Towing 2 wave runners behind a houseboat

[2Driver]

I want to make this as safe and easy as possible, same for anchoring them at night.

Plan is to tow with 2 separate lines not daisy chain, one at 30’ one at 45’ with poly rope and snubbers attached for recoil.

Whats a simple release mechanism to the boats vs tying? Stainless carabiners only go to 500lbs strength.

Sand spiking them at night. Am I doing this right?

 

[rivergames]

A Shotgun

 

[Bigbore500r]

I want to make this as safe and easy as possible, same for anchoring them at night.

Plan is to tow with 2 separate lines not daisy chain, one at 30’ one at 45’ with poly rope and snubbers attached for recoil.

Whats a simple release mechanism to the boats vs tying? Stainless carabiners only go to 500lbs strength.

Sand spiking them at night. Am I doing this right?

Danik Hook....

https://www.slideanchor.com/new-products

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

I want to make this as safe and easy as possible, same for anchoring them at night.

Plan is to tow with 2 separate lines not daisy chain, one at 30’ one at 45’ with poly rope and snubbers attached for recoil.

Whats a simple release mechanism to the boats vs tying? Stainless carabiners only go to 500lbs strength.

Sand spiking them at night. Am I doing this right?

You will have multiple anchor lines running from the stern of the houseboat to the shore, up to three per side depending how big the boat is, at least two per side for sure. Tie loops in the anchor lines when setting your anchors and then tie your skis to that. The house boats are wide enough that you dont need to stagger them while towing. And the house boats are so slow that when you come to a stop just have someone go to the back and catch them as they drift towards the houseboat if they even make it that far.

 

[paradise]

You will have multiple anchor lines running from the stern of the houseboat to the shore, up to three per side depending how big the boat is, at least two per side for sure. Tie loops in the anchor lines when setting your anchors and then tie your skis to that. The house boats are wide enough that you dont need to stagger them while towing. And the house boats are so slow that when you come to a stop just have someone go to the back and catch them as they drift towards the houseboat if they even make it that far.

This ^

No need to stagger, stainless Caribeaner will be more than fine. Use this kind for our boats:

Tying them up on the ropes works, but be careful that nothing is close to rubbing. It doesn't take long to run through with a rope... Ask me how I know...

We tie to the anchor lines about every other time when the line height works out, otherwise we use two stakes placed on the beach and tie a line between those stakes. We then take a short line from the main line to the nose of the ski and just pull them way up on shore... That's the easiest thing to do... With two skis, no need for a line, just set a stake for each ski. We usually seem to have like 6 of them

 

[2Driver]

I used the carabiners in the dock ok with the boat, but was thinking a 1,000 lb ski being towed into a passing wake is going to take some serious resistance over time and begin to open up? May have to suck it up and spend 120 on Daniks

 

[ka0tyk]

I used the carabiners in the dock ok with the boat, but was thinking a 1,000 lb ski being towed into a passing wake is going to take some serious resistance over time and begin to open up? May have to suck it up and spend 120 on Daniks

you're just pulling them behind the houseboat at slow speeds, not lifting em out of the water... 500 is more than enough. they have that little "tooth" to keep em from pulling open.

 

[JD D05]

You talking about anchoring the runners or the houseboat?

 

[BajaMike]

Caribeaners work great, I always stagger the Sea Doo and boat, use lots of heavy line, the longer the better, I use 50 and 75 feet. The caribeaners are heavy enough it helps to throw the line to the boater, they click the caribeaners to the bow ring on the boat or See Doo and you tie off the line to the stern cleats on the houseboat.

At night, I always tie off the skis to the house boat and beach the boat. No problem.

 

[Blackmagic94]

We pulled four on a 75 footer. Two daisy chained. Works well just have someone board them before you dock


Also seadoos require the coolant hose to be pinched or you will sink them by towing them

 

[Blackmagic94]

you're just pulling them behind the houseboat at slow speeds, not lifting em out of the water... 500 is more than enough. they have that little "tooth" to keep em from pulling open.

We bent 1000 lb ones.

 

[2Driver]

You talking about anchoring the runners or the houseboat?

Anchoring the 2 wave runners so I can sleep in peace. I’m pretty sure I understand the 4 point anchoring of the 48’ houseboat

I was going to beach the wave runners and tie them to a spike OR float them off the spike from the bow and tie their stern to the house boat at a 45 with enough slack so they could drift a couple feet each way but stay well away from the house boat and about 7' off the beach.

I’m going to need to go to Kauai after this to relax

 

[milkmoney]

Anchoring the 2 wave runners so I can sleep in peace. I’m pretty sure I understand the 4 point anchoring of the 48’ houseboat

I was going to beach them and tie them to a spike OR. float them off the spike from the bow and tie their stern to the house boat at a 45 with enough slack so they could drift a couple feet each way but stay well away from the house boat and about 7' off the beach.

I’m going to need to go to Kauai after this to relax

What I am willing to do for ya , is jump on house boat and stay the whole trip and make sure all your jet skis and houseboat are all anchored and towed correctly, so you can enjoy your vacation.

Free of charge of course. Only thing I ask is free room and board, and I like coors light ...[emoji41][emoji106]

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[2Driver]

What I am willing to do for ya , is jump on house boat and stay the whole trip and make sure all your jet skis and houseboat are all anchored and towed correctly, so you can enjoy your vacation.

Free of charge of course. Only thing I ask is free room and board, and I like coors light ...[emoji41][emoji106]

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My wife needs a pic.

 

[JD D05]

Anchoring the 2 wave runners so I can sleep in peace. I’m pretty sure I understand the 4 point anchoring of the 48’ houseboat

I was going to beach the wave runners and tie them to a spike OR float them off the spike from the bow and tie their stern to the house boat at a 45 with enough slack so they could drift a couple feet each way but stay well away from the house boat and about 7' off the beach.

I’m going to need to go to Kauai after this to relax

Gotcha, when are you going?

 

[milkmoney]

My wife needs a pic.

Oh shit. Lol

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[2Driver]

Gotcha, when are you going?

2nd week June. Shorty wetsuit time

 

[JD D05]

My wife needs a pic.

It ain't pretty...

 

[2Driver]

Hahaha

 

[milkmoney]

It ain't pretty...

I figured when she sees it, I am out ...lol

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[Boat 405]

Easy. Use a Danik hook.
First boat 40’ off. Second boat at 75. Tow each ski 25’ behind. Everything is staggered. I think from front of 75’ house boat to end of last jet ski we were just shy of 300’.

 

[JD D05]

I figured when she sees it, I am out ...lol

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I could have sent you a pic of me...

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Stainless.... 2,500 lbs rating from McMaster...

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[JD D05]

View attachment 753351 Easy. Use a Danik hook.

Rincon?

 

[Boat 405]

Powell. Padre bay

 

[milkmoney]

I could have sent you a pic of me...

Then that would be 2 strikes

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[JD D05]

Powell. Padre bay

Gotcha looked like the rincon also.

 

[Bigbore500r]

These are free!

https://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/bowline

 

[2Driver]

View attachment 753351 Easy. Use a Danik hook.
First boat 40’ off. Second boat at 75. Tow each ski 25’ behind. Everything is staggered. I think from front of 75’ house boat to end of last jet ski we were just shy of 300’.

What rope size / type did you use. Sitting here at Home Depot the working loads on 1/2” twisted poly are 420lbs unless you anti up to 3/4 queen Mary stuff.

I guess I never gave it much attention till now but I have some robust ropes at home and bet the working loads at much over 350.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Why are you guys using carabiners? Just tie them off with a bowline.

 

[lbhsbz]

Any shackle/hook should be fine, as long as it's not one of those aluminum things designed to be a key ring. 500lbs is more than enough...unless possibly you're going to hang it from the bow eye out of the water. I'd be surprised if the tow line sees more than a 50lb load at any given point.

 

[Constant840]

Looped directly through the bow eyes...

 

[Blackmagic94]

Why are you guys using carabiners? Just tie them off with a bowline.

Because it’s easy to disconnect one ski while wading in the water to get them moved to dock and quickly

 

[Blackmagic94]

Any shackle/hook should be fine, as long as it's not one of those aluminum things designed to be a key ring. 500lbs is more than enough...unless possibly you're going to hang it from the bow eye out of the water. I'd be surprised if the tow line sees more than a 50lb load at any given point.

I bent 1000 lb rated ones. Now I have 2500 lb ones from Spankys Rv

 

[lbhsbz]

I bent 1000 lb rated ones. Now I have 2500 lb ones from Spankys Rv

towing a jet ski?

 

[BajaMike]

View attachment 753351 Easy. Use a Danik hook.
First boat 40’ off. Second boat at 75. Tow each ski 25’ behind. Everything is staggered. I think from front of 75’ house boat to end of last jet ski we were just shy of 300’.

You got it down. I’ve done a boat and 2 skis. It’s a scramble when you want to dock or beach.....all the toys have to be powered up and disconnected and then reconnected when you move again. Fun times.

 

[Boat 405]

You got it down. I’ve done a boat and 2 skis. It’s a scramble when you want to dock or beach.....all the toys have to be powered up and disconnected and then reconnected when you move again. Fun times.

Oh fuck the first time doing it with a group we should of had circus music playing in the background... It was a total shit show.. people in the water. motors off. everything just drifting... fucking hilarious...

The second go around, we had someone driving the houseboat ever so slowly forward. Like just put it into gear. Get the skis hooked up behind the boats first. Then have a rope ready to toss to the houseboat and pull alongside the house boat with the boats quickly shut the motor off and get on the house boat and go. If you fuck up you'll have shit running into eachother and floating wild. Good times.

 

[Boat 405]

What rope size / type did you use. Sitting here at Home Depot the working loads on 1/2” twisted poly are 420lbs unless you anti up to 3/4 queen Mary stuff.

I guess I never gave it much attention till now but I have some robust ropes at home and bet the working loads at much over 350.

Most of it is just 1/2" dock line rope. The skis probably had 3/8" dock lines. If you break either of those towing behind the house boat you're doing something wrong.

 

[$hot]

I bent 1000 lb rated ones. Now I have 2500 lb ones from Spankys Rv

 

[milkmoney]

That is someones daughter [emoji39][emoji202]

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[J DUNN]

That is someones daughter [emoji39][emoji202]

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That someone allowed her to eat too much.....

 

[J DUNN]

Lot's of good advice here, you probably don't need mine but here it goes.

It's my belief that this tow method is exactly what snap shackles are for and important for safety. With a snap shackle you can "pull the pin" at any amount of load to release the line from the houseboat. I know you're only towing ski's but if one went down or got tangled up and you didn't have a knife handy the snap shackle has an easy emergency release. Many online rigging retailers have suggestions for tow rope and what hardware to use. You can learn from them and scale it to what you need for the ski's and buy it where cheapest.

Next point: keep somebody on watch. Seems overkill but I've found two boats floating in middle of Powell channel and had to radio in their location so Houseboats could come back and pick them up. Rope or hardware broke and nobody noticed. Also had a friend that had a ski nosedive while being towed and took on water continually during tow, almost became an anchor until somebody saw it.

Lastly, anchoring. It's been said above that you can tie off to your houseboat anchor lines and IF you secure your houseboat anchor lines correctly, THEN I agree with this. I would NOT tie a not in one of my HB anchor lines though. I do at anchor points and use non-bearing knots but I wouldn't do it for a ski, no need to damage a $200 rope for a ski tie off. Just tie a clove hitch or other knot around the anchor line and it will hold fine. One at front for daytime use and add one to the back for night time piece of mind.

Good luck, have fun. You're right to be prepared, it will make your trip a lot more enjoyable.

 

[NicPaus]

towing a jet ski?

My ski weighs like 800 lbs. He's got similar Yamaha's. Not no 250 stand up ski. Or 350 waveraider.

 

[lbhsbz]

My ski weighs like 800 lbs. He's got similar Yamaha's. Not no 250 stand up ski. Or 350 waveraider.

But you're not lifting it...you're just dragging it...through water. I can hold my 2000lb boat in the 4mph river current with a finger through the bow eye. How fast does a houseboat go?

 

[2Driver]

I think the stress point comes when something under tow hits on coming wakes. It creates a huge amount of drag and release for a few seconds. Do that enough over a few hours and you have lines and connections getting stressed. I seriously doubt you could begin to hold the rope of a 1,000 lbs ski at 6 mph when it plows a 2-3' wake, or snaps back in place after a few feet of catch up.


LOL things were easier when I was 34. I said hey lets camp at Powell in the pontoon boat for week and will take one of the stand ups. No kidding, that fast, planned and on the ramp at Wahweap in 36 hours.

 

[Blackmagic94]

towing a jet ski?

Yes

 

[Blackmagic94]

But you're not lifting it...you're just dragging it...through water. I can hold my 2000lb boat in the 4mph river current with a finger through the bow eye. How fast does a houseboat go?

Remember we were daisy chaining and had 255 and 215 seadoo 3 and 2 seaters. The 75 foot house bought moved and pulled 4 skis at 8-9mph

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I think the stress point comes when something under tow hits on coming wakes. It creates a huge amount of drag and release for a few seconds. Do that enough over a few hours and you have lines and connections getting stressed. I seriously doubt you could begin to hold the rope of a 1,000 lbs ski at 6 mph when it plows a 2-3' wake, or snaps back in place after a few feet of catch up.


LOL things were easier when I was 34. I said hey lets camp at Powell in the pontoon boat for week and will take one of the stand ups. No kidding, that fast, planned and on the ramp at Wahweap in 36 hours.

The lines rarely go slack much at all. As long as the houseboat is underway. The houseboats inertia due to it's mass is so much greater than a ski or boat behind it, that rarely happens. When we went the last time (I was about 12 so I don't know too many details) I know my family and uncles used just standard black and orange truck rope. Not stretch in it so it reduces the "catch-up" from being pulled through wakes. I believe it was standard 3/8" line and it pulled one of the heaviest Spectra 20's ever built (no joke or exaggeration on that) followed by a friend's zodiac. Make sure to tie a float to ski end of the rope so if it gets dropped in the water it doesn't sink and snag something.

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[FishSniper]

We pulled four on a 75 footer. Two daisy chained. Works well just have someone board them before you dock


Also seadoos require the coolant hose to be pinched or you will sink them by towing them

This is very good advice. Check online or the owners manual for the type of skis your taking I know on some early Yamaha 4 strokes I had if you towed over 5 mph you could get water into the motor.

 

[Ricks raft]

For boat or skis we made an A frame out of 2" pvc, slightly longer than boat, with rope thru pipe tied to back corner cleats on houseboat. Strong snap hook or you could use the type that have a threaded latch. We put a noodle inside each one at end so they would float when unhooked.
Allowed us to stop or back up and the boat would slowly come around and push against pvc, so not hitting houseboat. For 2 skis, should be able to make 2 A frames tied corner to center of houseboat side by side.