Saturday's Troubles

[Troy 234]

OK,

So Saturday we take our neighbors, Jeff and Keela, out for the first time on the boat. I grab the first set and have a good but short set (still exhausted from Friday's riding) Next Keela says she will try wakeboarding. First pull she is up. I pull her several more times trying to keep her behind the boat, she does good but has a couple of bad falls, catching an edge. So next is Jeff. I give him 3 pulls with out any luck of him getting up. So I pull up next to him gather the rope, talk to him a bit, Throw the rope back in the water, climb in the boat, start and put it in gear. I look back and see the rope doing something bad. I put the boat back in neutral, go to the back of the boat and see whats going on with the rope. It is tangled up bad. So I go shut off the engine and grab the rope to try and untangle it. I notice it is coming from under the swim platform. I jump in the water and sure enough the rope is tangled around the prop. Well after about 20-30 min barely reaching the prop with my toes and going under the water and trying to untangle it, my wife asks how about removing the swim platform so you can reach it better. I'm like hell yea, good idea. Well after about another 2 1/2 hours I have the rope loose around the prop shaft but don't have the energy to figure out or go under any more to get the rope the rest of the way off. So a buddy tows us in (I was heartbroken getting towed in, hurt bad!) and after about 2 min on the trailer the rope is free and salvageable. Only one spot was a little frayed and I just tied a knot there to keep it from getting worst.

So My question is what do you think happened and how can I prevent it? My thought is now, just to leave the rope coiled up on the swim platform or sun pad and let it uncoil when we set up to pull. Thoughts?

[Nick 0]

ive done that before on an i/o was a piece of cake to unraval but never on my dd i always leave the rope coiled up on the sun deck and jump off the platform with the handle in my hand when the boat idels forward it unravels the rope so the rope never gets wet

[elc 2]

Don't feel bad troy... this happens to everyone. We went through a few ropes the first year we had our boat - although I have never been able to save it once its wrapped around the prop. One thing I learned was to carry a knife and swimming goggles on the boat.

 

As far as not getting the rope tangled - we usually have someone in charge of the rope. I prefer a "rope girl", but anyone that can keep the rope out from under the boat will do. That way you can just drive and not worry about the rope. If you are not moving, keep the rope on the sun pad, its easy for the rope to get under the boat. We either throw the handle in the water, idle until all the rope is out and then have the rider jump in or have the rider grab the handle from the sun pad.

[WakeDoc 471]

One thing I learned was to carry a knife and swimming goggles on the boat.

 

I 2nd that, a $4 pair of googles and a $4 gas station pocket knife can save the day, we also carry a 4 ft. piece of ballast hose to breath through in case it takes longer than a breath or two, much easier to stay down and take care of it instead of coming back up for air over and over.

 

And don't worry it has happen to everyone.

[zapisor 43]

I 2nd that, a $4 pair of googles and a $4 gas station pocket knife can save the day, we also carry a 4 ft. piece of ballast hose to breath through in case it takes longer than a breath or two, much easier to stay down and take care of it instead of coming back up for air over and over.

 

And don't worry it has happen to everyone.

 

 

Nice tip on the ballast hose,

 

whenever we go on long trips I always wind up diving under the boat to remove tape that I put on the paddlewheel. It takes me about 10 tries because I keep running out of air.

[Foiler 1]

Well the #1 recommendation would be to have someone pull the rope in especially on a busy lake when there are a lot of boats running around but we usually leave the rope out. I did actually have a woman drive by so close that she hit my rope. I thought she was way to close but I probably should have pulled the rope in.

 

When the rider gives the signal that they are done (patting the top of the head is the universal signal) I always approach them going with the wind, go by them on the right side of the boat where I can see them and as soon as the platform gets near them I put it in reverse and slightly goose it. That stops the boat and brings the platform right to them because the tush end of the boat allways pulls to the right when gassing it in reverse. The boat will allways drift faster than the rope and since Iwas going with the wind and the rope was directly behind the boat, it will stay behind the boat. If you pull up to the rider going into the wind and shut the boat off then you will allways drift over the rope. You don't really have to being going exactly straight with the wind but you just have to make sure there is no rope downwind of the boat or you will drift over it.

[LakeSurfer 10]

I have goggles and an all purpose knife that works great.

 

For the rider, I just like to remind new people that one of their jobs in the water is to yell at me if the rope ever goes under the boat/swim deck. I also ask them to pull the slack out of the rope (towards them in the water) and I will take it out by putting the boat in gear and and letting it drift forward for a second.

 

It really hard to run over the surf rope, but I average one tube rope a year.