Smallest motor to pull.....

[MAXXIE]

What in your opinion is the smallest O/B motor to pull a 180lb. wakeboarder? I want to get my son into wakeboarding next season. This past season I was pulling a 2-person tube w/ 2 180lb. kids on it all around the lake with no problem. I'm thinking that a wakeboarder is a different story though. Currently (Don't laugh), I'm running a 17' bowrider w/ 85HP O/B. Now, I don't plan on any competitions or speed records or need the "biggest/best" of anything to have fun. Yes, I know that a real boat & motor would be the best answer, we'll see what happens come trade in time, looking at a 19'-20' bowrider w/V-8 for next year if cash works out. But my question really is: Will this boat even get the kid up? I don't want to spend $300 or $400 & not be able to use it. Like I said the motor is quite strong & had no issues pulling 350+lbs. in a tube all season. Comments? Thanks.....MAXX

 

[bowler]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

short answer is yes. first boat i got pulled behind had 50 ob. your boat will get a wakeborder up but like you say yourself, it is not exactly a powerhouse! focus on good technique and he'll get up no probs. as he gets better and starts to cut hard etc the boat will show its lack of power but it will pull him. eventually he'll be pulling the boat but its ok to learn the basics behind.

good luck.

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

Thanks, just the answer I was looking for. I kind of figured it would be OK to go with for now. The boy has never done it before so I guess this will be a pretty good learning platform for the both of us. Tanx again, MAXX

 

[dave4881]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

What in your opinion is the smallest O/B motor to pull a 180lb. wakeboarder? I want to get my son into wakeboarding next season. This past season I was pulling a 2-person tube w/ 2 180lb. kids on it all around the lake with no problem. I'm thinking that a wakeboarder is a different story though. Currently (Don't laugh), I'm running a 17' bowrider w/ 85HP O/B. Now, I don't plan on any competitions or speed records or need the "biggest/best" of anything to have fun. Yes, I know that a real boat & motor would be the best answer, we'll see what happens come trade in time, looking at a 19'-20' bowrider w/V-8 for next year if cash works out. But my question really is: Will this boat even get the kid up? I don't want to spend $300 or $400 & not be able to use it. Like I said the motor is quite strong & had no issues pulling 350+lbs. in a tube all season. Comments? Thanks.....MAXX

I water skied behind an 18' wooden boat with a Merc 85hp for several years. It pulled me up on a slalom ski just fine and I'm 200 lbs. Pulling up a wake-boarder is even easier because it has a larger planing surface than a single ski. Your rig, as long as it is in good condition (proper compression on each cyl) and is propped right should have no problem pulling a 180 lb man up on a wakeboard. Wakeboarders only ski at 25 mph or less, your rig should be fine...

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

Again, Thanks for the reassurance. I'll feel much better spending the cash on a decent wake board now.

 

[bigpoppakdog]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I tubed and ski'd behind a 50 hp motor. (over 200 lbs).

 

[markoyl]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

i'm 32 now...i remember myself being around 6-9yr old seeing skiers being pulled by 30hp 2 stroke power russian outboards...this was in ex Soviet Union. thats simply all they had..

now these days my dad easily pulls me on his suzuki df70 (4stroke)..i'm around 200lbs

 

[dazk14]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

Drop the pitch , get a 4 blade solas (they're cheap) and your 85 will pull like a freight train for your needs.

 

[l008com]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

Hmmm its funny that you consider your 85HP a small motor. My boat has a 90HP and I consider it a very big motor. It's actually the max my boat can handle. I haven't had much experience wakeboarding, but back in the day, my dad upgraded this boat from a 55 hp motor to a 90hp motor. That was the last power issue this 15" boat ever had. I can still pretty easily freak out my friends when we're boating around, and I gun it. Nobody realizes just how much extra power this motor has, that I rarely get to use. 85hp should be good.

 

[bigpoppakdog]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I agree completely. I went out on another guys boat that had a 75 hp mariner. It pulled two tubes at the same time with 2 to 3 people on each tube. Granted we had a pylon, which helped a lot. I was surprised because I have a 115 hp and thought there would be a major difference between that and a 75. But, really the 75hp did all that a guy wanted.

 

[toolm8kr]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I am 180 lbs. I ski and wakeboard. 85 will get you there, but it'll take a while. Especially since he hasn't developed his technique yet. If he likes it he'll definitely want more power. Low pitch prop (17") will make a big diff. I just traded in my 17' fibreglass 120 hp Merc I/O with a 17" pitch prop for an 18' fibreglass 190 HP Merc I/O because IMO 120 Isn't quite enough for a quick hole shot and a consistent pull.

 

[Brew2]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

If you are pulling two tubes with no issues then pulling 180lb wakeboarder is going to be no problem. Way more initial drag trying to get two loaded tubes up on plane than one wakeboarder.

Have fun!

 

[bigpoppakdog]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I agree. Once you learn, you can get up on a wakeboard almost immediately after boat has been throttled. You don't get pulled out like you do at skiing. Skiing you can drag a while until you eventually get up. Wakeboarding you get drug for a bit and then its over. But once you learn how to standup you can get up on almost any size motor IMO.

 

['96 Charger]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

Long as the holeshot is good an 85hp 2-stroke is all you need for most watersports. We had an 85 on an aluminum 19' pleasure boat and with six in the boat and two behind it on skis or tubes it pulled fine and just fast enough. It had a 3 blade in I think a 17 pitch. Funny thing is this rig would pull a pair of tubes up instantly but most of the bass boats my feet would hang in the air for what seemed like an eternity. Funny feeling when you plane out on your back while the tube struggles to break over.

 

[Augoose]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

The boy has never done it before so I guess this will be a pretty good learning platform for the both of us

I just started about 5 years ago - biggest thing I learned was to keep your knees inside of elbows when taking off!!!!

 

[kevin11mic]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I weight 220 and i got up behind a 14 ft alumacraft with a 25 evinrude on it...I wouldntworry about getting a 180 guy up with a 85

 

[bigpoppakdog]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I would love to see that!

 

[aldena]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

Drop the pitch , get a 4 blade solas (they're cheap) and your 85 will pull like a freight train for your needs.

Except you don't need that much pull to get a wakeboarder up. I was suprised how little throttle is needed, I do have a V8 though. My son would tell me (well, yell at me actually) that I'm pulling too hard, yanking the handle from his hands.
I'm up within a second or two, and weigh over 220lbs. At age 55, I'm too old/weak to water ski anymore, but wakeboarding's a breeze.

 

[viciousfishes]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

I have a 1968 johnson 20 hp and it pulled me up on a surfboard. Very interesting experience

 

[jkust]

Re: Smallest motor to pull.....

When I was a kid we each had boats like we had bikes to get around the lake. I kneeboarded many times behind a 9.9 Mercury. I grew up behind a 16 footer with an 85 hp engine which was our "nice" family boat. It would take a bit to get someone 180lbs up and once they were up you could really feel them cutting back and forth but all in all it was just fine. A lower pitched prop helped as well. We pulled doubles dozens of times exceeding 180lbs and using the hot pick up method worked well. Sure an 85hp engine is small by today's standards but 2 stroke outboards are suprisingly powerful considering their light weight.