Beef to Ski

[spiller]

Hey, Im quite keen to give wakeboarding and waterskiing a shot. But need to know if my boat has enough beef to get the riders up and happy?<br /><br />My boat is an old glass over ply 16' with a 65hp evinrude. The boat isin't all that heavy, and seems to pull the ski biscuit without a hitch.<br /><br />I think my question is really, should I get a larger motor??

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Beef to Ski

From a fun point of view, you won't have any problems. Wakeboarding doesn't require big HP, I've done it behind a 10ft tinny with a 10HP. Two ski's, absolutely no probs, one ski (especially deep starts) may require a bit of trial & error learning.<br /><br />Aldo

 

[SeaKaye12]

Re: Beef to Ski

When I was about 15...I learned to ski behind an ancient boat with an equally ancient 25 HP motor.<br /><br />Well; lets say that I **tried* to learn how to ski. I was dragged along...I could never get up on the skis...<br /><br />Then; we met this guy with a 14' Alpex that had a 45 HP West Bend ( about to be Chrysler) engine on it.<br /><br />That thing just yanked me out of the water...it was such fun that my dad bought the boat!<br /><br />Have fun skiing...Chuck

 

[Belchy]

Re: Beef to Ski

Probally is possible, best bet is like Aldo said, trial and error, depends on weight in boat, weight of you, size of ski....<br /><br />Good luck and have fun<br />Belchy

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Beef to Ski

spiller I have a 14ft fiberglass utility boat with a 40hp. Can easily pull up my sons (140-160Lb) on two skis but is somewhat difficult on one from a deep water start. We just start out on two and drop one. Dock start on one is no problem. You won't be able to have many passengers on-board, probably just you and the observer. If you have a ski pylon you will be able to get the skier out of the water faster as well.

 

[Jixxxer]

Re: Beef to Ski

I have a 70hp on my boat and we (3 of us in boat) pull a skier out of deep water. I'm sure u can do it!

 

[tr918]

Re: Beef to Ski

I had a 16ft tri-hull with a 1972 65hp. We could ski and tube off of it just fine. Slolom skiing will be an issue depending on the weight of the skiier. I could only ski with 2 skis off of my boat. I weigh 215lbs though. It was a little too much for the 65hp on one ski.

 

[watered down]

Re: Beef to Ski

Originally posted by SeaKaye12:<br /> When I was about 15...I learned to ski behind an ancient boat with an equally ancient 25 HP motor.<br /><br />Well; lets say that I **tried* to learn how to ski. I was dragged along...I could never get up on the skis...<br /><br />Then; we met this guy with a 14' Alpex that had a 45 HP West Bend ( about to be Chrysler) engine on it.<br /><br />That thing just yanked me out of the water...it was such fun that my dad bought the boat!<br /><br />Have fun skiing...Chuck

Brings back memories...we had wood boat that had a 25-hp Evenrude but it pulled a skier fine. My dad would drop one ski while underway, couldn't get him out on only one ski.

 

[KilroyJC]

Re: Beef to Ski

My friends ahve a 16' Whaler with a 70HP, and it does just fine with up to 4 other people in the boat (they help keep the bow down when starting!).<br /><br />I don't think you'll have any problems other than practicing.<br /><br />Also, try to get an upright stanchion to secure your towline from, instead of the harness that goes to the transom eyes - especially when you are trying skiing for the first time:<br /><br />You really don't care about the boat pulling you forward - what you want the boat to do is pull you UP!!! The higher the rope is on the boat, the easier UP becomes. <br /><br />Have fun!