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whichway
28-05-2007, 08:21 PM
Hi

I might be going out for a weekend on mates bay cruiser, and I was thinking of towing my 20 ft fibreglass boat along. Can I tow off the trailer hitch eye on the front of the boat, or is there some other better way of doing this.

Whichway.

russ81
28-05-2007, 08:26 PM
Hows it going mate
the best way to tow is from where you attach your trailer winch or safety chain
You want to tow from as low as possible so the bow raises while under tow .
Russ

juju
28-05-2007, 08:28 PM
Low and slow...the way to go...

longtail
28-05-2007, 08:30 PM
Attach your tow rope via a d-shackle to your winch eye , and dont forget to trim your outboard right up to minimise drag and the boat trying to steer itself.


Jason.

Rod Fishing
28-05-2007, 08:35 PM
The lower on the bow you can get it the better, I am pretty sure you could pick up a towing bridle from somewhere.

Rod.....

Dan5
28-05-2007, 08:38 PM
We used to tow 17ft ally's all the time 4 in a row actually,where you attach your trailer to on tour bow may not be strong enough if the boat starts pitching in bad weather on your tow line we spliced about 6 feet of similar sized rope in so 1 rope to towing eye 2nd rope to bollard or claet on the bow this help's stop pitching but doe'snt eliminate it make sure that you use a bridle from tow boat to your tow rope also and use a shackle for the rope to slide along freely make sure you mouse that shackle Cheers Dan.

Chimo
29-05-2007, 08:31 AM
Hi whichway

I tried several methods but have settled on attaching a short line to the bow winch eye with a "d" and on the other end have a good sized pulley block. I also fit a small float close the the pulley so the short line of about 3 m will float when stopped.

Thru the pulley block pass a long towing line with one end (a spliced eye), on the stbd rear cleat and the other end of the line to the port rear cleat of the tow boat.

When traveling at your cruise speed (up to 25kn) I let out the long line to let the towed boat sit in the best part of the wake. At slow speed and in amongst bridges, pylons etc I bring it in close to have more control.

"Instantly adjustable and with a built in bridle"

I tried a bridle close to the rear of the tow boat but its too hard to adjust length of tow line and two outboard props used to regularly find the line.

Dan5s idea of the second line off the bow cleat might be worth it for you too with length to keep the pull nice and low.

Are you heading to the M&G ?

Cheers
Chimo

freddofrog
29-05-2007, 09:30 AM
...and dont forget to trim your outboard right up to minimise drag and the boat trying to steer itself.
Jason.

I knew I read it somewhere else. If you read on the safeboating.org.au website http://www.safeboating.org.au/Boating/Go_boating_safely/Boat_handling_in_tight_spots.asp they actually recommend towing with motor down under certain conditions such as waves and wind from astern. This is to create extra drag to prevent slack in the tow rope which may become entangled in the lead boat's prop. They even suggest using a make shift sea anchor (bucket and rope) for the same purpose. Having the leg down can helps steer the boat and stop it veering all over the place.

Never tried it myself but I thought I'd offer up another point of view.

Cya
ff

blaze
29-05-2007, 10:20 AM
I got a tow once and started with the motor trimmed up, bloody horrible, my boat was going every where and at time we thought we were going to be thrown out. Trimmed the motor down and it then tracked true behind the tow vessel and was totally controlable.
cheers
blaze

Deiter
29-05-2007, 11:33 AM
From experience, and it sort of goes without saying, but make sure that you lock the steering to centre with a rope or something, so the leg stays central to the keel line. I used a spare lanyard around the seat base and then through the bottom of the steering wheel to hod it centred.
Also, and some may have other ideas, i found trimming the leg down so the skeg was immersed and about half the prop in the water. Seemed to stabilise the craft without adding too much drag.

Damo

Dan5
29-05-2007, 04:15 PM
You can leave the leg down with engine in gear or tow a drouge we used a 13'' tyre about 5-6mtrs back,some boat's need it some don't the ally's we towed did'nt southwinds did i personally wouldn't use snatchblock just a shackle.We towed boats from Broom to Gove everyday never had an issue and through some pretty knarly stuff cyclone's included.