Belly Boats On The Bow

[ironfly]

http://www.stripersurf.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15888

 

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/sho...ad.php?t=490085

 

http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/wading.htm

 

http://www.mombu.com/fishing/fishing/t-wad...16115-last.html

 

But I digress. Yes, when I say "tubing", I mean with an inner tube. No, we weren't fishing, but it puts you in the same situation as if you were in a float tube. Short legs? Depends on your point of reference. My inseam is 32". My point was that after about 1000 floats ( average of 10 people, repeated 100 times over the years), not one person required so much as a band-aid, let alone a rescue. Not to mention all the other groups we met and talked to. Yeah, the odd person snagged their foot on something and got flipped, but that isn't going to trap you. The real danger is getting pinned by water pressure against an obstruction, and that can happen in any type of watercraft if you don't know how to steer, or you're not staying heads-up.

[SamIam]

A float tube is not the same as floating on an inner tube. With an inner tube, you can simply roll off and swim or whatever you want to do. With a float tube, you are kind of trapped in the seat, with your legs hanging vertically. If your feet were to become trapped, you would be in trouble, as it would be hard to get out of the seat with the water pressure pushing the tube downstream.

[ruffsranger]

http://www.stripersurf.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15888

 

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/sho...ad.php?t=490085

 

http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/wading.htm

 

http://www.mombu.com/fishing/fishing/t-wad...16115-last.html

 

But I digress. Yes, when I say "tubing", I mean with an inner tube. No, we weren't fishing, but it puts you in the same situation as if you were in a float tube. Short legs? Depends on your point of reference. My inseam is 32". My point was that after about 1000 floats ( average of 10 people, repeated 100 times over the years), not one person required so much as a band-aid, let alone a rescue. Not to mention all the other groups we met and talked to. Yeah, the odd person snagged their foot on something and got flipped, but that isn't going to trap you. The real danger is getting pinned by water pressure against an obstruction, and that can happen in any type of watercraft if you don't know how to steer, or you're not staying heads-up.

 

 

Good grief junior; there is no comparison between an inner tube & a belly boat; get your head out of your ; what ever!!

Look on the net & see what a belly boat is!

[ironfly]

Gee, I'm just shocked to encounter hostility, derision, and condescension on this board. I'm pretty familiar with belly boats, ruff; I sold them for a few years and have owned three different models. SamIam, maybe your experience with tubing is different, but most people spend plenty of time sitting up on the tube, with their feet in the hole. To me, this is actually more dangerous than float tubes; if your feet were to somehow get trapped, the little plastic tabs that connect the apron to the float tube would snap off easily. An inner tube has no such built in safety feature. Or have you never wondered why one of those tabs is always "broken" right out of the box? Besides, in order to get your feet trapped, realistically, you'd have to be wearing boots that resemble the ones Needles Tannin wore in Back to the Future.

 

The bigger danger that I see (sorry if this counts as a hijacked thread), is the number of guys fishing out of drift boats with no PFD.

[SamIam]

what is the difference between a float tube and a belly boat?

If I tried to sit on top of an innertube, with my feet through the hole, my fat *** would flip it right over, so having a hard time picturing what you mean.

[reevesr1]

I've tubed quite a bit when I was younger, and in some pretty shallow water. I too am having a hard time seeing the similarity between tubing and a belly boat. On a tube, or at least the ones we used, one's legs were above the tube with your ass in the middle. Gravel might chap your ass, but not really any danger. With a belly boat, your legs are below the tube. In shallow water there is no way to get your legs out of the way. Not to say the danger of a belly boat in the lower Bow isn't being overstated, but it certainly seems more dangerous than a tube.

[SamIam]

I have inner tubed on many rivers...its what we used to do all summer long when I was a kid on the coastal rivers...some of them with some pretty good whitewater...way more sketchy than the Bow. I always laid on it like Rickr described...or on my belly. Sure wouldn't go down those rivers in a belly boat though.

[birchy]

what is the difference between a float tube and a belly boat?

If I tried to sit on top of an innertube, with my feet through the hole, my fat *** would flip it right over, so having a hard time picturing what you mean.

 

In a belly boat, your entire lower body is in the water:

 

 

In a good float tube, your butt is up out of the water, so only your legs from just below the knee down are in the water:

 

[Hawgstoppah]

No offense, but comparing having your feet down from a pontoon to the way your entire lower half is down from a float tube is like comparing apples to oranges. A float tube can and will get turned over if you run aground in shallower water, whereas a pontoon is stable enough to ride it out, and you CAN tuck your legs up when you get into trouble.

 

I'd never, ever, ever, ever float the bow in a tube... or any river for that matter. one mistake and your done. Once it is upside down it's pretty much game over.

[ruffsranger]

In a belly boat, your entire lower body is in the water:

 

 

In a good float tube, your butt is up out of the water, so only your legs from just below the knee down are in the water:

 

 

 

That's a great post.

Thanks

[KingSalmon]

No

 

It was a story about him going to a friends pothole and the air running out of is bellyboat. Somehow over the years it turned into him floating the Bow with it.

 

Actually I recall the article in one of Alberta's travel magazines and Ralph Klein himself said that he enjoys taking his belly boat on the Bow! lol I can't find a link to the article but it was a little comical to say the least!

[ironfly]

So when you learn to canoe, you practice a wet exit right? Same with kayaking. Just makes sense. Anybody done that with a belly boat, float tube, or pontoon boat? Or do you figure you should be able to handle it when the time comes? Or better yet, "It'll never happen to me."

[skearns]

Thank God for natural selection...

 

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/05/16/18152906.html