Need help building a ski rope tow

but in doing our own research we've found the most difficult part to acquire was the rope. Do you have that already? I think a rope tow would be a great thing to have in the back yard!

go to a marine store where they sell rope by the yard. 1,000lb to 1,500lb rope should do. get 1 to 2 yards more than you need just in case.

An engine, some rope and a few pullies should do it.

That's it, we've got the engine and the pulleys. It's the rope that's the bear to find.

I imagine good waterskiing or rock climbing rope could be used. It would just have to match the gauge of the pulleys.

Ski tow rope is a good 1.5 inches in diameter. Indeed hard to find. Maybe a post on Nelsap.org will yield something.

Check out this site: http://www.snowathome.com/news_page1.htm They are trying to make a row tow too, and have a video of their prototype to date. (It looks like they have not progressed too far recently, but it's a start.)

you do not need that strong of a cable if you are just going to have one or two people on it at a time, you could get the steel cable at a marine store probably, all u would need is something like a 1/4 inch, unless its a really steep hill and you are going to have many people going on it at once.

I have a blog on rope tow: www.southernskiing.com

I am looking for the same thing. I own 35 acres in Steamboat Springs wtih a north facing slope that is 10-20 percent grade in the Aspens. Perfect to build a small rope tow with an old car.

did you have any luck with info?? please let me know - Rick Kinzie - rick@fnbsteamboat.com

thanks

My neighbor when I was a kid had a rope tow. It was probably about 150 yards long. Had a series of telephone poles with what I guess were pulleys on top (the actually looked like car wheels with no tire). The rope was about 2". I think you need something thick to get a good grip on, so I wouldn't consider cable or thin rope like some have mentioned. He powered it with the PTO on his tractor. It was pretty easy to get the thing going once it was set up for the season (they stored the rope inside for the off-season)... pull up the tractor, wrap the rope around a pulley that was on the mid-PTO on the tractor, back the tractor up for proper tension, start the PTO and control rope speed with throttle (when we were older he'd crank the thing up and we'd go up the hill faster than we could sled down it).

I'm getting ready to build my own with a similar setup. Definitely don't know where to get any of the parts yet. I was guessing the rope would be something used for docking large boats. Probably not cheap unless there's a source for used rope. And I don't know where to get the pulleys either, unless there's some car wheels that actuall have the right shape. Then the last part to the puzzle is rigging everything to the tractor... I only have a rear mount PTO and I'll have to figure out some kind of gearing (the PTO isn't in a spot where you can easily get a rope in like the old neighbor could with the mid mount, plus the axis of rotation is 90 degrees off where you'd want it to spin the same direction as the wheels) plus where to get a pulley that will attach.

If anybody's had some luck, please e-mail me: rissacher@hotmail.com

www.skiingathome.com I have much more now on skiing at home, stop in and see if it helps Travis Skiing at Home dot com

Check this out http://www.skilift.nashacanada.com/. You can get some ideas but it looks a tad flimsy.

See Skiing Magazine January 2008 Page 72

It was Ski Magazine, not Skiing Magazine. I was feaured in the article, my hill is in the Mansfield PA area. Feel free to e-mail me directly at kevinglue@hotmail.com can't gaurentee i'll have time to write back right away. It very hard to explain in a text message how to build rope tow,. So be spicific if you have a queston. Don't just say how do I build a tow! My tow is 635 feet long and i use it a lot. It cost me a little over $2,000 to build. By invite anyone is welcome to visit and see how it is made.

Kevin Thomas

Mansfield pa

Here's a ink to the article there's also a small phot gallery to see there. This is the web page for SKi Magazine. I'd love to hear any comments from those reading the article.

Kevin Thomas

http://www.skinet.com/article.jsp?ID=1000041291

Look for the manila rope used to secure truckloads of hay bales. It has the diameter you're looking for. Don't expect it to be cheap, however.

popular mechanics

october, 1949

http://books.google.com/books?id=D9kDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0_0

yea go to youtube and type in "how to make a homemade rope tow" and it is the 1st one or where the guy is at a lake

if you have a two stage snowblower, just prop it up on a couple of bricks on the top of the hill, then anchor a pulley at the bottom. Run a strong rope or cable through the pulley and through the treads of the tire, start the snowblower,put it in its fastest gear,and tie down the drive control using a shoelace knot. For emergency stop, pull one of the loop ends.

We have a rope tow at a small ski hill in our area (Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada). We use 1 1/8" rope. Please note that rope used for a ski tow has a special lay that prevents excessive twisting which can become a real hazard with clothes, hair or mitts getting snagged. Be aware also that real dangers exist even with the right rope. Not that much twisting is needed to make this happen. We have stopping devices in case this happens at the top of the hill and they have prevented accidents in the past. Wouldn't matter what's driving the rope, someone (kid) going through sheaves isn't a pretty sight to imagine. Ours is driven by a 40 h.p. electric motor - 110 ft rise -650 ft lift.

Couldn't get the manila rope in fall of 2008 - not made in North America any more. Would have to get it from the Philipines probably. We switched to 1 1/8" polypropylene & used it for one season. So far so good - good grip, half the weight, easier to splice, doesn't pick up as much snow when mild outside. If you do a search for rope suppliers and look on their site, they often have ski rope listed. I bought ours from Maple Leaf Ropes in Brantford, southern Ontario. Cost about $2200 with shipping (1500 feet).

You can check out our site at remiskiclub.com

Andre

I am in the final stages of building my own rope tow using an old barn cleaner (any of you farms boys (gals) know what this is. Basicly it is a large electric motor that through gears reduces the drive 45 - 1 and is used for looping the chain scrapper around the trough in the barn. Anyway, I can send some pics if interested but the previous post brought up a good point. Safety. I am trying to figure out how I can install a safety switch on my power unit. I would like to install a trip switch so if a kid gets hung up on the rope it shuts down the unit. Can anyone give me some advice on what to look for? I am thinking some sort of reverse solinoid that will allow a low voltage switch to shut off a 220v power supply. Much thanks!

theres a ski area near me, woodburyskiarea.com they have a rope tow that stared off as a lawn mower engine now they have an electric motor. at the top of the hill they have two posts with a cord inbetween, if you go through the cord it kills the engine. You can set something like that up with a gas engine if you bypass the ignition and run a "killswitch" through a wire connected to the posts. Think of a snowmobile or jet ski kill switch thats attached to the rider...im trying to build a rope tow in my backyard, has anyone seen any schematics on one?

there's a ski area near me, woodburyskiarea.com they have a rope tow that started off as a lawn mower engine now they have an electric motor. at the top of the hill they have two posts with a cord in-between, if you go through the cord it kills the engine. You can set something like that up with a gas engine if you bypass the ignition and run a "kill switch" through a wire connected to the posts. Think of a snowmobile or jet ski kill switch that's attached to the rider...I'm trying to build a rope tow in my backyard, has anyone seen any schematics on one?

Thanks and that would work fine for a gas motor but I have a 220v electric motor and i can't just have the rope pull the plug out. I was hoping some one had some experiance with limit switches. I have none and ma having a hard time understanding the acronyms and codes describing them. Found one on Grainger but it appears to be only momentary and not a permament shutoff. Any thoughts out there? Thanks

Wouldn't a limit switch only be activated after something (i.e. child) was already stuck in the machine? although a momentary switch would be good if there was too much load on the rope to prevent damage. Every ski lift has a safety gate, which when tripped will break the electrical circuit until reset. If you send the negative through the "rope" it would break the circuit before something got jammed into the machine. Good luck.

I help run a rope tow at a small ski area in upstate New York ( skiventure.org ) There are a couple of items that are critical with respects to safety on a rope tow. 1) type of rope 2) safety gate and 3) roll back brake

The type of rope as mention earlier in this post is critical – the type of weave is such that it is symmetrical and resists twisting. Also it is important that if a skier falls while riding the "lift" the rope does not run across the skier. In a very short time the rope will burn thru the cloths and to the skin. At our rope tow there is a stop button at the top and bottom of the lift with an attendant.

The safety gate / stop button is a 12 volt system. When the dc circuit is complete two things happen. A solenoid disengages the roll back brake and by pressing the start switch completes the main power circuit via another solenoid to the main motor. The circuit is wired in a way that once the safety system ( 12 V ) is broken the solenoids retract, cuts the power to the tow motor and locks the roll back brake. Once everyone is off the lift, the safety circuit is reestablished by completing the circuit ( this releases the brake ) and restarting the motor via the second solenoid. The safety circuit at the gate is just an on / off switch or in our case an electrical plug and socket. The two prongs of the plug are shorted. When plugged into the socket the DC circuit is completed. The "cord" side of the socket is attached to the gate. When a skier comes in contact with the gate the plug is pulled and the tow stops and the brake engages.

This is confusing in words – but perhaps this gives you some idea on how the circuit is set up.