Growing up in Boiceville along the Esopus Creek, one of our favorite pastimes was to drive up to Town Tinker Tube Rental in Phoenicia and embark on a rubbery river adventure. On our inner tubes, we navigated intense rapids, lazily cruised the quieter passages, and even got extracted from being stuck against a bridge pylon by an emergency water rescue team that happened to be practicing in the area.
We became such river rats that we decided to purchase our own inner tubes, sold to us on the side of the road by a truck maintenance garage. This allowed us to park a car anywhere along the creek, then drop in and ride all the way back home where we’d dry off and change before retrieving the car.
Sometimes the rapids would get wild, particularly after periods of heavy rainfall, and especially when the portal that connects the Schoharie Reservoir to the Esopus Creek was opened to increase water levels for recreation. During these rides, our senses would come alive. We were thrilled by the speed of the water and the intensity of the whitecaps. We always wore life jackets, helmets and boat shoes.
Over the years, several people drowned while tubing the Esopus. Hitting your head on a rock or getting pinned under a particularly violent torrent were real dangers. A few bruises, scrapes and stubbed toes were par for the course.
Even as an adult, the thrill-seeking kid in me always ended up back in the Esopus. I’d try to get to Town Tinker Tube Rental at least once a year. I got to know owner and legendary local character Harry Jameson well enough to be invited one year to his back-yard Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza. It wasn’t just me that loved to tube – Town Tinker saw 20,000 riders annually in its heyday.
In 2017, Jameson announced that Town Tinker was up for sale. There were no takers over the following years, and he shut the business down for good when the pandemic hit. At the time of this writing, the buildings, property and its inventory was still available for just shy of one million dollars.
Those of us who grew up with Town Tinker Tube Rental can’t wait until another adventurous entrepreneur brings it back to life. By “can’t wait,” I mean to say not just that we’re excited at the prospect but also that we literally can’t wait. Once the temperatures warm back up, this tuber is getting back in the creek. I will be waving to the newer, wealthier homeowners hanging out in their back yards facing the water. I’ll be screaming, “This is so much fun! Are you rich? You should buy Town Tinker Tube Rental!”
Until that time, let’s make tubing great again by taking matters into our own hands.
Do-it-yourself tubing: Gear up
The first thing you’re going to need is an inner tube – but not just any inner tube. Your standard-issue cheap pool float won’t make it over your first rock without deflating. Back in the day, getting your hands on a river-worthy inner tube meant propositioning a business that worked on trucks, Today the Internet is brimming with options starting at $20. I’d recommend something more in the $40-to-$60 range if you don’t want to be walking wet up a steep embankment to civilization.
When selecting your inner tube, make sure you take body type into consideration. The larger the human, the larger the inner tube should be. A good starting point is around 38” to 44”, sizing up or down accordingly. You’re looking for a large, thick, black donut, not a fancy blue pool tube with a chair back and four handles.
Town Tinker Tube Rentals’ inner tubes had seats and ropes for comfort and control, but I always preferred no seat, no ropes, just the tube. If you seek these creature comforts, there are guides online on how to simply affix a seat and/or rope handles.
Expect leaks. Inspect your tube after each river run. Get a patching kit and a pump.
Congratulations, your river recreation vehicle is ready to sail. The other half of the equation is suiting yourself up for the adventure.
Creek safety and comfort
Town Tinker Tube Rental’s holy trinity of protection (and, one can assume, keeping insurance rates affordable) was lifejacket, helmet and foot protection.
If all you know of lifejackets are the big puffy orange type, it’s time to visit a sporting-goods store or do some Internet searching. Finding a snug-fitting, comfortable, not-bulky sport lifejacket for a reasonable price makes all the difference in enjoying your ride. There are very few areas of the Esopus deeper than six feet, but the rapids that pin you under obstacles don’t care if you’re a good swimmer or a bad one. Having that buoyancy also makes it easier to keep floating downstream to your tube quickly after being separated. A comfortable life jacket is essential.
Similarly, you don’t need a big, bulky, heavily padded bike helmet – opt for something more comfortable that won’t get waterlogged. Chances are small you’ll hit your head, but the consequence could be catastrophic if you’re not wearing a helmet. Remember, you can take it off during the many lazy- river parts of the ride where you’re at no more risk for hitting your head than being at a swimming pool.
Foot protection can be anything, really. I’ve tubed the Esopus many times in sneakers, but it’s not ideal. Boat and water shoes are a very comfortable option. If you’re entertaining thoughts of doing it barefoot, be forewarned that you’ll be scraping your skin against miles of rocks, not all of which are perfectly river-smooth. You will be making constant contact with the rocks of the creek bed as you navigate its many shallow parts. Your feet will not be happy with you.
Now that you’re safe, let’s keep you comfortable. Water-resistant sunblock is a must on sunny days — which are the days you are ideally choosing to tube on. The forest-flanked, valley-floor creek will cool significantly with too much cloud cover, making tubing kind of chilly if the temperature isn’t soaring.
You can go full wetsuit and rock the rapids like an extreme athlete, but there are plenty of lazy parts where you might feel overdressed. That said, you don’t want to tube in a bikini or swim shorts and nothing else. Be practical. Be dressed for a water experience that also includes a tiny bit of hiking.
You’ll also need some sort of waterproof bag or travel container to hold any electronics, wallets and other items you want to keep dry (smoke ‘em if you got ‘em). Best to leave the cell phones behind, but carrying one amongst your party in something watertight is a good safety and convenience option. Just make sure it’s not in a position where it could be smashed against a rock, and don’t be that person tubing just for selfies.
Now that you’re geared up, comfortable and safe, what’s the plan for making this DIY tubing odyssey a reality?
Advanced tubing tips
The best thing about Town Tinker Tube Rental was that they’d bus you to and from your entry and exit points in their Tube Taxi. To do the tubing trip yourself, you’re going to need two vehicles. Your first vehicle needs to be able to hold as many large, inflated tubes as you’re traveling with, or else you need to inflate them before entering the creek. The second vehicle must be parked where you plan on exiting the creek, and unless you deflate the tubes it too will need to accommodate a not-insignificant volume of inflated rubber tubing. Your second vehicle should be stocked at minimum with towels, water, and a first-aid kit.
Where to enter and exit the creek? This is not some arbitrary decision. You absolutely must understand where you can and can’t tube. Go too far north and you’ll be in a DEC access point where tubing is expressly not allowed. Go too far south and you’ll end up heading toward the Ashokan Reservoir, where you’ll be met with aggressive law enforcement, detention, and a possible fine or imprisonment.
I recommend searching the web for Town Tinker Tube Rental’s route map and using that as inspiration. The trickiest part of this whole endeavor – and the one requiring the most creativity – is finding a legal place to park near your entry and exit points. Ideally, you can have a third party that’s not tubing drop you off and pick you up. Failing that, Google Maps is your friend. Just make sure you avoid any part of the creek that Town Tinker Tube Rental wouldn’t have been comfortable with you exploring.
Go with a group. More people in your group means more people to catch your tube floating away, more stories and jokes to tell during the lazy river parts, and more people to look out for your safety.
Be prepared to relax. If there hasn’t been significant rainfall or a portal open, the rapids will be minimal. Even at high-water conditions, there are only a dozen or two intense passages. Most of the time you’ll be leisurely floating down the creek. Don’t be in a hurry. Soak it in.
At the other end of the spectrum, if you’re into extreme sports, try hitting some rapids headfirst – with a helmet, of course. Assuming the Superman pose on the tube at the moment of whitecap impact, and you can sometimes launch into the air a foot or two. Be very aware that hitting this maneuver wrong can get your body smashed down on a rock or trapped in the sucking pocket of water at the front of the rock or boulder you tried to launch over.
And please, don’t be a nuisance. You’re traveling through the back yards of hundreds of local residents in a protected waterway toward one of the most protected bodies of water in the nation the Ashokan Reservoir. Make a scene and you will find the DEP pulling you out of the water like a trout.
I’m looking forward to fist-bumping you this summer on the Esopus as I shred a gnarly whitecap. Perhaps we’ll see each other again at the future grand reopening of Town Tinker Tube Rental.
Join the family! 
