Wake Boarding with an R27

Cool.... I'm kind of concerned my grandson will be asking me to allow this on our new 2018 R-27..... BTW... This activity does carry an extra Boat Ins coverage.... 😱
 
Your kid is doing nicely! The biggest regret selling our Sea Ray express cruiser and getting our 25SC was I had to rule out slalom skiing (the Great Lakes actually do get clam enough some days to do it for miles on end). The first things I purchased after ordering our Ranger Tug was a wake surfer and wake surfer rope (which is technically what your son is doing - Wake Boards have boots that your feet mount into). It is extremely fun! With the limited visibility in the Tug I prefer to have a watcher both in the cockpit and another in the cabin to relay messages to the captain. Our R25SC gets the wake about right at 11 MPH but up to 11 knots works OK too. (It is hard to tell from the video but if your son is using a rope longer than a wake surfer rope you should get him one designed specifically for wake surfing so there is less danger of getting caught in extra rope when he pulls closer to the boat. ( When he gets really good he can let that rope go and toss it into the cockpit - easier said than done - 50 plus years of slalom skiing don't necessarily translate into surfing skills).
 
My 20 year old son and self taught water aficionado was about 10-15 ft behind the boat. And yes I had someone in the cockpit to watch. The boat is just too big to this task from the helm and watching for any obstacles and traffic especially on a restricted river. On top the r27 does not have the maneurability to quickly respond. We also had some difficult time to pick up a down per skier near shores or grassy shoals due the wind load caused by the large broadsides. Lots of drifting.

We had one trim tab down to increase the wake at about 10kts. I found it rather stressful to do in the r27 mostly due the lack of visibility around the boat and the person at the end of the rope. Will not do this again. I got the boat to relax not to stress out.
 
I've purposely avoided telling my 9 yr old grandson we have a ski tow bar on our new 2018 R-27 for good reasons. 😉
 
This is classic! My wife and I were thinking that someone could wakeboard behind our Cutwater C-26 when we are cruising at 3100 rpm and 9 to 10 knots. However, the wake has also caused us some concern on our first cruise south on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), from Charleston to Seabrook Island, SC. There were a number of areas where the ICW is so narrow, that we slowed down significantly so our wake wouldn't disturb floating docks and boats tied up to them. I suspect that there is not much to do to minimize the wake at cruising speed and do what we did and slow down as necessary.
 
Slightly off topic but still related, so I hope it is appropriate to post this question here,

We are looking into purchasing a R-21EC and my kids have asked if it will be possible to use the Tug to pull them on a tube. I realize that it would not be the same experience that they would get if the tube were being pulled behind a ski-boat , but would it still be possible and at least somewhat enjoyable for them?

They are young adults so it would be one at a time on a smaller tube. Anyone have any experience with this in an R-21EC?

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions!
 
PetDrs: I owned a R-21EC but never towed with it such as a tube etc. My question to you is .... where would you attach the line to ? The R-21EC does not have a tow bar as a stock item. IMO, you would need a suitable and strong tow bar as the line load will likely be quite high.

The tow bar on the R-27/OB is a good 2.5"-3.0" in diameter and resides in a close tolerance tube allowing it to slid up and down and which is bolted down securely with 4 big bolts low down in the internal transom area. It's VERY substantial.
 
baz":ijt5dtjm said:
.... My question to you is .... where would you attach the line to ? The R-21EC does not have a tow bar as a stock item. IMO, you would need a suitable and strong tow bar as the line load will likely be quite high.

The tow bar on the R-27/OB is a good 2.5"-3.0" in diameter and resides in a close tolerance tube allowing it to slid up and down and which is bolted down securely with 4 big bolts low down in the internal transom area. It's VERY substantial.
Click to expand...

Excellent point! Looks like this may not be in the cards.......

Thank you Baz.
 
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