How To Bring The PWC Along

b_arrington said:
Two different use cases. I had the undermount arm style for the 3, and I'll be adding that to the 37 too.

The hydraulic item is the new Sea Step from Sealift, which I am planning to add. That's a hydraulically-deployed set of under-platform steps to ease getting back on the boat from the water.
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Gotcha, The Sealift platform concept got stuck in my brain even though you were talking about an improvement to the swim steps. Man it sucks to get old
 
My gut feeling is that your probably correct Stee. I've had 4-250 pound guys on the platform and didn't notice any flexing at all. That is probably comparable to the shock loads we will see with a 500 pound dinghy back there. I've actually heard 2 different numbers from Sea Ray. Originally they told me that the capacity was 800 pounds and later on changed that to 500. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I ended up being told several different numbers regarding my dinghy weight but I think I'm pretty close now at 450.

What davit system are you looking at for the new platform and how heavy of a dinghy are you planning on?
 
kindredspirit said:
My gut feeling is that your probably correct Stee. I've had 4-250 pound guys on the platform and didn't notice any flexing at all. That is probably comparable to the shock loads we will see with a 500 pound dinghy back there. I've actually heard 2 different numbers from Sea Ray. Originally they told me that the capacity was 800 pounds and later on changed that to 500. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I ended up being told several different numbers regarding my dinghy weight but I think I'm pretty close now at 450.

What davit system are you looking at for the new platform and how heavy of a dinghy are you planning on?
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I have to assume the bigger risk is in loading the platform/transom close-ish to limits for carrying capacity and then heading out into rough water. I too have had more than a few adults on my platform in various stages of sobriety...never gave it a second thought. But taking waves on the platform adds quite a bit of load to the transom, for sure.

I'll be putting a 490lbs dinghy on a 225lbs platform w/the H30 davit. The folks at swimplatforms.com suggest the platform is good to 600lbs using the factory mounting setup. I may add a couple bolts and/or increase the backing plate size just so I can sleep better...I'll be consulting my marina when install day comes.
 
kindredspirit said:
My gut feeling is that your probably correct Stee. I've had 4-250 pound guys on the platform and didn't notice any flexing at all. That is probably comparable to the shock loads we will see with a 500 pound dinghy back there. I've actually heard 2 different numbers from Sea Ray. Originally they told me that the capacity was 800 pounds and later on changed that to 500. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I ended up being told several different numbers regarding my dinghy weight but I think I'm pretty close now at 450.

What davit system are you looking at for the new platform and how heavy of a dinghy are you planning on?
Click to expand...
Searay told me 500 lbs for the bolt on platform and 800 lbs for the hydraulic platform for my 400DB.
 
Stee6043 said:
So Sea Ray confirms the transom is good to 800lbs :)
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Exactly! I talked to Hurley about the H30 on the stock platform (36") and they agreed it would be tight. With the 44" platform you should have much more room.

I'm still thinking about a slide on davit similiar to the Nautley XL. They warned me that I would need to use a block and tackle and that I would have to pull on it from the cockpit as there wouldn't be any room on the platform. I expected them to have videos showing someone actually doing this but they didn't. I'm still hesitant, it's a lot of money and I'm not sure it is going to work!

The OP asked about the Magic Tow and I've seen a couple videos on those. The PWC looked like it towed better than the dinghy did. The dinghy would lay on its side and the tube on the low side looked very close to going under a couple of times. If that thing fills with water it's going to be bad!
 
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Thanks all for your input. I am mostly interested in towing my PWC with me where I go. Unfortunately, I have a SeaDoo GTX 155 which weighs 750 lbs dry so the swim platform is out of the question. I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on the product I found due to its cost. There isn't a ton of real world reviews with it and I have only found the Towdster as a competitor which is significantly cheaper but seems like just a fancy rope.
 
Josh P said:
Thanks all for your input. I am mostly interested in towing my PWC with me where I go. Unfortunately, I have a SeaDoo GTX 155 which weighs 750 lbs dry so the swim platform is out of the question. I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on the product I found due to its cost. There isn't a ton of real world reviews with it and I have only found the Towdster as a competitor which is significantly cheaper but seems like just a fancy rope.
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I also have 2019 seadoo GTX, i tow it with the towdster. U can google it they have a utube video of it
being used. Works excellent sir, east to retrieve ski to boat also.
 
Here you go , video’d mine.
Josh P said:
Thanks. I will look into it further.
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Just so you know I also put a valve in the crossover hose to keep water from being forced into the engine. About a 15-20 minute job.
 
RBB said:
I also have 2019 seadoo GTX, i tow it with the towdster. U can google it they have a utube video of it
being used. Works excellent sir, east to retrieve ski to boat also.
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Tell us more. Any close up photos of the ends of the Towdster ?
I need to figure something out too. These newer pwc's are a LOT heavier than say the 1995 model XP Sea Doos I used to play with so the platform is out. The Jet Ski I just bought is 1,050 lbs. I have looked at the Towdster but the yacht version....a Vee and then another straight piece looks like there wouldn't be any backing up unless someone was guarding the back of the boat. The extra straight piece would allow it to hit the boat. Granted, backing up would typically only be done when anchoring. Into the slip and the ski needs to be removed anyway. I thought about a really long Vee, DIY: maybe electrical conduit over rope, secure the conduit where you want it on the rope, a few pool noodles for floatation. Retrieval might require disconnecting both at the boat. Also something to the swim platform to hold it from coming back into the back of the boat when slowly backing.....that looks to be another issue with the Towdster. I only have cleats on the back corners. I can see the boat taking a beating back there with the Towdster. Still brain storming.
 
Can't find my video of the Towdster. So far it has worked as advertised. i am happy
with it. For $700 bucks its the deal.
All my towing is on a inland river, maybe why i have no issues compared to others.
The extra straight piece u refer to allows u to tuck it in for maneuvers, liking backing and going thru locks. No idea why u would back into a dock slip with it.
The ski has not hit the boat since I have had it.
 
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RBB said:
Can't find my video of the Towdster. So far it has worked as advertised. i am happy
with it. For $700 bucks its the deal.
All my towing is on a inland river, maybe why i have no issues compared to others.
The extra straight piece u refer to allows u to tuck it in for maneuvers, liking backing and going thru locks. No idea why u would back into a dock slip with it.
The ski has not hit the boat since I have had it.
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If you back up it has to be attended to because of the straight piece, correct ? It will come back to the boat ?
Are you using cleats on your back corners ?
 
TonyA said:
If you back up it has to be attended to because of the straight piece, correct ? It will come back to the boat ?
Are you using cleats on your back corners ?
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yes, but on my 390MY it did not contact boat, just got a 44 DB and actually think it will be even easier to use behind it.
 
HawkX66 said:
"Another special feature of the H3O davit is the adjustable and removable winching system. The stainless steel retrieval arm is adjustable from 3′ to 6′, depending upon the length of your tender, and is easily removed for storage while underway."
I'd love to be able to have something like this for my Seadoo on my 290, but I just have the factory swim platform and I'd also have to wonder about the weight being an issue on a "smaller" boat like mine.
The price on a couple of these are just ridiculous for what they are. I'm not talking about the aluminum ones that actually have a little bit of engineering involved.
The ones that are towing 100' behind the boat I think are just insane. You can barely see the rope in the pic nevermind if you're a kid on a ski jumping wakes. Should they be? Maybe, maybe not, but they're kids...
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Kids shouldn't be on skis!

Not the point...I know.
 
bajturner said:
I think that would only work for small/light PWCs like the Sea-Doo Spark. I think it would quite a job wrestling either of my machines up like that.
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I think it is rated for something like a spark. I don’t know much about PWCs or how much they weigh.
 
RBB said:
yes, but on my 390MY it did not contact boat, just got a 44 DB and actually think it will be even easier to use behind it.
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I would be curious to see your setup.

We live on the boat for the summer and these days our kids both work at the marina so we boat and anchor the majority of the time within ~10 miles of our slip. The occasional trip of about 30 miles away when they have time off.

The girls use the RIB and the GTX (now that the eldest is 16) to come find us after work. If I want to have the RXT with us, it gets towed with a simple tow rope and we stay at hull speed but that rarely happens. If you stay under 15MPH you don't need to worry about water ingestion, although it's easy to clamp the crossover hose to be safe if you want to.

When they were younger and we had the 300DA, we would go on 2-3 week trips and we had a small dinghy with a 9.9 on a Dingy Caddy (Dinghy Caddy | Midland | Ontario). It worked well.

The long-term plan when we do long-distance is to get rid of both Sea-Doos and replace the RIB with a smaller, lighter one that will be carried on a Sea Lift or similar.
 
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