Ski hook on 275 freedom factory hardtop
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unless it is factory option and does not have something special done to the supports when the option is installed, I wouldn't do it.
Interesting idea. I would love to install a ski hook on the hardtop so I could get rid of the sky pylon on my stern and tilt my engine all the way up. (The F350 can't tilt up all the way when the factory ski pylon is installed.) I am not an engineer but I bet the hardtop legs are strong enough; maybe there's a question about whether the fiberglass of the top itself is strong enough. You could call Grady and ask or you could call a custom fabricator and get their assessment. Whatever you learn and do, share back here!
luckydude
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I'm wondering the same thing for my 228. I'll bet anything GW says you shouldn't do that, if they say yes and something happens, you have grounds to get them to fix it.
My guess is we have to find people who have done it and learn from them. I'm not a structural engineer, I am an engineer with some basic brain cells. It seems to me that the hard top has to be built to take the pounding we give it out on the ocean. Given that you aren't likely to be doing that when you are towing a skier (or some giant tube which is what I'd be doing), I would think it could handle it.
But it would be good to talk to people who have. I'll ask over on THT and see if anyone there knows. I'll talk to GW as well but I'm not holding my breath on that one, if I were them I would say it isn't designed for it.
What about just running a heavy rope from the aft eyelets out behind the engine and clipping your tow rope to that? I know those eyelets are strong, they left the boat up with them. Not as clean as a ski pole but cheaper and it was my plan B if the hard top didn't work.
luckydude
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OK, THT, man I hate that forum, full of salty jerks that can't seem to realize that it is OK to ask a question. You guys are better.
So everyone hated on the idea of attaching to the hardtop. And they weren't shy about implying I was stupid to ask. I dunno, seems like a reasonable thing to think about to me but I'm Mr Idiot. At least over there. Yeah, I'm all butt hurt, why are some people jerks?
Whatever, there are two answers. There is this https://turboswing.com/ which is $800 or so or you spend less than $50 for a boat tow harness that is basically a rope with 2 clips on it that clip to your eye cleats and it has a float in the middle that keeps it up away from the prop. I'm gonna try just making one of those. Seems like it would be handy if you had to tow someone in like I did last trip out.
Let me know what you come up with.
So everyone hated on the idea of attaching to the hardtop. And they weren't shy about implying I was stupid to ask. I dunno, seems like a reasonable thing to think about to me but I'm Mr Idiot. At least over there. Yeah, I'm all butt hurt, why are some people jerks?
Whatever, there are two answers. There is this https://turboswing.com/ which is $800 or so or you spend less than $50 for a boat tow harness that is basically a rope with 2 clips on it that clip to your eye cleats and it has a float in the middle that keeps it up away from the prop. I'm gonna try just making one of those. Seems like it would be handy if you had to tow someone in like I did last trip out.
Let me know what you come up with.
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wrxhoon
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I wouldn't do it if I was you. The hardtop is very strong and so are the tubes that support it but you are putting a lot of leverage on the bottom where the tubes are bolted on . You can work out the load on the bottom if you know the load you towing and the height of the tubes .
luckydude
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I'm going to just make a tow harness. Seems easy and useful. I'll probably do clips even though a bowline knot would work fine for a day with the kids, clips would be better if you were setting up to tow a boat in. Though as I'm thinking about it, I can tie a bowline in not much more time than a clip if I have a soft rope. So maybe some rope, a float, and off we go.
The key to getting the most out of your water toys is knowing the correct length of tow rope, and correct speed for each. Too long takes the fun out of it, and too short is dangerous, as is too fast.
I'm currently using the lift rings with a bridle (tow harness) between them on my Tournament.
The rings are close to the water line and the rope stays in the wake. It makes it hard to throw a tube outside the wake for a good ride.
That being said it works just fine for my 6 and 8 yr old granddaughters but I'm looking seriously at the Turboswing for the lake next year.
The rings are close to the water line and the rope stays in the wake. It makes it hard to throw a tube outside the wake for a good ride.
That being said it works just fine for my 6 and 8 yr old granddaughters but I'm looking seriously at the Turboswing for the lake next year.
I know this is an old thread, and I don’t even have a 275 yet but I see Scout and others have the tow point on the hard top and I would want one. I have yet to grab on and shake my 200lbs on the hard top, but I don’t see why you couldn’t do it with a little modification. First I wouldn’t go through the fiberglass directly, I’d take it to a fab shop and have them weld something from the stainless side supports and come up right behind the fiberglass where the optional rod holders are like Scout does, or even through the fiberglass but not supported by it. I’ve read threads where people/kids climb up and jump off the Grady hard tops, and thinking about heavy rods in every rod holder, plus the storage up there getting pounded through rough seas, that’s a lot of leverage and weight on those tops and I don’t see a sub 200lb skier/wakeboarder pulling much harder. I’m a mechanical engineer, and the way the Grady top is supported not only like a radar arch, but supported through the metal with diagonal supports up to the windshield, I do not think you are pulling the bolts of the top through the hull since they are through bolted and not screwed in. I have a tournament 19 with a swiveleze ski pylon mounted with the base screwed into the gas tank hatch and the arms screwed in behind the rear seats and it’s pulled 250lb men slolom skiing hard enough to give you whiplash in the boat for 30 years without a single issue. My friend has an 18’ Grady with a pylon mounted to the floor hatch with the arms mounted to the stainless grab bar around the motor with a couple small extra supports that has handled the same stress. The floors and sides of a Grady are thick and solid. If the proposed skier, 200 or 250lbs of them can hang on the back of the hard top metal and bounce up and down as hard as their grip can hold, then it can hold their grip on a ski handle with maybe a couple extra welded in supports.
Here is a scout 230, only supported by the radar arch, not even tied into in front of the windshield, there’s no way with the extra supports on a Grady that you’d have issues making a mount like this.
I would agree it is a non issue for a skier or a wakeboarder as long as you are not pulling from the center of the rear crossbar. I would "Y" from the top of the rear vertical supports. 2-3 kids on a tube - I'm going off the rear d-rings with my "Y" harness.
Did you tie off to the center or elsewhere? I've seen crossbars cracked at the welds. Likely a weld issue, but thought a "Y" off the verticals would eliminate that concern. How many people do you pull in a tube and how big are they. My kids aren't so kid like anymore!
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I just ran it around the main bar below the rod holders. I would pull a 3 person tube with 3 teenagers on it regularly, you have to be careful with the tube wanting to catch air when tied to the hard top. I would wakeboard myself and I'm 180ish and never had any problems. I do like the idea of tying to the verticals.