Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

[sewerrat]

Amazingly, multiple google searches did not yield me an answer.

Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding??
Just spent a day at the hill on hard, cheap, plastic sleds and on the way home thought about my 3 person deck tube

Anyone have any experiences to share?

 

[packman35]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

We tried it with a friend's tube. Didn't want to risk tearing mine up. Aren't I a nice guy!!

It didn't work too well. His tube (and mine) has a pocket of sorts in the bottom. I guess it is to keep the tube stabilized in the water. Some sort of brake or something. Anyway, it kept filling with snow and keeping the tube from going anywhere. And the nylon cover didn't slide over the snow too well either.

Not worth risking tearing up your expensive tube IMO.

 

[rbh]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Tire tube OH YEA
skidder, front end loader, the bigger the better.
as was said boat tube, not so good.

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

I think the pocket is to allow water to drain underway - at least that's how ours is set up. There's a flap in the bottom of the cover which wraps around an inflated tire-like tube.

I also agree - the nylon cover is probably too coarse to provide much sliding. Now, the inside piece might work ok without the cover as it's quite smooth but you might as well just use a truck inner tube in that case. Far cheaper.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Used to all the time when I was in college in the mountains. However, back then, the tube we used behind the boat was a black rubber truck tire tube tied to a rope--we put a ski belt behind the rope so it wouldn't cut into it. They didn't have "store bought" then AFAIK. Used the same tube on the rivers at school.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

In the '70s that's all there was for tubing....tubes.
Just about every ski area in these parts operates tube runs; they are a real cash cow.
Some areas dedicate a chair lift to this, some use a purpose-specific surface lift.

The tubes are just large vehicle tubes.
You could probably find pictures etc. by Googling.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

We took ours to the sledding hills and was dissapointed as the canvas cover isn't slippery, it drags real bad and wouldn't even go at all, it was too much to mess around deflating it and removing the cover but I think that would have done the trick.

 

[JimMH]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Used an older one to pull behind a 4wheeler in the snow. Not to good for going down hill Cover would bite into the snow. I have used a truck tube with good success.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Never really thought about it. Always used a tire tube for that.
Would not really want to risk it though with ours.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Years ago my son took the cover off our tube and used it on the sledding hill. Only 1 time! He said it worked great.

After putting 84 patches on it to fix the leaks, we were finally able to use it once again in the boat.

They sell cheap ones in WalMart that are specifically for sledding.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Was just at the sledding hill this afternoon, and a guy commented on my restored toboggan, and I commented on his cool looking ski - tube. He had pulled the cover off and used the tube itself. It now leaks after just a couple runs and he has to replace or repair it for boating season
He did not seem to mind too much, because it is such a big cushy ride his young kids, and they were loving it.

 

[JustJason]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

The real question is... have you ever used alpine skis to ski over water

 

[twofourdee]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Same here just used an old one behind a wheeler and that worked great slammed it into trees ran over branches and everything and it never punctured it at all... But definitly think it would work alot better out of the cover for sledding if you dont mind doing some repair on it after words lol

 

[floatingwoody2006]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

I had one earlier this year that i was going to use. Brought out the air compressor to fill er up, but the darned thing just woudn't take any air. Little did i realize that it had both an inner and outer fill chamber. When my ears stopped ringing, and my eyesight returned just from the initial concussive blast that resulted from the inner chamber exploding and scattering yellow and green material thruout my shed and front yard, my neighbor was seen running as fast as he could to see if i had been shot. I learned an important lesson that day...

 

[perrosuperior]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

I used one behind a 4wd. We don't have many hills out here, and don't see a lot of snow. The kids had a great time, and the tube was old at that point. I can't say I'd do it with a new tube, or my main water tube for that matter. but it worked great the past couple of times we did have snow.

 

[wilkboater]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

We have one that we rarely use on the water, sort shaped like a triangle. It really beats you up on the water so we call it the "triangle of death". We hooked it to my 4x4 four wheeler and had a blast. I had my wife and 7 year old going about 40 in the driveway. The outer cover won't last forever, we nearly wore a hole in it, but that could be from the patches of dry ground when the snow began to melt.

 

[CPTN Chris]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

YES! My family used one of our boat old donut shaped tube and sled down some hills, though to get anywhere we had to take off the outside cover, the fabric type stuff... So if your not willing to tear up your tube, then I wouldn't do it but If you pull it behind a ATV or 4wd, It probably would work fine

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Dragging the wife and 7 YO over dry patches at 40 mph? That one would be hard to explain if it went badly.
I don't want to sound judgmental and I did/do some crazy risky stuff. I hope you only went fast when it was safe to do so.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Has anybody used a boat tube for sledding?

Too heavy to tote back up the hill.

Now, my kneeboard on the other hand, does quite well. You can even catch and edge with i.