Re: Big Mable feedback
Bought a Bonzai (Costco) this year. According to Sportstuff, it is the same as their 2 person Rampage, with a different graphic. Construction was superior to our delta one-man tube, and equal to O'Brian equivelent tubes at our lake marine store.
We have used it this year for 1 and 2 teenager riders. From ages 15-19. It performed very well, and was stable, especially durring the tight turns. The angled sides help prevent the corners from catching a wave and flipping. Don't assume stable means unexciting. As with most water toys, most of the control is in the hands of the driver. For most of the tube runs, I keep the boat in the 25-30mph range, but certainly can be run slower for younger riders.
As far as exciting, the teens prefered these manuvers:
Make two tight circles where the tube is spun out on the side. This creates some large interferance waves. Once you see the waves, turn out of the circle, turn and aim head on to the waves. Riders will be out of the boat wake and get a good launch off the waves. We had a few runs where the front of the tube was about 6' out of the water and the back, 2' out. I think we only lost a rider once on this move. It was a single rider, and probably hit the wave a "little" fast. Outside of some very tired teens, no one ever got hurt. In fact, very few times did the riders get thrown from the tube. Considerably less than our one person tube, even though we were not as agressive with it. Please note: we use water ski type vests which have muliple buckles and designed to stay-on with over 30mph impacts.
The only negative I have with this tube, and not sure if any 2 person tube is better, is the size and storage on the boat.
