Anyone with a suntracker with skitow

[trott46]

If anyone has a suntracker whit a flush reardeck to fenceing with a skitow, could you post a pic of it. I am trying to think how to mount one and it be solid before i build it. Just cant think of were to mount one. Thanks

[curtiscapk]

Mine is an older tracker but here are some pics. Already on it when I got it.

Everyone thinks it should be turned the other way but it works great for us.

[trott46]

Thanks for the pick but i have no decking there at all thats why im stuck on were to mount at

[BassFrequency]

curtis, is that made out of steel? how heavy is it and how in the world do you keep it from rusting?

ive been toying with mabey welding up one since I dont really have anything sturdy enough to tow anything with.

trott, if you can bolt whatever you make to any under deck cross members you should be ok

[curtiscapk]

Yes I believe it is steel. Don't know how heavy it was already on there. I haven't done a thing to it in going on my second year. I haven't looked for rust but there my be alittle on top after looking at last pics from Labor Day.

[DinoWethersfieldCove]

I've got a 2002 Party Barge. I have a sun deck going across the entire back. I have a rail (there are actually two you can see the top one in the picture and the other is six inches below) that goes along the back. Formerly I tied off the tow rope to the back of the toon and it worked okay, probably not the best idea, but never any issues. Tried attaching the tow rope to this rail. Again not a great idea but it worked MUCH better having the rope off the water. In the middle where the transom is, there is a small amount of deck so my situation might be different than yours (can you post a picture of the back of the boat?). I looked into having a tow bar welded, but quotes were around $600. According to a dealer this model year didn't have an option for a tow bar.
Here is my solution that I am about to try.
Will add support to the rail via an aluminum u channel. Will use either 1/8th or 1/4 inch thick piece. Will attach to each end of the u channel roughly a 1" square aluminum bar stock (maybe a little less) and tie those down to the deck via stainless steel bolts. Through the rail and u channel I will attach the tow hook. I found this one at http://greatlakesskipper.com/product/17 ... i-tow.html, though you could probably just as easily use a U bolt (bow eye). I am buying bolts from Mcmaster Carr, and the u channel and bar stock either off ebay or Grainger, but you can find these fairly easily with a web search. I plan on putting together over the next month or so and will try and put this on YouTube. With my 60 HP Merc Bigfoot I can get two people airborne on a tube (over a wake), can't wait to upgrade to a 115HP. Denis

[FloterBoter]

ok, i need to add this.

anyone who is setting up a DIY ski tow bracket should have someone who knows what they're
doing do some strength calculations on the design. if a metal part fails, the high forces on the
tow rope can cause the loose part to injure or kill someone being towed or someone on the boat.
with a pontoon boat, typically we're talking about everyone onboard being well in front of the
ski tow bracket and supports, so if something comes off the danger is that it will impact the
tuber/skier/wakeboarder, possibly in the chest or face/skull. they can easily be killed. with a
ski boat, sometimes the ski tow is attached to the wakeboard rack or to a vertical pole with
some supports. one of these failed just a few years ago in minnesota and killed the family's
daughter, who was in the boat aft of the ski tow bracket.

if you know a qualified engineer and he's willing to do the calculations as a favor (which means he's
taking on some of the liability as a favor), then you're lucky. if you need to hire someone, it will
be a lot cheaper to just buy a commercially-made support and bracket, or to pay someone
to design it and build it (resist the urge to tell them how it is to be built). if you design and/or
build your own and it fails and kills someone outside your family, you will have to live with that and
you'll probably lose everything you have. your boatowner's insurance is unlikely to cover your failed
design. if it kills someone in your family you'll have to live with that.

if you commonly design and build things like this, then only you can make the decision on how to
proceed. but this is one area where it's important to be very careful.

[DinoWethersfieldCove]

I have consulted an engineer, but one issue I just figured out (tried deleting my original post) is if I connect the side with the aluminum stock to the deck I won't be able to open the sun deck to get to the gas tank, battery, engine, doh! Back to the drawing board. Concern is appreciated and acknowledged.

[trott46]

With alot of serching i have found a pic of the tracker oem skitow I personally will base what i build off of that most likely customize one for another type of boat to fit mine. Simply makeing mounting brackets This type of customize is not foreign to me and I personally would not endanger my children I do thank you for the concern floter dino if you are wanting to add something to you boat i have called a tracker dealer and the oem is $460 here is a pic it is on an i/o but should work the same on an o/b