01.01.2024 20:27
How to Choose the Best Inflatable Towable Water Tubes for Pontoon Boat or Jet Ski - Some Tips
Boston Valve
Today we're going to be giving you some tube tips. First of all, I'm going to start by explaining, 90 plus percent of our tubes are going to be inflated using what is called a boston valve. A boston valve is a two port, one way valve that will actually screw directly into your tube. Here's the boston valve already here on this airhead tube. The good thing about the boston valve is that when you take it completely out of the tube, there's nothing to hinder the flow of air going into the tube. So usually when I'm first pumping up a tube, I'll stick the nozzle of the inflator straight up to the open hole and start pumping the air in right away, just because it goes a little bit faster. Step two with your boston valve is you take the inside, thread it in, and you're just going to twist that right into your tube with the cap still off, and you're going to use that to inflate your tube to the maximum fill that you can. This tube is way underinflated. You want your tube to be as full as you can possibly get it, and as long as you're not using a high pressure air compressor, you're not going to pop your tube.How to Attach Your Tube to Your Tube Rope
The next thing we're going to talk about tubes, is how to attach your tube to your tube rope. Most of the tubes that are manufactured these days, are going to come with what they call a quick connect, and most of your tube ropes are going to have a loop on both ends. Every brand's, the quick connect is a little bit different, but this is a pretty standard version. All you do and you take your loop from your tube rope, feed it through your the eye of the quick connect, pull the loop open and over the top and pull your rope tight over the forks of the quick connect.How to Increase the Life of Your Tube
Now we're going to talk about a couple of things that will help increase the life of your tube. Obviously, the nature of these towables, you're going to get some wear and tear on these things, because they're being dragged behind a boat. A couple of things that are going to help your tube last longer.One, make sure that your tube is completely inflated. More air that you have inside the bladder, the stronger the bladder is going to be, and also it's going to fill up the cover more, so there's less pulling on the cover as well.
The second thing that's going to help you keep your tube lasting longer, keep it out of the sun as much as possible.
Obviously we understand that water sports, there's not a whole lot of shade out in the middle of a lake. If you're not using your tube as a towable or as a raft, get it off your peer, get it off the water, pull it under a tree, put it in a shed. UV rays will eat this canvas and your tube is not going to last much there.
The third thing that you want to be sure to do, is tow your tube from the correct point on your boat. Most boats are going to give you either a ski pylon or ski eyelet that'll say that it's weighted to pull a tube. We do not recommend that you pull a tube from any after market pylons or towers, because they are not the weighted to be strong enough to pull tubers.
Another thing you want to be sure to do is not use your tubes to pull more people than what the manufacturer says. Most tube is going to have a rider capacity or a weight capacity. Obviously, if you have a little one person tube, putting three people on that thing is going to put a lot more stress on it than what the manufacturer intended.
