wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

[bling_blings89]

hey, my question was would it be possible for my to pull people 160 pounds or less behind my 50 merc? I realise the wake will be small but it would be just for learning. Thanks

 

[tommays]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

We have skied a LOT on underpowered boats when we were young and poor

BUT i think the results would be pretty bad for wakeboarding as your trying to keep a low speed


Tommays

 

[bling_blings89]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

rigth now we use a i/o 195 but this 50 is my own boat so just wondering if it could do the job if needed

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

[colour=blue]For fun, it will do the job.

 

[bling_blings89]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

thats what i wanted to heard

 

[Speedwagon]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

It depends... normal wakeboarding speed is around 20mph. And it's MUCH harder to get out on the water with a severely underpowered boat. You can always try it... but I don't know how successfully fun it will be. Quite possibly a whole lot of work to get up on plane.

 

[bling_blings89]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

i see, well i will find out next april when i try it out

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

the 50hp merc will be fine ..... yes it will make a small wake, but for beginning it will be fine .... enjoy

 

[bennysku]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

Last year we wakeboarded behind a 85hp and it worked just fine. For beginners it may be harder to get the board up on top of the water.

 

[paulie0735]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

I think you will struggle....... so many variables, you're not gunna know till you give-it-a-go! Good luck.

 

[Straightup]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

One of the absolute best ways to have fun with low power boats is to saucer. Take a 1/2 to 3/4 piece of plywood and cut it into a 4 foot circle. A 200 pound person can saucer behind a 14 foot fishing boat with a 15hp engine. You can stand, spin, ride a chair (people have rode step ladders), and all sorts of other things.

Here's some saucer tips: Keep the speed slow. Use a chair that floats (or put flotation on it). If you are wiping out - hop, run or whatever it takes to get away from the saucer - you don't want to land on it if you are falling.

Have fun! Jeff

 

[sabastianunf]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

We use to ride a surfboard behind a 15 hp outboard. The xtra float from the surfboard help you get up. It was almost fun.

 

[Liquid_force]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

unless the 50 hp is on a 20' 2500lb boat I think it will work fine.

A little tricky to LEARN with because it would be a challenge to a beginner having to stabilize the board waiting for it to get up to speed where it starts to track on its own, but once you're up, a wakeboard has minimial drag unless you're edging.

I learned to wakeboard, and spent 2 seasons behind my brother's 40 hp sea-doo SP.
Learned a back flip behind a 16' Glassmaster with a 115 evinrude.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

I think it is possible, maybe not as much fun as a bigger motor but so what. As many posters above this one said "you use what you have and get on with it"

 

[bassboy1]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

One of the absolute best ways to have fun with low power boats is to saucer. Take a 1/2 to 3/4 piece of plywood and cut it into a 4 foot circle. A 200 pound person can saucer behind a 14 foot fishing boat with a 15hp engine. You can stand, spin, ride a chair (people have rode step ladders), and all sorts of other things.

Here's some saucer tips: Keep the speed slow. Use a chair that floats (or put flotation on it). If you are wiping out - hop, run or whatever it takes to get away from the saucer - you don't want to land on it if you are falling.

Have fun! Jeff

Is the saucer tied to the tow line, like tubes, or does the person hold the line like skiing?

 

[Bass-A-Holic]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

I've seen peole do it behind a little aluminum before too, and they used just a regular ski line,

 

[goatherder]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

My best friend bought his daughter a wakeboard. I tried it. His boat is an 18' skiff with a 48 horse Evinrude. I weigh over 220, but I could get up. That's all I could do but I had a good time.

 

[andynoonan]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

I started off last year on a 13.5' Zodiac with a 25hp Mercury,it was tough.
This season I bought a 40hp Yamaha(max engine size for boat)it's great and pulls a ppl with 2 or 3 in the boat fine,the wake is small though,but hey we are only beginners so certainly does the job for us!

 

[TahoeBlue]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

Old thread but what the heck. My friends and i wakeboard behind out 17' aluminum with a 50 horse out the back. Works fine as long as you only have the driver and the spotter in the boat. Getting up can be "fun" but we just straighten the board out immediately, keep the nose up, lean back, and hold on. Its a little tricky but not even 1/10th as hard as gettin up on a single ski behind a proper boat. The small wake and slow speed is fun to experiment with. Definitely easier to learn how to jump on.

 

[EricR]

Re: wakeboarding with 50hp mercury

I used to ride on a regular boogie board behind my old 12' boat with an 18 Evinrude, you'd kinda hook your toes over the end of it. Later my bud got a used Hydroslide and we'd take turns pulling each other all day. It would run 18-20 mph all day on the vintage Aiguide speedo. Wish I still had that boat, still have the 18.