Pontoon Tubing Tips

[ITD]

Don't get them going too fast, keep in mind that the tube can be going much faster than the boat when it is whipping. Above about 10 or 15 mph the water is not soft. Voice of experience here, I gave out a few concussions before I figured it out, the two who got them were each begging to go faster. Don't do it. I keep it under 20 when tubing, I do turn in accelerate them, but I let up long before they are about to fall off, one of the concussions was at 20 doing a turn.

[MAXUM]

Isn't the whole point of tubing to scare the living (ahem) out of whoever is on the tube, and making them crash hard? Well that is short of putting them in the hospital of course!

[Rattlesnake Gal]

And it's really fun to go in a fast, tight circle. It sucks the tube under the water! Scared the heck out of our son the first time that happened.

My hubby liked to have a windshield mirror. It was a real bummer when someone stole it while we were in Wolfeboro, so I reccomend removing it when not in use.

Have fun!

[ITD]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

Isn't the whole point of tubing to scare the living (ahem) out of whoever is on the tube, and making them crash hard? Well that is short of putting them in the hospital of course!

That's what I thought until the concussions..... in fact the crashes weren't even that hard.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Fist = stop, thumbs up = all good, thumbs down = slow down. Any other hand signals I should teach these little guys (and accompanying wife)? Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

The New Hampshire Boater's Guide lists these hand signals:

Faster: palm pointing upward.

Slower: palm pointing downward.

Speed OK: thumb and index finger forming a circle, remaining fingers extended.

Left Turn: arm outstretched, pointing left.

Right Turn: arm outstretched, pointing right.

Return to Drop-Off Area: arm to 45-degree angle from body pointing down to water and swinging towards area to be dropped off.

Cut Motor: finger drawn across throat.

Stop: hand up, palm facing forward policeman style.

Skier OK after Fall: hands clenched overhead.

Pick Me Up or "Watch Out—Fallen Skier": one ski extended vertically out of the water.

________________

Originally Posted by ITD

Don't get them going too fast, keep in mind that the tube can be going much faster than the boat when it is whipping. Above about 10 or 15 mph the water is not soft. Voice of experience here, I gave out a few concussions before I figured it out, the two who got them were each begging to go faster. Don't do it. I keep it under 20 when tubing, I do turn in accelerate them, but I let up long before they are about to fall off, one of the concussions was at 20 doing a turn.

My own concern regarding tubing concussions is that these concussions will happen in pairs, as collisions with one-another's skulls are very likely the cause. (Hence the previous RSA limit on the number of tubers being towed).

[ITD]

Originally Posted by ApS

The New Hampshire Boater's Guide lists these hand signals:

Faster: palm pointing upward.

Slower: palm pointing downward.

Speed OK: thumb and index finger forming a circle, remaining fingers extended.

Left Turn: arm outstretched, pointing left.

Right Turn: arm outstretched, pointing right.

Return to Drop-Off Area: arm to 45-degree angle from body pointing down to water and swinging towards area to be dropped off.

Cut Motor: finger drawn across throat.

Stop: hand up, palm facing forward policeman style.

Skier OK after Fall: hands clenched overhead.

Pick Me Up or "Watch Out—Fallen Skier": one ski extended vertically out of the water.

________________



My own concern regarding tubing concussions is that these concussions will happen in pairs, as collisions with one-another's skulls are very likely the cause. (Hence the previous RSA limit on the number of tubers being towed).

The ones I have seen were single riders impacting the water.

[znh]

So we also purchased a Big Mable tube and have had a lot of issues with it submarining/sinking when slowing down or just going slow in general. Anyone else have these issues? A lot of reviews online say the same thing so it's not us or our tube. I'm usually much better about reading reviews but missed the ball on this one!

Wondering if one of those float balls for the line would help?

But a bit of caution to anyone looking at new towables as this one definitely can be a bit dangerous. Really scary this past weekend when it completely submerged with two little girls on it who were terribly frightened afterwards and we hope we didn't scare them off of tubing for life!

Also, the website ultimatepassage.com was horrible to deal with when asking them about exchanging this for a different tube. I was willing to pay the shipping back to them and use the money I paid for this tube to exchange it and they didn't care at all just said I was 'past the return policy dates'...by a whole month.

I see this tube out on the lake a lot lately and would hate for something tragic to happen...

[noreast]

Yea,My neighbor has one. with young children it's an issue, especially if it's front loaded, Usually not an issue with older riders. They also create alot of drag compared to other styles. Those may be the most popular model, I see them everywhere but don't really like them.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by znh

So we also purchased a Big Mable tube and have had a lot of issues with it submarining/sinking when slowing down or just going slow in general. Anyone else have these issues? A lot of reviews online say the same thing so it's not us or our tube. I'm usually much better about reading reviews but missed the ball on this one!

Wondering if one of those float balls for the line would help?

But a bit of caution to anyone looking at new towables as this one definitely can be a bit dangerous. Really scary this past weekend when it completely submerged with two little girls on it who were terribly frightened afterwards and we hope we didn't scare them off of tubing for life!

Also, the website ultimatepassage.com was horrible to deal with when asking them about exchanging this for a different tube. I was willing to pay the shipping back to them and use the money I paid for this tube to exchange it and they didn't care at all just said I was 'past the return policy dates'...by a whole month.

I see this tube out on the lake a lot lately and would hate for something tragic to happen...

The ball definitely tames the towed craft, including "Big Mable". If "Big Mable" isn't big enough (or orange enough) here's a "Great Big Mable" available.

For those who haven't seen the above mentioned float ball, this is what it looks like:



There's no telling what you see around here, including yesterday's newest orange safety device:





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