Help deciding on where to mount tow bar on RIB

[Yachtwork]

We are trying to use a 4 meter 90hp RIB for towing a wakeboard and are looking for how to mount a towbar. We can't use the behind the engine type due to storage limits and we can't use a over head due to storage size limits so we bought a raising tow bar that needs to be mounted inside the boat. Now some guys on the dock are telling us to mount the bar fwd in the boat. Does this seem right? In front of the driver? Or next to the driver, or behind the driver in that little box like section, but that does interfear with the engine tilt a little.

I hope some of the skilled forum readers will have an idea.

[beamishken]

personally i'd chuck it over the side!!!

putting a high up pull on a small light boat will almost certainly adversely affect the steering & handling

in front of the driver your likely to decapitate the driver if you ever get slack in the rope

I know the idea with wakeboarding is to get the rope high to help lift but you need to put safety first

I'd stick with using the 2 d rings either side of the engine & a rope bridal

dedicated wakeboard boats with large towers are usually inboard & often carry several hundred kgs water ballast which helps keep them planted

we skied for years (different discipline but similar set up) behind a string of 90 yams usually mounted to 15-17 ft hard ski boats
I could drag the steering around quite dramatically when cornering hard on a ski & I was 11stone wet through at the time.
we never used a pole due to the adverse affect on the handling we always just used a bridal with a pulley block to two eyes either side of the engine

sorry to be negative but looks like you could drill a dirty great hole in a moulding to mount that pole & give yourself no end of grief

[dpround]

I can't claim huge experience as we have done it three times, but we have used a rope bridal behind the engine and a floating rope tied to that. So far have managed not to get it caught round the prop and it seems to work fine. With a reasonable length of rope the vector of the force downwards is small. If you start doing massive jumps, like the pros do, then the vector will increase quickly and some kind of towing pole is going to make a difference.

When starting out, a pole out the side the wake boarder can hold on to for rigid support is apparently really useful .

David

[paddlers]

D ring through the transom each side of the engine looks like your best bet with a bridle. The bridles usually have a float so unless you go into reverse usually are well clear of the propeller.
You'll find the nose will stay down a lot better as well. Unless you're looking to do huge jumps (which usually involves a proper wakeboard tower) you should be fine. Mounting forward of the console will be a recipe for disaster as I hope you don't find out!

[Yachtwork]

Originally Posted by beamishken

personally i'd chuck it over the side!!!

putting a high up pull on a small light boat will almost certainly adversely affect the steering & handling

in front of the driver your likely to decapitate the driver if you ever get slack in the rope

I know the idea with wakeboarding is to get the rope high to help lift but you need to put safety first

I'd stick with using the 2 d rings either side of the engine & a rope bridal

dedicated wakeboard boats with large towers are usually inboard & often carry several hundred kgs water ballast which helps keep them planted

we skied for years (different discipline but similar set up) behind a string of 90 yams usually mounted to 15-17 ft hard ski boats
I could drag the steering around quite dramatically when cornering hard on a ski & I was 11stone wet through at the time.
we never used a pole due to the adverse affect on the handling we always just used a bridal with a pulley block to two eyes either side of the engine

sorry to be negative but looks like you could drill a dirty great hole in a moulding to mount that pole & give yourself no end of grief

Thanks! I guess time to rethink the whole idea.

[Chris Caton]

looking at you photos, the one showing the engine, transom and rear seat, could you not get a nice short A frame made that would mount either side on to those quadrant sections, if needed you could add braces back to the tow ring fittings, and just go to the height of the seat back which would be slightly higher than the engine cowl, with a short loop on the rear to tow off, give you a bit more height than the transom tow rings but avoid the problem with too much height?

I can recommend Marine Fabrications for the stainless work, just done some great work for me on my SR4

[ashbypower]

THIS would do the job nicely !!

[HughN]

Originally Posted by ashbypower

THIS would do the job nicely !!

The TurboSwing makes your boat directionally stable and manoeuvrable and provides up to 20 hp more pull force

(my italics)

Ignoring the fact that Hp isn't a measure of force, this is an 'interesting' statement to make!

[landlord]

I presume its a tender for a yacht and therefore goes into a transom garage ?

Presume your short on space and therefore looking at a 3 point removable ski pole ?

The turbo swing is not quickly removable and guessing you need to raise the engine when putting the tender away ? Can the engine be fully raised with the Turboswing ?

I wouldn't rely on the two D rings either side of the engine. As it looks like D rings are your only choice I would remove those two and replace with something stronger with good backing plates and then use a bridle.

Had similar issues in a previous life

[Trimix]

"Turbo" - love the way marketing uses that word in the wrong places. Not only does the marketing tell you it makes 20 hp, but also reduces fuel consumption. Better buy a couple then

Anyway, I would just use a bridal and floating rope first. Its going to do pretty much what the Turbo Swing does. Then see how you get on and go from there if needed.

[Spaco77]

Hi Yachtwork,

I understand what you are wanting to achieve. I am an experienced wake boarder, and due to work relocation have just sold my wake boarding boat with tower etc, and got a small rib which is more suited to where we live now.

I'd expect the pole you are looking to install would be ok mounted in front of the outboard, but personally I'd want some small struts from towards the top of the pole mounted forwards, to counter the pull created by the boarder on the back.

I'm not sure what level of wake boarding you are doing, but you will be limited to what he rider can do due to the size of the wake, and they will drag the RIB around if they start cutting hard etc.

This discussion reminds me of what my Dad told me once, a man needs several boats, as one boat won't do everything he wants/needs...

[captain]

Hi

I just wondered what make of 4 metre rib this is that can take 90 hp.

Just interested.

Pete