New borns in the boat

[jordanh]

Looking for a bit of advice with having a new born. Has anyone found a way to ski in the boat with a baby on board? I have an 8 week old son. My wife and I have had him in the boat several times with great success but have not tried to do any sort of watersports in the process. When we first found out she was expecting we knew we would obviously be extremely limited in our normal activities like mountain biking and snow boarding but were excited to still utilize our boat as a family. Now with all of the Covid happenings we are hesitant on letting anyone else in the boat with us let alone hold our son while my wife and I ski and drive.

 

Our son has a baby bjorn that he loves to be in but thats a no go with the life jacket. We also thought about strapping the car seat into the boat but thats also a no go with the extra size of the life jacket. We cant seem to overcome any situation as the life jacket is not comfortable for him unless we are holding him in our arms.

 

I hope this doesnt turn into a discussion of safety as my wife and I will be the assessors of that for our own child. I am simply trying to see if any other ski couples had found a way to make this work for them. My wife and I are extremely protective of our son and would not put him in a situation that we found to be overly risky. I know thousands of you have had new borns in your boat and would simply like advice for those situations.

[MattP]

Some good discussion here

https://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/19887/skiing-with-a-baby

[jordanh]

Thank you for that link. I will need to work on my search abilities in the future. I will have to revisit how the little one fits in the car seat with his vest on. That seems to be the common scenario out of that discussion.

[Horton]

I used to wedge a car seat between the engine box and the passenger seat for Reagan. Obviously we were cautious but she rode in the boat quite a bit when she was tiny. I'm actually more worried about the rope getting near a small child than anything else. As adults we kind of take the rope for granted but it really is kind of scary.

 

Yeah, obviously we were not on a huge public Lake and spinning donuts at full speed....

[jordanh]

@Horton

 

I assume Reagan was in the car seat with a PFD on? My little guy is only 11 lbs right now. I have a <30LB PFD for him. It is a bit big but I feel safe with him in it. I just dont think him wearing it while being in a car seat will be comfortable for him. Im going to try it out up at the camper and see if he goes for it but I may just need to wait until he is a bit bigger.

[JGray]

In our old Malibu LX I put stainless attchament points in under the passenger seat and had the car seat strapped in facing forward to protect from a flung handle. Also required anyone skiing to use a shock tube when sking to keep it from wrapping around in the boat. Between the attacment points and some straps the seat was anchored down pretty well. Take it for what it is worth. It was what we thought was safest.

[Horton]

@Jordan No. we are on a private lake and in a new boat. I did not feel a vest was necessary. You can always go to the next level but at some point ...

[Bruce_Butterfield]

You will never get a vest to fit a newborn. Better to strap them in a carseat and tie a flotation device to the seat in the very unlikely event the boat flips or the carseat gets tossed out. Particularly if the seat is on the floor in a 3 event boat, the chances of getting tossed out are very remote.

[keithh2oskier]

@jordanh i also didn't have a life jacket on my newborn as we skied at a private lake. Mostly due to comfort for the baby. I never felt there was any safety risk.

[JGray]

To add to my note, we were also on a private ski lake and the boat was and kept in very good mechinical condition, so no worries about other boat traffic etc associated with open water environments.

[Justin_C]

As was the consensus from my original post in the thread that is linked above, it all comes down to your personal preference and opinion based on your own setup. My wife drove me with our newborn in the infant carrier, strapped to her chest. We now have a second baby and will be doing the same thing and I fashioned a seatbelt into the observers seat to keep my almost 2 year old from trying to run around the boat and show off his dance moves mid set. He wears a life jacket and the belt isn't tightened way down so IF anything happened he'd likely come out.

My wife an I also have an understanding that if she feels like they are not doing well with the arrangement at any point, she points me out at the end of the course, I get in and we go home.

[jordanh]

For a bit more info we are on a small 990 acre lake. If we ski after dinner time the lake is essentially a ghost town. If the car seat is strapped to the observer seat and my boy strapped into the car seat I honestly agree and dont see what good a PFD would be at that point. Like what has been mentioned I think flotation on the car seat would be more important at that point. In the event something drastic happened the quick release could be pulled to seperate the seat from the base and the seat could float. Thanks for all the feedback!

[sunperch]

@jordanh We had our daughter in the boat at 7 days old, I will pulling my husband. We used a cooler to wedge her car seat (infant carrier) next to the pylon on the floor. The first time did not work so well, her car seat slid to the back of the boat when I accelerated and I had to shut down. Once we had her secured better, we skied the rest of the season without any problems. We even found a little clip on fan to keep her cool. I HIGHLY recommend keeping them in a life jacket at all times once they can move on their own, but we did not use flotation when they were strapped in the car seat as an infant. Once she could crawl or walk on her own, I used a speedo, non-USCG swim vest from Target, just enough to keep them on the surface until I could grab them, if they fell in out of my reach . Fast forward and she is now getting ready to leave for college, but still skiing as a family. What a great way to raise a family!!!!

[jordanh]

Sounds like most are on private lakes. Anyone on a public lake? I have come across a patrol once in the 10 years my family has been on this lake but the better half shut it right down at the legality stand point.

[Justin_C]

I'm on public water. Where we ski though is very protected and most people don't venture in that far because everyone thinks it is too shallow

[NikolG]

On a private lake we had a cheap bouncy seat that was perfect. It literally worked with the bumps and absorbed all the waves. They survived, 16 and 20 years old now. On a public lake you could add a life best to the whole contraption?

[MillerTime38]

Here is a picture of our twins in the boat with us, they were about 3 months old in this pic

[jordanh]

That's awesome! Do you have a guess at about what they weigh in that picture? My little guy is 2 months old and 10.5 lbs. I tried just that in the car seat and his vest was pushing up into his face pretty bad. I think he just needs a few more weeks to get a little bigger.

[Rednucleus]

Just a reminder on rope injuries as I view the pic of the twins spotting. When my son was 2 yr old, my wife was holding him while spotting. Rope broke at the handle and came in the boat, cracked the whip just above his eye, broke skin. 1" lower and he would have last an eye. It's a rare accident, but it is something to consider.

 

[MillerTime38]

@Rednucleus while we skied we put covers over the car seats (Milk snobs) and took every precaution (like not using a 5 year old handle or rope). We obviously used common sense and didn’t go out looking for an extra half buoy while having kids in the boat. Did you have a shock tube on when the rope broke and hit your kid?

 

@jordanh the kids were probably around 10 or 11 lbs and we only kept them in jackets while driving out to course and between sets because like you said the jackets were pretty uncomfortable for them. Trust me my wife is a professional worrier and she was actually able to relax and enjoy the time on the water

[Rednucleus]

@MillerTime38 - Yes, shock tube in use and handle in 2nd season, just a freak/rare event free skiing, not even in course, but thought I would put it out there; you have already taken all the needed precautions!