USCGAUX - Surface Operations

Inflatable PFD Mysteries Exposed. Stu Soffers, N-MS, has written a very informative tutorial on inflatable PFDs. This vital document is posted on the Boating Department website. http://auxbdept.org/pdf/InflatablePFDs.pdf

My PWC towlines are made from 1/2 inch three strand nylon and are about 30 feet over all in length including splices and hardware. On one end I have spliced into a carabiner (Wichard auto lock carabiner, 2006 West Marine Catalog page 854) which gets attached to the trailer eye on the towed PWC. I have a loop of nylon webbing on the carabiner to reeve through the trailer eye to facilitate the hookup in case it is difficult to get the carabiner into the trailer eye. Webbing is great stuff, and I always carry extra (tubular nylon webbing, page 912 West Marine. Tie the ends together with a water knot!). The other end is spliced into the fixed bail of a forged swivel snap shackle (page 856 of West Marine. The Wichard snap shackle molded thimble eye for 1/2" line works well. The Wichard quick release shackle is better, because it will release better under a strain but is expensive.) The opening snap assembly is attached to the water-ski towing eye on the stern of the towing PWC. Once again a piece of webbing may be rove through the installed towing device to facilitate hookup. This depends on how tight the snap shackle fits and releases from the water-ski towing device on the PWC. Remember the line will be under a good deal of strain from the tow, so you want a smooth release. It is best to design and test your quick release system to see how effectively it works. You may have to pull pretty hard to actuate the pin to release the snap.

Splice a piece of small nylon about 3 feet long into the split ring on the snap shackle pin. Put a small plastic line stopper ball (West Marine page 884) on the other end of the small nylon and fairlead it up to the seat area where it is accessible. There are 6 colors available. Use a contrasting color to what ever your seat color is. This is your emergency breakaway pendent to release the towline in case of emergency.

I keep the towline hooked up on my PWC water-ski towing eye with nylon webbing for a quicker, cleaner release. The rest of the towline is stowed in a nylon bag that is attached to the after hand hold on the rear of most seats. This keeps it out of the way, but ready for quick deployment. I know a lot of people may use polypropylene line because it floats. That's fine! I personally hate polypro, and stick with nylon.

Before splicing the towline, slide on three 5"x3" Kwik tec buoys (West Marine page 222) then splice ends onto carabiner and snap hook. After splicing, slide one buoy each up onto the throat of the splice at each end. The third buoy is attached in the middle of the line. These buoys keep the line afloat and ready for recovery if you do the emergency disconnect.

These have worked for me and the PWC Pirates in D11S. I have made about 12 such set-ups and passed them along. Since I am no longer OTO, I don't have a budget to go out and buy the stuff in bulk and make them up. The towline can get expensive because of the stainless fittings, but it's best to use good stuff, don't use junk, it will break. Make sure it's safe working load is up to the task, no cheap carabiners from KMart.

I am not a salesperson for West Marine, but they are one stop shopping for everything I need, and it's in stock! Splice away my friend.....