Challenger 210 Ski Pylon
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Dieselcamel
New Member
should just pull out. nothing to it
Pull it straight up. Give it a good yank.
There is a small spring loaded ball in the ski pylon that helps keep the pylon from just popping out. Sometimes mine sticks a bit and I lube the ball with some oil to make it easier to seat and remove the pylon. Maybe yours is stuck. Maybe you can spray some lube at the base of the pylon to help free the ball. If you do spray some lube at the base of the pylon do not spray too much. The lube will drip into the engine compartment.
The ski pylon should rotate. Does yours rotate or is it solidly in place?
There is a small spring loaded ball in the ski pylon that helps keep the pylon from just popping out. Sometimes mine sticks a bit and I lube the ball with some oil to make it easier to seat and remove the pylon. Maybe yours is stuck. Maybe you can spray some lube at the base of the pylon to help free the ball. If you do spray some lube at the base of the pylon do not spray too much. The lube will drip into the engine compartment.
The ski pylon should rotate. Does yours rotate or is it solidly in place?
It rotates easily, so I know it's not frozen in place. I've not pulled too hard, yet, because I didn't want to break something. I will give it a yank and see what happens.
Thanks!
Well, I have yanked, pulled, and twisted while pulling. Nothing. I have sprayed some lube around the base and will wait a few days while I am traveling. I may need to set up some sort of block and tackle for leverage.
I took a good look at my ski pylon. It has 2 balls that hold it in place. I can see that the base of the ball looks a bit rusted. There is also a hole in the pylon that I assume is used to lube the internals.
Mine lifts a small amount before the balls hold the pylon from coming out. It lifts about the thickness of a dime. Pulling it up/lubing/rotating may help get some lube in where it is needed.
On my boat the bottom of the ski pylon mount is open to the engine compartment. Maybe you could get under the pylon an push it up. Maybe some spray lube from the bottom would help.
It looks like my pylon mount is removable. I've not done that so don't know what that takes but it is an option.
Mine lifts a small amount before the balls hold the pylon from coming out. It lifts about the thickness of a dime. Pulling it up/lubing/rotating may help get some lube in where it is needed.
On my boat the bottom of the ski pylon mount is open to the engine compartment. Maybe you could get under the pylon an push it up. Maybe some spray lube from the bottom would help.
It looks like my pylon mount is removable. I've not done that so don't know what that takes but it is an option.
Thank you very much for the description and the picture. That helps a LOT. I will spend some more time working on this tomorrow.
Did you ever get your pylon unstuck?
Yes I did. Lots of seadoo lube and twisting back and forth, while pulling up as hard as I could. I'm going to lube it really well before I use it this year.
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briancayko
Active Member
Can you pull towable from the Pylon, i seem to remember reading somewhere that you shouldn’t?
JPass
Well-Known Member
My owner's manual states not to tow another vehicle with the pylon. I'm assuming this is referring to another vessel, not water toy. The weight limit is 500 lbs as well.
Tubes create a lot of drag and stress on the boat. I know on our '92 Ski Nautique you were not supposed to pull tubes from the ski pole. It stood a lot higher than the stubby Sea Doo one on our boats.
I've never towed a tube behind our boat, so I can't vouch for the strength of the pylon myself, but I would think it could handle it.
We pull all kinds of water toys with our pylon and never had an issue. Tubes/Skis/Boards/Sleds. This year's new pull toy is a RAD.
We pull the tubes with a bungee rope. That seems to reduce the shock a bit.
My experience says go for it and have fun!
We pull the tubes with a bungee rope. That seems to reduce the shock a bit.
My experience says go for it and have fun!
SD_Challenger
New Member
What bungee ripe are you using?
Must be an Airhead Bungee Tube Row Eope. It looks like this.
briancayko
Active Member
Can someone with the pylon send a pic of the underside mount (engine compartment)? Preferably on a 2010 challenger. Thank You!
While performing my tuneup today I stuck a camera under the ski pylon to get some photos for you.
I had no idea it was braced like this.
I had no idea it was braced like this.
anthonymsaad
Active Member
The Ski Pylon IS meant to pull tubes, skiers, wakeboarder, whatever really. Towing another vessel, that's tricky and talk about that later, but that Ski Pylon is very sturdy and trust it WAY more than the traditional tow hook.
As mentioned, the Ski Pylon is rated up to 500lbs, where as the tow hook is rated for 250lbs (not sure, manual doesn't mention it but it's 250lbs for the tower and generally the same). From a physics stand point, that traditional hook off the transom is just held in place into the 0.25" (Probably thinner) fiberglass by 2 bolts. That does't provide much support. The Ski Pylon is like a 2in diameter thick of solid stainless steel, or whatever metal, situated in a metal base. That thing can handle A LOT of force. But, force isn't so much an issue as the torque applied on the Ski pylon, which is force at some distance, and why @scottburns pictures show it so reinforced. So 500lbs of people on a tube, at 2ft up the pylon, thats ~1000lbft of torque. That's why the taller the pole, the torque increases and could essentially break the transom mount, since you can't really bend 2in thick stainless steel pole.
Overall, Ski Pylon is WAY sturdier and stronger than the traditional tow hook and I've personally towed boats and chose to use the ski pylon over the tow hook. I do that because, back to torque, when I tow boats with it, I don't put the rope at the top, where it should be traditionally. Instead, i keep it near the base to minimize torque effects and, factoring in the weight of the vessel torques are similar.
When it says 500lb weight limit, not the best way to describe the limit, i think. 500lbs, on tube doesn't mean much, like 3 adults doing 5mph is just as safe as doing 50mph? Not even close. You have to factor in speed and lbs is terrible unit of force. I think the limit is calculated doing 25-30mph, can't remember exactly, but 500lbs doing 25mph would give you similar forces if you tow a boat doing 5mph. Load wise, they're about the same. So I can vouch for how strong it is and more than capable of towing tubes.
As mentioned, the Ski Pylon is rated up to 500lbs, where as the tow hook is rated for 250lbs (not sure, manual doesn't mention it but it's 250lbs for the tower and generally the same). From a physics stand point, that traditional hook off the transom is just held in place into the 0.25" (Probably thinner) fiberglass by 2 bolts. That does't provide much support. The Ski Pylon is like a 2in diameter thick of solid stainless steel, or whatever metal, situated in a metal base. That thing can handle A LOT of force. But, force isn't so much an issue as the torque applied on the Ski pylon, which is force at some distance, and why @scottburns pictures show it so reinforced. So 500lbs of people on a tube, at 2ft up the pylon, thats ~1000lbft of torque. That's why the taller the pole, the torque increases and could essentially break the transom mount, since you can't really bend 2in thick stainless steel pole.
Overall, Ski Pylon is WAY sturdier and stronger than the traditional tow hook and I've personally towed boats and chose to use the ski pylon over the tow hook. I do that because, back to torque, when I tow boats with it, I don't put the rope at the top, where it should be traditionally. Instead, i keep it near the base to minimize torque effects and, factoring in the weight of the vessel torques are similar.
When it says 500lb weight limit, not the best way to describe the limit, i think. 500lbs, on tube doesn't mean much, like 3 adults doing 5mph is just as safe as doing 50mph? Not even close. You have to factor in speed and lbs is terrible unit of force. I think the limit is calculated doing 25-30mph, can't remember exactly, but 500lbs doing 25mph would give you similar forces if you tow a boat doing 5mph. Load wise, they're about the same. So I can vouch for how strong it is and more than capable of towing tubes.
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