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Old 09-02-2013, 07:51 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by koliver View Post
Mark: "Putting a float on the tow line might be a good idea."

I used to belong to a club that had an annual award for the biggest FUBAR. I recall more than one of those awards going to the guy with the float on his towline. All it did was provide a false sense of safety. It still got sucked into the prop as easily as without the float. Also beware of floating line for the same reason.
No enough floats!
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Old 09-02-2013, 09:31 PM   #22
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When you say tow line never tight...do you mean stern tow?
Yes. Sorry I wasn't clear. I was talking about two different situations in one post. We were being pulled by a 50 footer with big twin diesels. My point being that it takes very little to pull a Pilgrim. Less power than it takes to straighten out 100' of 5/8" line.
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Old 09-03-2013, 07:04 AM   #23
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Originally Posted by SaltyDog View Post
Yes. Sorry I wasn't clear. I was talking about two different situations in one post. We were being pulled by a 50 footer with big twin diesels. My point being that it takes very little to pull a Pilgrim. Less power than it takes to straighten out 100' of 5/8" line.
Takes very little to pull most boats under 8 knots...100 feet of wet nylon 7/8" towline is almost never straight unless the boats are really surging with swells.

The more slippery the boat the harder it is to tow from the standpoint it wants to pass you all the time...with a heavy non-floating towline, the towline will pull the boat right to you when you don't pay attention for a minute or two. That's why a floating towline is nice..but some stretch to eliminate stress is nice too.

Had an unmanned 30' sailboat Friday night that had loose wheel steering and would go hard over on me with a following wind/sea..mostly towed it with about 75' of towline, it would run ahead to be about 80 degrees off my starboard quarter and was a real bear to get under the Oceanside drawbridge...
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Old 09-03-2013, 07:40 AM   #24
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Thanks for the good advice
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Old 09-03-2013, 11:20 AM   #25
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I would suggest putting together portable tow lights to mount on the towing boat in case you get stuck running in the dark. Most boaters will not know what they mean but if you ever had an insurance claim you are legal with tow lights and illegal without.
Going through Okeechobee you will have tow on the hip at each of the locks and you should know in advance which side you will tie up in the lock. Practice a few landings with the tender on the hip to get the feel of it before getting into a lock.
I would be concerned with the towing on the tender, is it strong enough to withstand the load?
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Old 09-03-2013, 02:47 PM   #26
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Unless you plan on towing after dark a lot...not need for towing lights as long as you make an attempt to put either some light on the skiff or illuminate it/towing with a handheld spotlight when in a possible Navrules conflict.

Rule 24

"(h) When from any sufficient cause it is impracticable for a vessel or object being towed to exhibit the lights or shapes prescribed in paragraph (e) or (g) of this Rule, all possible measures shall be taken to light the vessel or object being towed or at least indicate the presence of [such | unlighted] vessel or object."

While having tow lights would be cool..for the once in awhile thing...I really doubt it would become an issue. Where I am most of the vessels don't display proper nav lights and they are rarely ever cited...even when they have accidents.
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Old 09-04-2013, 03:50 PM   #27
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I don't mean to down play towing another boat, it can be difficult at times. But based on my experience towing a boat similar to your Egret with a boat similar to your trawler I don't think you will have any issues in open water. My action craft does really great at 8 knots or so, even in pretty nasty stuff.

As I said in your other post (which I can no longer find BTW) the tough part will be in the locks as has been said. Maybe if you have enough crew you could drop one of them off in the small boat prior to entering the locks and take it through under its own power? All of the OWW locks have pretty good open areas prior to entering them if I recall correctly. Should be plenty of room to maneuver.

BTW, despite what PS says (I doubt he has ever tried it or he would know) you can't get two POLY lines tight enough to make them impossible to untie if you do loop to loop. It is just too slippery, which is why the loop to loop works best for in that instance. It is tough to tie a good knot in it. Nylon is a different story. Poly sucks for everything except towlines.

Same concept and knot as a loop to loop connection for fly line to butt section or attaching a wind on leader on an offshore rig. I don't care how hard you pull on mono, the loops slip right apart, poly works the same way.
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Old 09-04-2013, 04:08 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by Dougcole View Post
I don't mean to down play towing another boat, it can be difficult at times. But based on my experience towing a boat similar to your Egret with a boat similar to your trawler I don't think you will have any issues in open water. My action craft does really great at 8 knots or so, even in pretty nasty stuff.

As I said in your other post (which I can no longer find BTW) the tough part will be in the locks as has been said. Maybe if you have enough crew you could drop one of them off in the small boat prior to entering the locks and take it through under its own power? All of the OWW locks have pretty good open areas prior to entering them if I recall correctly. Should be plenty of room to maneuver.

BTW, despite what PS says (I doubt he has ever tried it or he would know) you can't get two POLY lines tight enough to make them impossible to untie if you do loop to loop. It is just too slippery, which is why the loop to loop works best for in that instance. It is tough to tie a good knot in it. Nylon is a different story. Poly sucks for everything except towlines.

Same concept and knot as a loop to loop connection for fly line to butt section or attaching a wind on leader on an offshore rig. I don't care how hard you pull on mono, the loops slip right apart, poly works the same way.
I don't want to overplay towing either...but better to do it the recommended way (by thousands of professional towers and what's taught by the USCG) and then after becoming experienced and comfortable...tone it down to whatever level suits the situation.

Oh I've tried tying poly a few times including loop to loop...kinda comes in handy in the towing and salvage business.....

If you have a loop in the end of a towline and place it over a cleat and are towing a skiff at 8 knots...I will bet good money you can't get that loop off the mothership's cleat to adjust the length of the towline while moving ...adjusting towline length is an important part of towing.in certain conditions.

And I got lot's of experience with poly knots and nylon knots in towlines...I've had both melt together and have to be cut apart where melted...the knot will come undone if tied correctly...even in nylon...but the material will melt if the strain is enough.
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