Has anyone constructed a portable motorised tow cable for those no wind day's ?

Basic construction could be

250cc motorcycle engine complete with clutch, gears etc
winch drum with up to 500m of suitable rope
disc brake on drum for control
constructed on a small skid suitable for mounting in a 6x4 trailer

in a location with no general public this should give up to 500m of room to practice board skills and generally have a ball !

Cheers

Sounds like you're onto something, get it going and i'm sure you'll have plenty of new friends

If you haven't heard I think what your describing is a wake winch??

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Buell said...


250cc motorcycle engine complete with clutch, gears etc

Umm... 600cc

Yea a mate of mine builds em,

Called the urban rider

www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=winchrider&e=com

Buell,
I have canvassed the rest of the Whyalla crew and we all unanamously agree that you should construct one of these asap!!!
Cheers

AB

In Melbourne please
I'm sure I can get a crew together to help you.

I have a wake winch for sale for $1500 Only used 10-15 times. Cost me $3000

My mates got an urban rider, very nice!

Lots of people have made there own, check out this forum it has heaps of usful info:
winchskating.com/forums/

looks like it would be fun to build.
anyone know roughly how much all the parts would be

Smacks of effort to me, all that exertion of pulling out the cable, resetting the winch for 15 seconds of wakeboarding...

May as well play the "Punch yourself in the head" game.

Thanks guy's,

lot's of good info there, have to agree that 250cc might not be big enough. Had visions of 500m runs, huge carving S's, stupid launches off the slider etc.

AB, can see that a ticket booth might be needed

Now where did I put that motor from the drag bike........

Cheers

Drag bike engine. Now we are talking!!!!!!!!
Perfect for some sweet runs down the Whyalla foreshore.
AB

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lostinlondon said...

Smacks of effort to me, all that exertion of pulling out the cable, resetting the winch for 15 seconds of wakeboarding...

May as well play the "Punch yourself in the head" game.

Yeah if you don't have any sliders or kickers then it can get pretty boring.

Not that much effort required tho

Maybe just all chip in & hire a ski boat for a day

Yeah i've heard a couple of Australind boy's made their own wake winch in their backyard dam.
Apparently they used a front wheeled drive car and wrapped ski rope or something around a rim
They a had a big slider setup aswell, i did see a YouTube clip of this from a link from Seebeeze, but i can't remember how to find it.

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lostinlondon said...

Smacks of effort to me, all that exertion of pulling out the cable, resetting the winch for 15 seconds of wakeboarding...

May as well play the "Punch yourself in the head" game.

Why not move to the sunshine coast and live 5 minutes away from a cable ski park instead? or... move somewhere that has better wind, or surf when there is none of the above. Sounds like waaaay to much effort, I think the days when there is no wind, waves or the skipark is closed are worthy of sleeping on the lounge instead. Or am I just getting lazy as I get older?

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Why not move to the sunshine coast and live 5 minutes away from a cable ski park instead? or... move somewhere that has better wind, or surf when there is none of the above. Sounds like waaaay to much effort, I think the days when there is no wind, waves or the skipark is closed are worthy of sleeping on the lounge instead. Or am I just getting lazy as I get older?

Exactly! Move to the Cairns area. Have this one in front of your doorsteps: www.cairnswakepark.com/ and use Palm Cove, Yorkeys Knob, Port Douglas or any of the other beaches for the windy days.

Lucky us eh?!

We all know how desperate we become when there is no wind for a while. I say give something a go. winch seems way better than the bungee idea to me. Ive just pulled trees out of a small dam on my parents property. Im just going to take it in turns to tow mates using a car. haven't tried it yet but should be either fun or funny. either is good. got a straight line distance of about 85m along the dam with car at the end of the dam driving away from it. possibly a fair bit of effort for little reward but man it saves watching midday tv on windless days. (I don't surf)

only trouble is for the money you fork out for a cable puller you can get a half decent tinny that will pull you around all day - and you have a bit of a wake, keep going to you fall off, and can take mates and an esky go fishing etc.

Just need to set it up in a loop and then you can go all day , the 15 second ride then unwind seems a bit of a pain...

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kitebored said...

Just need to set it up in a loop and then you can go all day , the 15 second ride then unwind seems a bit of a pain...

Easier said than done I think.

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Smedg said...

kitebored said...

Just need to set it up in a loop and then you can go all day , the 15 second ride then unwind seems a bit of a pain...

Easier said than done I think.

Like I said. Smacks. Of. Effort.

All that time and money spent on a cable winch could be spent on:

1. A small boat/jet ski for using as a tow boat.
2. Weed. Lots and lots of weed. Then you won't feel the urge exert yourself so much.
3. Ya mum
4. The benevolent fund for LostinLondon's campervan maintenance bill.