to apples. It would be interesting to see some real numbers for pulling tubes, wakeboard and skiing.