Towing a 650sx - PWC Forum: The best hang-out for Personal WaterCraft enthusiasts

calivette2003 · 07-21-2009, 12:48 PM

We have 2 skis, the 650sx and a 2005 Honda F-12X.
Usually we go to Fiesta Island and launch off the sand but here in San Diego there is this gorgeous beach by Coronado and the family loves it. You can only get to it by boat. Unfortunately to get to it you have to go through a no wake zone so they will NOT let me ride the 650sx over there.
I have to tow it. The Harbor Patrol guys are Nazi’s. They pulled me over for riding it to that beach. I explained to them a stand up jet ski does not work under 5mph, it falls over, and it has ZERO wake compared to a boat.

example;
The wake of the 650sx at 20mph is like the wake of a 20’ boat at 3 mph.
They don’t care says it looks too fast…….bunch of tools.

So that leaves me towing the 650 about ¼ mile with my Honda. Well for one when the 650 is towed the nose goes under water almost up to the air intake holes!!
Water splashes up into the air intakes so the bilge gets 3" of salt water in it. So towing is < 3 mph or it goes under even more. Guess the front old grommet was too old/ brittle for towing and broke off. I even tried bolting a 4" long eye bolt upside down through the front grommet hole with some rubber washers so the tow line was 4" under the front bumper so it would lift the nose up but no luck it still goes under.

Any ideas? I thought of buying a 2' long round rubber bouy, cover it with carpet and tie it off under the nose grommet and the nose of the 650sx would ride on the bouy keeping the nose out of water.

Any ideas?
Anybody ever tow? Any pics of how you make it work?

David

Again if you have aluminum that fits the stock holes I’ll buy one for the front and rear.

no fear here · 07-21-2009, 03:14 PM

The only time that I ever had to tow was when one broke down. There was always somebody on it and we never had a problem. The front end always stayed up due to the weight at the rear of the ski.

Also we were only using a short rope. About 8' long, it was tied to the rear hole on 1 sx and the front hole on the other.

Try adding some weight to the rear of the ski. Jerry cans of fuel, ect.??

We were probably doing 10-15mph, with no problems.

calivette2003 · 07-21-2009, 03:20 PM

I tried the weight thing, I used the 650sx as storage, had the anchor, beach bag and Coleman ice chest, strapped and netted in the footwell area but it still wanted to become a submarine.
I think the answer is for me to time it just right when the Harbor Patrol goes around the bend and just haul ass past the wake zone then I'm in the clear.
Honestly it's the stupidest thing I have ever encountered.