"Mike" wrote in message
...

It seems like I sruck a nerve with Jim H. Apparently he didn't comprehend
my statement in which I said that towing behind an outboard required
either a tower (as in wakeboard tower), or a ski pole mounted in the boat.
Sure an outbord can have plenty of power to pull a skiier or boarder, but
that big engine hanging off the transom gets in the way. Most competition
ski boats use a pole mounted just behind the engine (straight drive not
vee drive), and an outboard can do the same thing. However, any seating
behind the pole is useless while pulling a skiier. On the other hand, an
inboard, or I/O can pull with a simple rope hook mounted on the transom,
and doesn't interefere with seating. For most casual skiiers or boarders,
this arrangement is just fine. Maybe Jim thinks you can mount a tow hook
on the outboard itself? That's about the only way to do it so the motor
doesn't interfere with the line.

So, back to what I said, and inboard or I/O is much better for pulling
people or toys.

--Mike



In my youth I skied and tubed with outboard powered boats all the time and
none, except one had a tower or pole. Our ski/fishing/cruising boats were
equipped with a line attached to two "U" brackets mounted on each side of
the transom with backing plates. (Many boats come with them.) The tow
line attached to a heavy duty pulley that ran on the transom line, allowing
the tow line's point of attachment to run back and forth across the transom.
It didn't interfere with the engine at all.

RCE

On Fri, 11 May 2007 05:34:09 -0400, "RCE" wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message
t...

It seems like I sruck a nerve with Jim H. Apparently he didn't comprehend
my statement in which I said that towing behind an outboard required
either a tower (as in wakeboard tower), or a ski pole mounted in the boat.
Sure an outbord can have plenty of power to pull a skiier or boarder, but
that big engine hanging off the transom gets in the way. Most competition
ski boats use a pole mounted just behind the engine (straight drive not
vee drive), and an outboard can do the same thing. However, any seating
behind the pole is useless while pulling a skiier. On the other hand, an
inboard, or I/O can pull with a simple rope hook mounted on the transom,
and doesn't interefere with seating. For most casual skiiers or boarders,
this arrangement is just fine. Maybe Jim thinks you can mount a tow hook
on the outboard itself? That's about the only way to do it so the motor
doesn't interfere with the line.

So, back to what I said, and inboard or I/O is much better for pulling
people or toys.

In my youth I skied and tubed with outboard powered boats all the time and
none, except one had a tower or pole. Our ski/fishing/cruising boats were
equipped with a line attached to two "U" brackets mounted on each side of
the transom with backing plates. (Many boats come with them.) The tow
line attached to a heavy duty pulley that ran on the transom line, allowing
the tow line's point of attachment to run back and forth across the transom.
It didn't interfere with the engine at all.

You probably won't believe this, but when I was a kid and a member of
the Sea Scouts I weighed all of 140 pounds dripping wet. One Saturday
morning a few of us were at the local Scout hangout (Beachcombers out
by Fort Sewall), somebody got the idea that we should try skiing
behind our restored 12 man whale boat.

We rounded up the rest of the whale boat crew and by afternoon had set
up in the harbor - 12 rowers, the Scout Master as coxswain (which was
normally my job) and me as the skier being the lightest guy on the
crew - no wind, flat calm.

Two false starts - third times the charm.

Skied for almost the length of Marblehead harbor. :)

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...



You probably won't believe this, but when I was a kid and a member of
the Sea Scouts I weighed all of 140 pounds dripping wet. One Saturday
morning a few of us were at the local Scout hangout (Beachcombers out
by Fort Sewall), somebody got the idea that we should try skiing
behind our restored 12 man whale boat.

We rounded up the rest of the whale boat crew and by afternoon had set
up in the harbor - 12 rowers, the Scout Master as coxswain (which was
normally my job) and me as the skier being the lightest guy on the
crew - no wind, flat calm.

Two false starts - third times the charm.

Skied for almost the length of Marblehead harbor. :)


We used to ski behind my 12' Sears aluminum boat with a 5-1/2 hp Johnson
"Sea Horse" engine.

Wasn't easy, but it can be done.

Those were fun days. Nobody worried about even registering the boat.

Eisboch

"RCE" wrote in message
...

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...



You probably won't believe this, but when I was a kid and a member of
the Sea Scouts I weighed all of 140 pounds dripping wet. One Saturday
morning a few of us were at the local Scout hangout (Beachcombers out
by Fort Sewall), somebody got the idea that we should try skiing
behind our restored 12 man whale boat.

We rounded up the rest of the whale boat crew and by afternoon had set
up in the harbor - 12 rowers, the Scout Master as coxswain (which was
normally my job) and me as the skier being the lightest guy on the
crew - no wind, flat calm.

Two false starts - third times the charm.

Skied for almost the length of Marblehead harbor. :)


We used to ski behind my 12' Sears aluminum boat with a 5-1/2 hp Johnson
"Sea Horse" engine.

Wasn't easy, but it can be done.

Those were fun days. Nobody worried about even registering the boat.

Eisboch


I had an old 5 1/2 hp Sea Horse and sold it to a fellow boater a few years
back as he collects old outboards and displays them in his finished
basement.

BTW: Mythbusters did a segment on trying to water ski behind a row boat.
I cannot recall if the guy ever got up on his skis.

On Fri, 11 May 2007 07:56:55 -0400, "JimH"
wrote:


"RCE" wrote in message
...

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...



You probably won't believe this, but when I was a kid and a member of
the Sea Scouts I weighed all of 140 pounds dripping wet. One Saturday
morning a few of us were at the local Scout hangout (Beachcombers out
by Fort Sewall), somebody got the idea that we should try skiing
behind our restored 12 man whale boat.

We rounded up the rest of the whale boat crew and by afternoon had set
up in the harbor - 12 rowers, the Scout Master as coxswain (which was
normally my job) and me as the skier being the lightest guy on the
crew - no wind, flat calm.

Two false starts - third times the charm.

Skied for almost the length of Marblehead harbor. :)


We used to ski behind my 12' Sears aluminum boat with a 5-1/2 hp Johnson
"Sea Horse" engine.

Wasn't easy, but it can be done.

Those were fun days. Nobody worried about even registering the boat.

Eisboch


I had an old 5 1/2 hp Sea Horse and sold it to a fellow boater a few years
back as he collects old outboards and displays them in his finished
basement.

BTW: Mythbusters did a segment on trying to water ski behind a row boat.
I cannot recall if the guy ever got up on his skis.

Yep - he was pulled up by a rowing crew from Stanford I believe. Their
speed was higher than ours was just because of the nature of the
rowing boat - ours was massive and once it got rolling, it kept
rolling. When Mythbusters did it, it was a constant jerking motion -
when I did it it was smooth because of the weight of the boat overcame
the rowing motion.

That was the neat thing about that whale boat. Once it was moving, it
was smooth as silk and required very little effort to keep it going at
a fairly fast clip. We rowed it from Mablehead to Gloucester one
morning - if I remember correctly, it took six hours from harbor mouth
to harbor mouth with 16 aboard - rowers were on rotation.

Needless to say, we sailed it back. :)

On Fri, 11 May 2007 07:44:47 -0400, "RCE" wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .



You probably won't believe this, but when I was a kid and a member of
the Sea Scouts I weighed all of 140 pounds dripping wet. One Saturday
morning a few of us were at the local Scout hangout (Beachcombers out
by Fort Sewall), somebody got the idea that we should try skiing
behind our restored 12 man whale boat.

We rounded up the rest of the whale boat crew and by afternoon had set
up in the harbor - 12 rowers, the Scout Master as coxswain (which was
normally my job) and me as the skier being the lightest guy on the
crew - no wind, flat calm.

Two false starts - third times the charm.

Skied for almost the length of Marblehead harbor. :)

We used to ski behind my 12' Sears aluminum boat with a 5-1/2 hp Johnson
"Sea Horse" engine.

Wasn't easy, but it can be done.

Those were fun days. Nobody worried about even registering the boat.

nostalgia

Growing up in Marblehead where a lot of my rather eclectic group of
friends were into everything and anything. Music, sports, drama, we
all had part-time jobs around town, a lot of my friends were sons and
daughters of lobster/fishermen - it was a great time to be a kid.

All the parents knew each other - members of the Lions, Rotary, CG
Aux, Odd Fellows, Masons, K of C - you name it and you couldn't get
away with anything because everybody knew everybody else. :)

The cops would look out for the kids and if things were getting out of
hand, made sure they got back under control just by saying "Hey, I saw
the Mother (or Father) the other night at...". The Harbor Master and
Police boat always knew where we were. More than one occasion when we
got up to something stupid, you'd see the Police or Harbor Master
boats slowly move out of the harbor and just be present - it was
enough to keep things calm and un stupid.

I remember one time I took my 13 foot Whaler Sport out to Halfway Rock
with three of my buddies to go "fishing" (read drink some beer) and
"Chummy" Frost, Scout Master, met us halfway there with the Harbor
Master, confiscated our beer and sent us on our way. Never a word to
the parents and when we got back, the beer was sitting in the Master's
office in the refrigerator. One each was the limit - the rest was
passed along to the adults.

Never happen in today's climate. :)

/nostalgia

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...


The cops would look out for the kids and if things were getting out of
hand, made sure they got back under control just by saying "Hey, I saw
the Mother (or Father) the other night at...". The Harbor Master and
Police boat always knew where we were. More than one occasion when we
got up to something stupid, you'd see the Police or Harbor Master
boats slowly move out of the harbor and just be present - it was
enough to keep things calm and un stupid.



Those were days when parents were not afraid to discipline kids when they
needed it.
As a kid my father, at over 6' 4" and 235 lbs was an imposing figure and one
that I really didn't want to **** off by getting caught doing something
stupid. He never physically hit me though ... unless I broke one rule ...
and that was being mouthy or disrespectful to my mother. Then, all hell
would break loose.

My mother, on the other hand, often tried to take matters in her own hands
out of pure frustration. If I really screwed up she'd give me a whack with
whatever she found handy. I remember one time she came after me for doing
something I shouldn't (or maybe it was for *not* doing something I should
have) with a big, wide plastic belt from her raincoat or something. She
let me have it, but the stupid thing was so lightweight I could hardly feel
it. So, being the creative genius that I was at the time, I put on quite a
show of dancing around, yelling "ouch" and whatever while begging her to
stop. She decided the belt would now be her weapon of choice when I needed
some correction. I got away with it for quite a while until one day I
couldn't control myself and started laughing my ass off as she, all red in
the face, whacked away.

Eisboch

"RCE" wrote in message
...

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...


The cops would look out for the kids and if things were getting out of
hand, made sure they got back under control just by saying "Hey, I saw
the Mother (or Father) the other night at...". The Harbor Master and
Police boat always knew where we were. More than one occasion when we
got up to something stupid, you'd see the Police or Harbor Master
boats slowly move out of the harbor and just be present - it was
enough to keep things calm and un stupid.



Those were days when parents were not afraid to discipline kids when they
needed it.
As a kid my father, at over 6' 4" and 235 lbs was an imposing figure and
one that I really didn't want to **** off by getting caught doing
something stupid. He never physically hit me though ... unless I broke
one rule ... and that was being mouthy or disrespectful to my mother.
Then, all hell would break loose.

My mother, on the other hand, often tried to take matters in her own hands
out of pure frustration. If I really screwed up she'd give me a whack
with whatever she found handy. I remember one time she came after me for
doing something I shouldn't (or maybe it was for *not* doing something I
should have) with a big, wide plastic belt from her raincoat or
something. She let me have it, but the stupid thing was so lightweight I
could hardly feel it. So, being the creative genius that I was at the
time, I put on quite a show of dancing around, yelling "ouch" and whatever
while begging her to stop. She decided the belt would now be her weapon
of choice when I needed some correction. I got away with it for quite a
while until one day I couldn't control myself and started laughing my ass
off as she, all red in the face, whacked away.

Eisboch

That sure brings back memories. I remember many a beat'in with belts, broom
sticks etc....... and I was a fairly good kid.
Did well in school and only had a police at our house a few times. (bad
neighbourhood)
Have to admit..we got pretty good at avoiding the city police.

Don White wrote:
l and only had a police at our house a few times. (bad
neighbourhood)
Have to admit..we got pretty good at avoiding the city police.

That explains a lot of things.

On Fri, 11 May 2007 10:16:27 -0400, "RCE" wrote:

Those were days when parents were not afraid to discipline kids when they
needed it.

I was never a problem child discipline wise.

The Dominican Sisters took care of that up until the 5th grade where
the Jesuit brothers took over. :)

For some odd reason, that carried over to public high school.