Hi BCB, I have a 2006 PIV and things got real scary for a moment today. When I bought the boat I got the ladder and hardware for tubing/skiing and have done so for the last two summers. Today I went out and while pulling a friend on a tube…..THE SKI ROPE POLE AND WHITE SLEEVE in the BOAT PULLED OUT WHILE I WAS GOING 20 MPH…….the top of the pole crashed into the top of the Merc cowling creating a 6by 6″ L-shaped crack on the top of the motor, it is cracked the whole way through……it scared the heck out of all of us and if it would of hit someone, well it would of been bad……… Now, I have to say that when I bought the rig and first set up the ski pole, i was surprised that the pole, while threaded, did not screw into the base….but i thought it must be the design….as I noticed after the accident, the bottom of the ski pole does have a hole, and the tube inside the boat, which extends down to the hull, also has a hole that lines up with the ski pole hole….now, if I was supposed to put a “pin” through these holes, I was not aware of it, and even that would be bothersome for 2 reasons, the metal shaft does not seem that strong and the hole in it is much larger than the ski pole hole, i.e., there would be some “give”…..the metal shaft hole would get larger as the pin pulled up on it… Is this something that has been brought to your attention before or something that I did wrong? I am looking at a hefty cowling repair bill plus I need to get the source of the problem resolved so I can eventually ski and tube again! Thanks for your help, Gregg Hostetler (BAM)
.
