Towing A StandUp Ski Behind A Boat

[Mikes56]

I'm going on a houseboat trip to Powell and I want to bring my SXR1500. Apparently we're going 30 miles away from the marina and I don't want to ride my ski that far. Any suggestions? I've heard you can't tow it behind a boat because water will enter the engine and bilge, or it will flip over.

 

[Wedgy]

The Rental guys tow multiple skis from Fisherman's Park, across the River to the Concession every day. Tie it low, and go slow.

 

[Riverbottom]

I don't know about a SXR , but on old 440/550 skis we used to put a hand ball in the air intake on the engine cover to keep water out while towing.

 

[Boat 405]

Two words. Fishing lure.

When you tow a stand up, they sink like a stone.

 

[Runs2rch]

Two words. Fishing lure.

When you tow a stand up, they sink like a stone.

This. Hell no would I tow one. We used to pull ours onto the back or front of the houseboat at Powell.

Mead we would load it on the swim step of the boat.

 

[BingerFang]

Those new 1500’s are really buoyant so you might be ok. If you did tow it I would give one of your kids a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper to sit at the back of the house boat and watch it.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

You can’t put it on the deck?

 

[79 HUSTLER]

The Rental guys tow multiple skis from Fisherman's Park, across the River to the Concession every day. Tie it low, and go slow.

Those are not stand-ups though.

 

[77charger]

Those new 1500’s are really buoyant so you might be ok. If you did tow it I would give one of your kids a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper to sit at the back of the house boat and watch it.

I’d give them the 12 pack of Dr Pepper and tell them to ride it.

 

[77charger]

You can’t put it on the deck?

Prob cause they’re 500 pounds and 9 ft long.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

We just put them on the deck somewhere

 

[DrunkenSailor]

Put it on the deck.

 

[SJP]

Ride it. Every time I have seen this tried it has been a fail.

 

[floatn turd]

We pulled regular sit down jet skies behind the ski boats that were tired up to the house boat every year
But
It was always a little sketchy.

I would personally try and get it on the house boat if possible.

Davinci something up.
Or
Maybe get one of those little jet ski dollies with the balloon tires and wheel it on?

But based on what I've seen over 15yrs of jet skies and Powell, I wouldn't tow a stand up.

Just my opinion.

FT.

PS
Get the tour boat schedule and meet it out in the main channel when it goes by.
The waves are massive!

I've got a picture somewhere of my Sea-Doo about 10 feet in the air.

 

[Bigbore500r]

I'm going on a houseboat trip to Powell and I want to bring my SXR1500. Apparently we're going 30 miles away from the marina and I don't want to ride my ski that far. Any suggestions? I've heard you can't tow it behind a boat because water will enter the engine and bilge, or it will flip over.

Bigger sit-down skis are fine, not sure about little guys or stand ups.

You may need to play with length of tow rope so the ski rides either before or completely after the houseboat wake and prop-wash. That's what submerges them. The other thing that happens, is you check it after puling out of marina and go "yep, thats good" - then you end up speeding up for 2 hours without checking it, and take a walk back to the rear of boat to find it submarined. Make sure somebody periodically runs to rear of houseboat and checks on it.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Is there maybe a high point on the rear of the house boat that it could be tied to? Increasing the angle of the line would pull up on the bow of the ski and result in less submarine attempts as the line is constantly pulling it up.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

 

[Baja 252]

The SXR1500 is huge, more like a sit down ski with a different top on it, so loading or moving it isn't like it used to be. It might tow better than a smaller stand-up, a empty fuel tank might help keep the nose up.
One issue is when towing as ski is water flows into the pump tunnel and if you go fast enough can develop enough pressure to flow thru the cooling system. Some of that water dumps into the exhaust and without exhaust flow it can back up into the engine. That being said, it's a modern 4 stroke engine so things might be different, I'd check the owners manual or the dealer.

 

[SOCALCRICKETT]

Never thought of the water and exhaust issue, good thinking

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Prob cause they’re 500 pounds and 9 ft long.

I guess I was assuming a couple of men were going to be there... which would make 500 lbs and 9 ft long pretty easy.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

$20 each to four porters gets it brought from your truck right to the front deck of the houseboat

 

[cheezpanel]

We put ours on the bins that are available on the dock to load your stuff into and bring it down the the houseboat. Just have a couple of guys walking with it (once the bin collapsed). Then just load it onto the front deck of the houseboat. I wouldn't tow it. Yours is heavier though, so I'd make sure you have 4 big dudes to lift it.

 

[outboard_256]

the couple times we brought stand up's we put them on the deck.

 

[mbrown2]

I would not do it even with a 1500....too much to worry about. In calm water outside of the propwash or wakes maybe...but that is not normal....you will have wind and chop come up and the water will come over the nose. The stand ups are built so when ridden standing up the weight of the person counterbalances the heavy nose and thus the nose rises....Towing it will not rise and take water over.

 

[JFMFG]

It’ll sink if you tow

 

[Lavey5150]

Two words. Fishing lure.

When you tow a stand up, they sink like a stone.

Couldn't be farther from not true.Been towing 440's 550's Fx-1's, flatnose and roundnose superjet's,SXR's all of them.Key is to smash it, get them on plane, and they will submit to the plane.Cover the air intake and Carb(s)w/ duct tape.If you're not carrying duct tape,zip ties and JB Weld at all times, you're blowing it. Always rode mine from Wahweap to Dangling, well because it's fun.

 

[HSR]

Maybe you could side tie it to the houseboat with some buoys in between and the bow pulled up high with a rope?? At least if it filled up it wouldn’t be able to sink. Just a thought.

 

[King295]

The SXR is much larger but I've watched many stand ups turn into submarines when being towed. I would advise against it but you are in a unique predicament because of the size/weight of the SXR. Best bet would be get it on the deck (hope you have a bunch of guys to help) or to ride it. No way I would tow my superjet.

When I was younger I rode my 550 from Wahweap to Dangling Rope. Main channel with tour boats made for an interesting ride but hell that was half the fun, just make sure you have a chase boat with gas on the ready.

 

[2Driver]

The SXR1500 is huge, more like a sit down ski with a different top on it, so loading or moving it isn't like it used to be. It might tow better than a smaller stand-up, a empty fuel tank might help keep the nose up.
One issue is when towing as ski is water flows into the pump tunnel and if you go fast enough can develop enough pressure to flow thru the cooling system. Some of that water dumps into the exhaust and without exhaust flow it can back up into the engine. That being said, it's a modern 4 stroke engine so things might be different, I'd check the owners manual or the dealer.

Yeah, on sit downs you have to clamp off the water intake line or you’ll flood the boat. We did it at Powell with a vise-grip wood clamp. We used to put our 550 on the house boat but the 1500 is a monster. Skis tend to nose in when towed, especially when hitting waves. No one on the PWC forums can answer this?

30 miles can go fast IF it’s glass, you’ll just have to sit and wait 3 hours for the house boat. 30 miles on Powell can be damn near impossible if there is weather.

 

[lbhsbz]

I sometimes get up early and launch all our shit for the weekend before anyone else is awake. We have a standup and a sit down. As has been said, towing a standup is like a deep diving fishing lure...it just goes under....it needs weight on the back. I have a couple dually brake rotors we use as anchors...so I stack ‘em and strap ‘em down as far back on the stand up as I can...it gets the nose up enough to where it be some towable...haven’t tried at more than about 5mph, but it works. Have a kid sit on the back of the ski for the tow...that should be enough to keep the thing on top

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Maybe you could side tie it to the houseboat with some buoys in between and the bow pulled up high with a rope?? At least if it filled up it wouldn’t be able to sink. Just a thought.

Not a terrible idea. I bet this would work

 

[MK1MOD0]

Well, since it is the new 1500, maybe you can have someone just sit on it with a lounge chair and easy up, and walk down in the bilge area once in awhile to check if it’s talking on water. Lol.

 

[floatn turd]

"When I was younger I rode my 550 from Wahweap to Dangling Rope"

That's some "Gangster Shit" right there!!

I don't think I could've done that business.

FT

 

[SJP]

Couldn't be farther from not true.Been towing 440's 550's Fx-1's, flatnose and roundnose superjet's,SXR's all of them.Key is to smash it, get them on plane, and they will submit to the plane.Cover the air intake and Carb(s)w/ duct tape.If you're not carrying duct tape,zip ties and JB Weld at all times, you're blowing it. Always rode mine from Wahweap to Dangling, well because it's fun.

Do you have a pic of my yellow boat with my 550 loaded in it? I cannot find one anywhere. That was the way to get a standup to camp.

 

[Lavey5150]

Do you have a pic of my yellow boat with my 550 loaded in it? I cannot find one anywhere. That was the way to get a standup to camp.

Holy jesus, that was some priceless stuff, I'll check.Nothing like navigating @ night and finding the forgotten peninsula.That 2 stroke smoke didn't help our efforts

 

[riverroyal]

if was only not 1000lbs,,,,ha. 30 miles? That like a hour ride. run it

 

[Boat 405]

Couldn't be farther from not true.Been towing 440's 550's Fx-1's, flatnose and roundnose superjet's,SXR's all of them.Key is to smash it, get them on plane, and they will submit to the plane.Cover the air intake and Carb(s)w/ duct tape.If you're not carrying duct tape,zip ties and JB Weld at all times, you're blowing it. Always rode mine from Wahweap to Dangling, well because it's fun.

You're not getting them on plane with a 6-8 mph houseboat..... Everytime I've tried they go down. Even tying them to the upper deck railing to try to pull from up high.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Yup, we houseboated Powell a few times with a jet boat behind the houseboat and a couple old skis also tied behind it. One year we got where we were going so we stopped the HB, and went back to untie the jet boat and jetskis and had a WTF moment when we didn't see the jetskis. Turns out they were hanging straight down from the houseboat on the ropes they were tied with. Had to pull them up on the deck (heavy as heck with all the water in them), and then do the motor recovery thing. Going back to Wahweap we put them on the deck instead. Once you done it, you don't that again...

 

[Mikes56]

Well shit, thanks for all the suggestions. It's all old people going so it looks like my ass may be sitting on it while it's being towed. My knees hurt just thinking about it.
One suggestion from the PWC Forums was to put it in a small inflatable boat, and tow that behind.

 

[2Driver]

Yup, we houseboated Powell a few times with a jet boat behind the houseboat and a couple old skis also tied behind it. One year we got where we were going so we stopped the HB, and went back to untie the jet boat and jetskis and had a WTF moment when we didn't see the jetskis. Turns out they were hanging straight down from the houseboat on the ropes they were tied with. Had to pull them up on the deck (heavy as heck with all the water in them), and then do the motor recovery thing. Going back to Wahweap we put them on the deck instead. Once you done it, you don't that again...

Good God

 

[Long Way Home]

On our houseboats trips we would load them on the back of the houseboat so if that's no possible I would ride and follow the houseboat, This is back in the 80's we had installed large gas tanks in our Kawasaki 440/550 Jet Ski's , we would ride from Bullhead to Havasu and back in a day. We would have to stop for gas near Needles and Havasu, but you can make it.

 

[Mandelon]

Maybe you could lash it to something like this. Made to be towed, so it would likely be strong enough. It would keep the bow of the ski up out of the water, and you'd have a fun towable for you to use at your destination. Probably be a good idea to see if it works before you get there though..

 

[Mandelon]

Here's the Amazon link. $165.00, and be there in a couple days with Prime free shipping...

https://www.amazon.com/Airhead-AHSL-32-Kwik-Tek-Slash-II/dp/B0047RA85E/ref=sr_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=inflatable+jet+ski+trailer&qid=1595606811&sr=8-13

Buy it, try it out, and if it doesn't work just return the thing....

 

[Mikes56]

Here's the Amazon link. $165.00, and be there in a couple days with Prime free shipping...

https://www.amazon.com/Airhead-AHSL-32-Kwik-Tek-Slash-II/dp/B0047RA85E/ref=sr_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=inflatable+jet+ski+trailer&qid=1595606811&sr=8-13

Buy it, try it out, and if it doesn't work just return the thing....

Mandelon you are a genius. Just ordered it from Amazon, thx.

 

[mash on it]

Maybe you could lash it to something like this. Made to be towed, so it would likely be strong enough. It would keep the bow of the ski up out of the water, and you'd have a fun towable for you to use at your destination. Probably be a good idea to see if it works before you get there though..

No problems, just solutions.

Ingenious.

Dan'l

 

[2Driver]

No problems, just solutions.

Ingenious.

Dan'l

Video it just in case

 

[Mikes56]

Maybe you could lash it to something like this. Made to be towed, so it would likely be strong enough. It would keep the bow of the ski up out of the water, and you'd have a fun towable for you to use at your destination. Probably be a good idea to see if it works before you get there though..

Hey just so everyone knows, this worked perfectly. We tied this tube right behind the houseboat swim step, in the middle of the swim step between the houseboat outboards. We used a motorcycle tie down to tie the jet ski into the tube and to the houseboat railing. We towed it about 34 miles like this.