Towable Tubes & Toys - Buying Guide

Towable Tubes & Toys - Buying Guide

No matter what type of outdoor watersports activity you enjoy, Towables are essential to a true watersports experience and family fun as well as a way to have some recreational time on the water. There are a wide variety of types of Towables from Sofas, Deck to Donuts. Not only that, but they will also offer a capacity such as 1-3 Person which is listed on the product description of all Towables.

FINDING THE RIGHT TOWABLE

Finding the right towable for your needs can be difficult, this is where we come in to help you decide which towable you should go for. The most important first question you will need to find out is how many riders you want to pull and who is going to be riding the towable. In general, younger children will need tubes they can sit in and not on. This is because they will often be nervous about going on a towable at first, and ensuring that they are safe and that they feel like they are safe is important especially to ensure that everyone has as much fun as possible. Throughout them experiencing towables and getting the grip on this recreational sport, they'll soon develop their preferences, in which then you'll be able to experiment further into different kinds of towables.

Choosing the right towable based on how many people are going to be riding is crucial as it allows all riders to be as safe as possible, allowing them to have adequate spacing between each other as well as not going over the recommended rider capacity of that towable. All towables are designed to accommodate one of three basic riding positions. Seated, kneeling, or lying prone on your front; all must be facing in the direction of travel for safety reasons. Towables are rated on the number of riders that they are designed to carry. As a basic rule, the larger the tube, the more riders it can potentially carry. All Towables are always designed so that every rider can comfortably reach and tightly grip a handle in each hand.

Jobe's towables are rated for a maximum number of riders but can still be used with fewer people onboard. For example, a 3 person towable can sometimes still be used by 2 or even 1 rider if they distribute themselves evenly and maintain a balanced load on the tube. If you do tow with less than the rated capacity onboard, it is essential that the tube is kept balanced and the weight is evenly distributed or it will become dangerously unstable as the speed builds up.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOWABLES

  • Donut - Just like an actual donut with one or more holes for each rider to sit-in
  • Deck - A flat disc shape, often completely round but sometimes dart-shaped or slightly squared off.
  • Sofa - Similar looking to a sofa or a wedge, often with sides or winglets, but sometimes without.
  • Banana Boat - The classic hotdog shape with riders all seated in a row.
  • Hybrid - An interesting and sometimes whacky combination of 1 or more of the above styles.

Towables are the best way to get kids out on the water having fun and maybe inspire a lifelong love of watersports. Other watersports that they'll enjoy would be Wakeboarding!