A sad tale

Everything was going great. The water looked like this.



My five year old boys wanted to learn to wakeboard, so I put on this.



Then, I noticed this.



And this.



Ever try to find an aluminum welder on Memorial day weekend? Not fun.

You don't need that boom or the tower to teach your kid to wakeboard. Get him behind the boat 20 or 30 feet away and tell him what to do when coming up. Then, just quickly pull the rope into the boat with your hands. He will get the feel of it and after a few times of doing this will probably get up on the first try using the boat. Here is my little grom back in the day at 5 years old.

Originally Posted by jmanolinsky

You don't need that boom or the tower to teach your kid to wakeboard. Get him behind the boat 20 or 30 feet away and tell him what to do when coming up. Then, just quickly pull the rope into the boat with your hands. He will get the feel of it and after a few times of doing this will probably get up on the first try using the boat. Here is my little grom back in the day at 5 years old.

That's what I'm going to do next time. Its just that I've had the boom in my basement for 2 years (it was a gift) and finally had an excuse to try it out . . . .

That sucks about the tower. I like how you told the story with pictures! The good thing is it can be fixed fairly easily by the right guy with the right tools.

Yeah, I guess the post is about the tower breaking which would suck. I didn't mean to take away from that fact. I just hope you got out there and enjoyed the weekend the best that you could!

It was going to happen... I'm glad no one received any injuries.. The towers are designed for fore/aft loads.. Not side loads like that barefoot pole would impose on lt..

If it gave way while you were pulling, it would have taken out the driver..... Lucky Bro..

Are you docked with no fenders against a wooden dock in that second pic?

Originally Posted by markj

Are you docked with no fenders against a wooden dock in that second pic?

Ha! You guys don't miss anything! It's not as bad as it looks though. This is probably the least used rideable public waterway in New Jersey. Even on Memorial Day weekend, only 5 or 10 boats will go by this marina all day. It's really kinda incredible, considering that its only 20 minutes away from my place in center city Philly. The water is brown,the scenery is ugly, the banks smell of rotten vegetation (or, at least I tell myself that it's rotten vegetation . . . ), the tides are extreme, and you have to know where the sandbars are at low tide, but it's an incredible riding spot - smooth, decent wind protection, and 15 to 20 feet deep in the channel.

Originally Posted by phillywakeboarder

Ha! You guys don't miss anything! It's not as bad as it looks though. This is probably the least used rideable public waterway in New Jersey. Even on Memorial Day weekend, only 5 or 10 boats will go by this marina all day. It's really kinda incredible, considering that its only 20 minutes away from my place in center city Philly. The water is brown,the scenery is ugly, the banks smell of rotten vegetation (or, at least I tell myself that it's rotten vegetation . . . ), the tides are extreme, and you have to know where the sandbars are at low tide, but it's an incredible riding spot - smooth, decent wind protection, and 15 to 20 feet deep in the channel.

I know this place well! Spent many days riding with JB there. I don't miss the tide BS though.

Originally Posted by newmy79

I know this place well! Spent many days riding with JB there. I don't miss the tide BS though.

JB and I ride together 2 or 3 days a week. You should come out with us sometime.

Originally Posted by phillywakeboarder

JB and I ride together 2 or 3 days a week. You should come out with us sometime.

I moved to South Carolina, no more NJ for me.

Tell him Justin and Michele say hi though!

So did you get to teach him and pull him from the back of the boat without the tower, or was the whole weekend eaten up trying to find a way to fix the tower?
If it were me, I would just not use the tower at all over the weekend, pulling from the rear ski hook deal and worry about getting it welded when businesses were open again.

LOL, I understand that logic completely.

I bought a tower a few months ago and it came with this broken weld..... sucked cause nobody would touch it cause of liability reasons, so sent it back after a month of fighting with them on whos fault it was.

By the time I stopped swearing and disassembled everything and made some calls to potential welders the tide had really started to roll so we abandoned our plans to learn to wakeboard and whipped out the trusty ski trainer and had some fun. Here's a pic from the day before, when I still had a usable tower ...