The OFFICIAL Tige position on towing from the ski pylon...

[NICKYPOO]

Funny how this topic just won't die, eh?

What kills me is the way the issue is presented. The one time the conditions come together and $hit goes ba, somebody is gonna get sued. Much like the way Mastercraft got screwed over last year, somebody else is going to pay for someone else's refusal to recognise what should be common sense. Kudos to you WAB for taking a safety issue into your own hands and eliminating a hazard. I went the other way and just eliminated tubes from my boat.

Maybe Tige has taken steps to make their tow point on the new tower somehow much stronger, IDK. With them (Tige) showing Daniel Watkins surfing with a wakeboard handle in one of those new videos, I'm not sure what to think.

[Coop]

In all the posts I've ever read about this subject (on this forum and others), I don't think I've ever seen a single documented instance of pylon failure due to towing a tube from the pylon. There may have been one picture showing spider cracks in the fiberglass around the pylon, but even assuming that was from tubing, I think that's the worst I've seen (and not much different than what you see around many tower mounts).

After reading some posts on the issue, I stopped for a while and started towing from the transom D-rings, but it's tougher to send the tube from side to side because the rope gets caught in the wake. I went back to the pylon at least four years ago and pull three and four person tubes consistently. So far, no issues at all.

When I pull multiple tubes, I use the D-rings.

[NICKYPOO]

I was pulling a tube from my pylon (a real D-Drive pylon) one day and the tube went under and it pulled so hard I though it was going to rip it out of the stringers. It was like slamming on the brakes in your car. I had my hand on the throttle (obviously) and when the "brakes" hit, I ended up gunning it and the tube blasted up out of the water. It was really violent and scared the chit out of me. It didn't do any damage I could find but, had it been one of the little baby pylons, I'm quite sure it would have broken something. Maybe it was just a freak deal but, earlier in the day, the wife had slung me into a double up on that thing and just about snapped my back in half. I don't tow those damn things anymore.

[Ewok]

I've had tubes go under and submarine on my last boat and my initial reaction has always been to put the boat in neutral, then the tube floats up to the surface and the rider got a good soaking. It was usually due to the rider sitting or leaning too far forward on the tube and hitting a wake at just the wrong time. Either way, your pylon did not rip out.

The smaller pylons in the V-drives are actually bolted through the steel re-enforcement of the engine hatch which is below the fiberglass, so even if it gets bent a little, it's not going to rip out of the fiberglass and whack a rider in the head, which is the prime safety concern. With that said, I have only pulled a tube once with my tige and it was my wife and 2yo daughter going very slow. I don't own a tube but I'm sure the kids will want one someday when they get bigger, or I'll take them over to WABoatings lake for some tubage

[Fire_medic]

on my old boat I started pulling with the tower (an ariel) it creeked and didnt look safe so switched to the pylon in front of the direct drive engine and seemed very solid. I was never sure if you could tow from the transom hook because the rope was so low. I was just going to tow from the little pylon on my new to me boat. My kids are still small, or is it better from the transom hook.

[Nobody]

I have been pulling anything you can imagine with my ski pylon for the last 10 years.

Never a problem and that thing is solid!

Naked women??

[Billua]

Naked women??

[robert theisen]

And that folks IS the NAKED Truth!