# Towing Kayaks behind a stink boat.



## grinner (May 15, 2008)

was wondering if anyone had any experience with towing kayaks. was keen to explore a bit of moreton island or even western side of fraser.(have done so in a boat not a kayak yet) have a good runabout. i have loaded 2 kayaks in it before but they take up a lot of room and with the usual chop encountered they bounce around a bit which is probably not good for them or the crew.

i notice the pro fishos often link all their dinghies one behind another like a train pulling carriages and thought this may be a more practical method to transport kayaks with crew on board the boat. i was wondering about what sort of speed the train could get up to before instability set in . if anyone has any experience would be keen to hear . i dont think towing them side by side behind a boat would work.

cheers pete


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

oh by the way the aim would be to tow to a destination and then let them all loose to fish. i am not so stupid as to suggest just endlessly towing yaks around with guys fishing from them (though that would certainly look fairly funny)


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

On one of the mothership trips I was on last year we towed a number of yaks between fishing spots. I don't think it is advisable to tow yaks very far or at high speed. Were weren't moving very fast, but the choppy surface was pretty rough on the yaks. Unless it is glassy calm the boat and yaks tend to surge at different times. Rather than a smooth tow, this surging results in a lot of very sharp tugs on the tow line. Most people attach their tow lines to the bow handle or toggle loop - bad choice. The bow handles are usually just screwed into the plastic or held in place by a small fastener. Shock loading that handle repeatedly can cause the screws/fasteners to pull out of the hull. Towing too fast, especially in choppy conditions, can cause the bow to dig. There is a good chance of pulling the handle when the kayak suddenly dives into a wave.

There are a few precautions that you can take if you absolutely have to tow your kayak. 
1. Go slowly
2. Use a long tow line to reduce the shock loading. A long line has more stretch (nylon line) and the catenary takes up some of the shock.
3. Use a short bungee cord in line with the tow line as a shock absorber.
4. Use a reinforced fitting on the kayak to attach the tow line.

I have done quite a few mothership trips and having bow and stern attachment points for tow lines, boat hooks and hoist ropes is a good idea. I've got SS U-bolts in the bow and aft of the seat. They all have a SS backing plate inside the hull to spread the load over a larger area. The reinforced tow point isn't going to help if I'm towing my yak too fast and I plow the nose into a wave. It will make slow speed towing potentially less destructive.

Tow line and U-bolt









One of the aft hard points. Used for towing and drift chute.









Go ahead and tow your yak; just take a few precautions

From The Quietman's website


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

you could get some one to stand up in the kayak and use a water skiing rig ........

can i get you to film it


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Interesting comments from Doug,,everything i have read is to get them as close to the boat as you can,,on a very short leash,,folks have achieved planning speeds no worrys and have had up to 3 yaks side by side its been reported ,,,i would not be carrying any weight in the Yaks,,,one guy on an American forums makes regular trips of up the 20 miles up river it was reported.

So two schools of thought slow and long rope,,,fast and short rope. 8)

On edit > maybe make up a bracket system on the back of your boat,,the idea is to get the front out of the water,,it can't nosedive and not much resistance in the water making things easier (will not move side to side either)


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

thanks very much for the advice so far boys lots to think about

hey d gax i see your from california, can you drop round to that house where charlie sheen lives on 2 and a half men , i would love to move in with him. also where is mavericks i saw it on a surfing video and it looked pretty amazing

cheers pete


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

What about tying the back of the yak to the stern of the stinker?
The front of the yak would trail in the water, you could probably get on on either side, they would angle in toward the wake but that should not be a problem?


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## homemade (Jan 24, 2008)

Grinner
We do it regularly in calm conditions with a long rope and a bit of pace.......... the trick seems to be to have them fall of the sides of the prop wash.

At slower speeds they tend to want to kiss each other :shock:



















The dog to tow was this baby kept wanting to bury its bow........maybe tow point to high 



















I'm hopeing the new yak I'm building tows as well as the Toto's..... it can open up new ground

I say give it a go if it doesn't work you can allways turn back ;-)


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

hay homemade whats the little green boat. did you make it yourself ? unique and very cute


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## homemade (Jan 24, 2008)

grinner said:


> hay homemade whats the little green boat. did you make it yourself ? unique and very cute


Yes I did its a Glen L Tubby Tug have a look at their website and scroll thru customer photos for Tubby Tug


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## Sunhobie (Jun 22, 2006)

Next time I tow kayaks behind a power boat, I'm going to rig a bridle/tow point underneath, thru the front scuppers/mirage drive, slot so that I can tow at speed without the nose-diving/slewing off to one side. I'm sure it will work.


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## madfishman (Dec 10, 2007)

personally i wouldnt recommend it, i had an experience getting towed in the outback for 3seconds, the water was a bit choppy and it was a large boat.

Last year when i was in Portland ,Vic i was fishing a spot called Minerva reef which is about 2kms fromthe beach and a local fisherman came upto me and hadnt seen a kayak fisher person before, he mentioned that on the radio about 3 boats had seen a 5mtr great white cruizin around, the outback is 3.6 mtrs long and i had a couple snapper in the yak .He offere to tow me in and i had a bit of gear on the yak as i said after about 3 sec i waved him to stop, he ended up putting the yak in the boat and took me in to shore.
i then drove 4 hrs straight home and wasnt go back there again.


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

There are times where towing is necessary, but it is never a good thing to do. My only towing experience has been on mothership trips. Sometimes if you have to make a move and time is short, towing is the expedient option. It takes much less time to tow yaks a couple of miles than it does to load everything up prior to moving. The boat that were were using on my Mexican trip last year was definitely not kayak friendly. The yaks were lashed to the sides and stacked on the bow. Loading all the yaks was a major evolution. Were were fishing in windy conditions near a small island and every time the wind shifted we had to move to get in the lee of the island. The wind was so severe paddling between spots wasn't an option; hence the towing. Every time we had to tow I sat on the stern and watched the yaks. The ones that were in close definitely got the worst of it. The ones out farther didn't get yanked as hard. As I said, I also added a bungee shock absorber on my tow line and I have a reinforced tow point. I was still sweating out each move. I would never tow a kayak at any speed over 5 knots.

BTW: This is what happens when you don't secure the tow line properly








It's a good thing this guy was good with a jig stick. He made a perfect 50m+ cast to snag his wayward yak.

The boat that I have taken more mothership trips on than any other is set up for hauling up to 24 kayaks and the crew is very experienced. They have the launch and recovery drill down to an art; and can easily get 20 yaks into the water in less than an hour. I've never been in a situation where the Islander had to tow us to a new spot. They usually set up the first launch upwind and let us fish until midday. If conditions warrant a move they try to wait until lunch, when they can recover all the yaks and haul us to the new spot while we're eating. The skippers of that boat are very good at trip planning, which eliminates the need for repeated moves and towing.

Stacked-not towed









Some of the guys I know have mothershipped from small skiffs. You just have to be creative in loading the yaks. Watch the video

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegallery/showphoto.php/photo/144

Pete
I've only been to Mavericks once. I did a field exercise with a Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare unit up there a few years ago. 








I walked over to the cliff and saw the biggest surf I had ever seen in my life. No thanks - I'm not going kayaking there.

There are a couple of really good surf websites dedicated to Mavericks
Mavericks-The Wave Beyond
Mavsurfer


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

We towed 2 yaks behind Kens boat on the way back from our FAD trip 








(Full report here viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5927&p=61378&hilit=sydney+fad#p61378 )

AS DGAX says the shocks transmitted through the tow ropes were very heavy - I'm surprised that we didn't rip the front handles off both yaks. My kayak (Prowler Elite also tracked much better than GAtesy's Hobie Adventure as the mirage drive hole in his hull really trapped the water and made the cockpit fill up. It was a slow trip back into harbour


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

they may track better if something was dragged off the back of the yak.
I think the idea of a bridal through the front scuppers is a good one. It could come from under the yak and loop over the bow, the 2 sides could be linked together below the bow and that could be the tow point. (if you can see what i mean)
If you made it from a luggage tie it could be put on and off quickly.


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

I've towed three different types of yaks behind my stinkboat.

A Hobie Quest - wouldn't do it again, unbelievable drag - to the point where two people couldn't hold the rope that the kayak was attached to.

Viking Predator - seems tippy and unstable.

Perception Swing - no worries, on the plane behind the 115 yamaha it tracks straight and planes along effortlessley.

I find that the further back the better, this gets them in the smooth water behind the boat and away from the angled wake. All my experience however has been in flat ocean conditions or dams, if its a long trip or a bit rough we just slot them up either side of the centre console, takes two minutes and they fit in snuggly.


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