Is this a good choice

[GFB]

Looking to buy a 185LS Stingray. This will be my first boat. Had a jet ski for three seasons and sold it last year. This will be used in the ocean on the calmer bay side of Cape Cod. Is this a good choice or do I need to go bigger? I will be pulling a skier or tube. Is a Stingray a better boat than Bayliner?

Thanks Gary

 

[MikDee]

Re: Is this a good choice

Looking to buy a 185LS Stingray. This will be my first boat. Had a jet ski for three seasons and sold it last year. This will be used in the ocean on the calmer bay side of Cape Cod. Is this a good choice or do I need to go bigger? I will be pulling a skier or tube. Is a Stingray a better boat than Bayliner?

Thanks Gary

Welcome to iboats! I don't understand, is this a Bay or the Ocean you're running in? A Stingray is a well made, strong, light, fast designed hull, usually faster then most boats it's size with comparable horsepower, similar to a Glastron, but it may give you a harder ride in rough water because of this. Yes, it will hold up better then a Bayliner. What motor, & drivetrain, are we talking about here?

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

It will be the bay side of the ocean. For the most part this side of Cape Cod is calm. If the knots are above 18-20 it can get waves. The waves are never really big enought to body surf when they hit the shore. The Jet ski was fine on the bay. Could get a little choppy on some days. The 185 has a Volvo 135 horse. Thanks

 

[MikDee]

Re: Is this a good choice

It will be the bay side of the ocean. For the most part this side of Cape Cod is calm. If the knots are above 18-20 it can get waves. The waves are never really big enought to body surf when they hit the shore. The Jet ski was fine on the bay. Could get a little choppy on some days. The 185 has a Volvo 135 horse. Thanks

You should be fine then, if you like speed, & tubing, that boat has the most potential for the minimum horsepower in it Good Luck, Mike

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Is this a good choice

Came here to say whay MikDee already said. Stingray's design gets the most out of that 3.0 motor. They aren't overly appointed but well built.

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

bump

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

Came here to say whay MikDee already said. Stingray's design gets the most out of that 3.0 motor. They aren't overly appointed but well built.

Great info, will this be able to pull a tube or skier?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Is this a good choice

Absolutely. My uncle has a 3.0 in a one foot shorter SeaRay and uses it almost exclusively for watersports.

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

Absolutely. My uncle has a 3.0 in a one foot shorter SeaRay and uses it almost exclusively for watersports.

Great, is this a high maintenance motor?

 

[MikDee]

Re: Is this a good choice

No, not really, it's like a car engine, just normal maintenance, take care of it, & you'll get many happy hours of use out of it. It runs like a sewing machine!

But, there are 2 important things

1) Make sure the rubber water pump impeller in the drive is new, or always in good shape

2)As with all I/O's make sure to winterize it before the first cold snap, or you'll end up like many others here in the spring with a cracked block

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

No, not really, it's like a car engine, just normal maintenance, take care of it, & you'll get many happy hours of use out of it. It runs like a sewing machine!

But, there are 2 important things

1) Make sure the rubber water pump impeller in the drive is new, or always in good shape

2)As with all I/O's make sure to winterize it before the first cold snap, or you'll end up like many others here in the spring with a cracked block

Great advice.

 

[GFB]

Stingray 195ls

Stingray 195ls

My local Stingray dealer has a couple 2008 195LS left-overs. My question is this, one has a volvo 3.0 135hp and the other has a volvo 4.3 190hp. Is the 3.0 strong enough for this size? Is it under powered for pulling tubes and skiers? Is there a huge difference in the amount of gas the 4.3 will consume over the 3.0?

Thanks Gary

 

[MikDee]

Re: Is this a good choice

Yes, Get the 4.3 V6 it is a perfectly balanced match to the bigger boat, it is not a gas hog, and will be better in the long run on fuel, because it won't be working as hard under load. You won't be sorry! Plus, it's better value, and the resale will always be better as well.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Is this a good choice

The 3.0 would work for pulling skiers and a tube, but you would need a very low pitch prop and your top speed (especially when coming from a jet ski) would stink. I would favor the 4.3 -- but that is what I have in mine!

The 4.3 can use a lot of gas depending on what you are doing and the prop pitch. For example, yesterday I had my 4 blade 20 pitch on mine and burned through about 20 gallons of gas tubing and pulling the kids on skis all day. If I had my 23 pitch on, I estimate I would have used less than 15 gallons of gas. However, its hard to stay on plane with pulling 50 pound kids on skis with the 23 pitch prop. From what I hear, though, that is less than a jet ski uses.

All this being said, and I love my Stingray, If I were looking to boat on a bay I would want an outboard on a deck boat. I would not want an IO.

 

[MikDee]

Re: Is this a good choice

The 3.0 would work for pulling skiers and a tube, but you would need a very low pitch prop and your top speed (especially when coming from a jet ski) would stink. I would favor the 4.3 -- but that is what I have in mine!

The 4.3 can use a lot of gas depending on what you are doing and the prop pitch. For example, yesterday I had my 4 blade 20 pitch on mine and burned through about 20 gallons of gas tubing and pulling the kids on skis all day. If I had my 23 pitch on, I estimate I would have used less than 15 gallons of gas. However, its hard to stay on plane with pulling 50 pound kids on skis with the 23 pitch prop. From what I hear, though, that is less than a jet ski uses.

All this being said, and I love my Stingray, If I were looking to boat on a bay I would want an outboard on a deck boat. I would not want an IO.

Yeah, but if your running a 23" prop at 4600 rpm, with a light load you must be doing close to 55mph!

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

The 3.0 would work for pulling skiers and a tube, but you would need a very low pitch prop and your top speed (especially when coming from a jet ski) would stink. I would favor the 4.3 -- but that is what I have in mine!

The 4.3 can use a lot of gas depending on what you are doing and the prop pitch. For example, yesterday I had my 4 blade 20 pitch on mine and burned through about 20 gallons of gas tubing and pulling the kids on skis all day. If I had my 23 pitch on, I estimate I would have used less than 15 gallons of gas. However, its hard to stay on plane with pulling 50 pound kids on skis with the 23 pitch prop. From what I hear, though, that is less than a jet ski uses.

All this being said, and I love my Stingray, If I were looking to boat on a bay I would want an outboard on a deck boat. I would not want an IO.

I just want to add that the Bay we swim at is not like a lake. We have days that there are waves and those days were not always good for Jet skiing. I thought the 185 or 195 would handle these conditions better. The deck boat looks like it would handle better on clam lake like conditions. Am I wrong? All the new deck boats from Bayliner and Stingray have i/o engines. I didn't see any with outboards. Thanks

 

[H8tank]

Re: Is this a good choice

Get the 4.3, my friend has a 17' Tahoe with the 3.0, and it is a pig.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Is this a good choice

Yeah, but if your running a 23" prop at 4600 rpm, with a light load you must be doing close to 55mph!

Yup! That's right!

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Is this a good choice

I just want to add that the Bay we swim at is not like a lake. We have days that there are waves and those days were not always good for Jet skiing. I thought the 185 or 195 would handle these conditions better. The deck boat looks like it would handle better on clam lake like conditions. Am I wrong? All the new deck boats from Bayliner and Stingray have i/o engines. I didn't see any with outboards. Thanks

I was thinking of something like a Hurricane Deck with an outboard. I would want one of those if I were in a bay. I would also like something over 20 feet. There are even pontoons you can ski and tube behind that I think would be more durable in a bay.

You are going to need to flush whatever you buy after each use. The outboard is easier to flush.

If you go IO, you want a closed cooling system.

 

[GFB]

Re: Is this a good choice

Bump