90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

[dubya1982]

I'm looking for comments from people who have experience skiing with a pontoon w/ 90 hp motor.

We are looking at a 22' Suntracker DLX and a Sweetwater 20'. Both have a 90HP motor

Can you all give your comments on your experience pulling a skier with a 90? Cruising will be the primary use of the boat, but we will want to occasionally ski and pull a tube.

Thanks!

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

I'm sorry, but it would take a 115 hp motor to pull a skier, and even then the speed would be very marginal @ about 25 mph.

The trick is purchasing a boat with lifting strakes factory mounted on the hulls. Instead of having a displacement hull, your nose would get out of the water and you'll gain the other 5 mph needed to pull skiers. It'll use less fuel also.

I have an old 24' Starcraft with a Yamaha 115 hp 2 stroke. The motor's very underrated on horsepower, and is fast enough to pull a skier. But when you go into a tight turn, the outside toon plows into the water, and the boat slow dramatically. Pontoons simply handle like pigs in tight turns.

If boaters are wanting to pull skiers or even tubers, many now go with the tritoon boats and 150 horsepower. They have the handling, power and speed to do the job. It's best to buy what suits your needs, even if you have to go to a slightly used boat instead of new.

My new Bennington tritoon w/strakes and a F150 Yamaha is good for 40 mph on top end.

 

[dubya1982]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

I'm sorry, but it would take a 115 hp motor to pull a skier, and even then the speed would be very marginal @ about 25 mph.

The trick is purchasing a boat with lifting strakes factory mounted on the hulls. Instead of having a displacement hull, your nose would get out of the water and you'll gain the other 5 mph needed to pull skiers. It'll use less fuel also.

I have an old 24' Starcraft with a Yamaha 115 hp 2 stroke. The motor's very underrated on horsepower, and is fast enough to pull a skier. But when you go into a tight turn, the outside toon plows into the water, and the boat slow dramatically. Pontoons simply handle like pigs in tight turns.

If boaters are wanting to pull skiers or even tubers, many now go with the tritoon boats and 150 horsepower. They have the handling, power and speed to do the job. It's best to buy what suits your needs, even if you have to go to a slightly used boat instead of new.

My new Bennington tritoon w/strakes and a F150 Yamaha is good for 40 mph on top end.

I apologize for my ignorance. But what are lifting strakes? What do they do? Also, one of the pontoons has upgraded toons from 23" to 25", not sure what that means either.

I appreciate your response!

 

[smclear]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

I have a JC 25' tritoon with a 135 Honda. It will pull a skier barely. It's a struggle to get up and the ride is not that enjoyable. But.....we have a speedboat for skiing so no big deal. What size tube are you thinking about. It will make a difference. We have both a single person standard tube and a 4 person lay down tube. They both pull fine behind our pontoon. However we do have to throttle back with the single person tube while we cruise wide open with the four person tube. If you're using the pontoon for water sports, then by all means get the largest engine possible.

Lifting strakes are triangle (for the most part) pieces of aluminum welded to the pontoons to help provide lift and raise the boat further out of the water reducing drag and increasing speed. There are many different designs but here is an example of what one looks like.

 

[BobGinCO]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

What do they do? Also, one of the pontoons has upgraded toons from 23" to 25", not sure what that means either.

That means that the diameter of the toons is 25 inches, rather than 23 inches. Bigger tubes = more buoyancy, so it floats a little higher in the water. That probably does NOT effect the speed, however. My 24' tri-toon with a 115 tops out at 23 MPH most days.

 

[bennyboy1]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

I'm sorry, but it would take a 115 hp motor to pull a skier,

Nah, a 90 will pull a skier just fine, tubing will be a little slower due to more resistance, but you'll be just cruising most of the time.
Save gas too, go with the 90.

 

[Capt Sully]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

Nah, a 90 will pull a skier just fine, tubing will be a little slower due to more resistance, but you'll be just cruising most of the time.
Save gas too, go with the 90.

The 90 will do it, plus give you more time on the water by using less fuel:bounce::bounce:

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

The 90 will do it, plus give you more time on the water by using less fuel:bounce::bounce:

Our 24.3 will pull a raft real well but I haven't tried a water skier yet. The biggest problem with towing anything is when you try to cross your own path reved up. We have a 90 hp Merc. When used to have 230 hp I/O that really made a difference. on a 21 ft bowrider.

 

[dubya1982]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

The 90 will do it, plus give you more time on the water by using less fuel:bounce::bounce:

Can you give me an idea of what fuel economy I could expect from a 90 hp and a 115 hp? I assume it isn't measured in mpg like cars? Even so, I have no idea what the difference between the two engines are.

 

[The Rooster]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

Can you give me an idea of what fuel economy I could expect from a 90 hp and a 115 hp? I assume it isn't measured in mpg like cars? Even so, I have no idea what the difference between the two engines are.

It can be measured in mpg. If you're talking modern outboards, ie: direct injection 2-strokes or 4 strokes on a party barge, you should be looking to get +/- 5 mpg for 90-115. 150 - 200hp -4 mpg. I'm averaging +/- 3 mpg. I'm sure others will chime in but reading through many boat tests on Party barges, thats a pretty good ball park. Good luck !!!

Or, put another way, most outboards will burn approx. 10% of their rated hp at WOT, ie: 9 gal/hr for the 90 and 11.5 gal/hr for the 115. Of coarse, no one runs wide open throttle for very long.

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

It can be measured in mpg. If you're talking modern outboards, ie: direct injection 2-strokes or 4 strokes on a party barge, you should be looking to get +/- 5 mpg for 90-115. 150 - 200hp -4 mpg. I'm averaging +/- 3 mpg. I'm sure others will chime in but reading through many boat tests on Party barges, thats a pretty good ball park. Good luck !!!

Or, put another way, most outboards will burn approx. 10% of their rated hp at WOT, ie: 9 gal/hr for the 90 and 11.5 gal/hr for the 115. Of coarse, no one runs wide open throttle for very long.

There are to many factors in this subject. It depends on the load in the boat, How rough the water is. The currant or tide. Wind direction.My 90 is good on gas but I don't run wide open all day long. At the most I run 5,000 rpms for short burst. Mostly around 2500. I have a 25 gallon gas tank. Most of the time I use about 6 gallons a day. on the upper Chesapecke bay, That's tidal water so no two days are the same. Everyone knows the more HP the lower the fuel mileage.

 

[mr geets]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

Biggest tubing hassle we had was rope dragging in wake. Needs a ski pole to keep it out of the water.

 

[MaPaHa]

Re: 90HP Pontoon Pull a Skier?

I have a 22 foot pontoon boat that’s been set up several ways over the years and with two different motors (soon to be three). I’ve been skiing on two skies for about 40 years and my speed preference is around 29 – 33 mph, but a friend of mine skies on one ski and 30 mph is too slow.

I’m currently running an older 140 hp (probably 125-130 hp in today’s standards) with a tri-toon and lifting strakes running around 28-30 mph wide open and although I can ski behind it I would like it better is it had another 3-5 mph. I’m in the process of changing to a 150 hp in the next few weeks and hope this gives me the bump I need.

If you are going to spend a lot of money on the boat you mentioned and expect to ski adults behind it, I think you’re going to be disappointed unless they can prove to you it will run around 30 mph or better.

As far as tubing goes, you’re probably ok with the boats you mentioned on speed for the average person. The problem with tubing is the boat and driver is what makes the ride. If you have a junior person that’s satisfied to ride behind the boat going straight, you’ll be fine. However, once they get confident they want more of a ride and the driver has to get them outside of the wake by turning and that’s where a pontoon boat struggles if it doesn’t have lifting strakes. The more the tuber weighs (to an extent) the easier it is to get them swinging side to side. Traditional pontoon boats just don’t turn well and with some lighter kids, it’s hard to get them outside.

With skiing you need more in speed because they go where they want and they can get as aggressive as they want so the boat doesn’t have to maneuver as much. With tubing you can get by with slower speeds but the boat needs to be able to maneuver or there’s not much of a ride other than straight behind the boat. If grandpa (and yes I am one) just wants to drag the kids straight, and their happy with that, you’ll be ok with the 90 hp. I can tell you from experience that when we take a bunch of teenagers to the lake it doesn’t take long for them to get brave and bored with straight behind the boat. I always listen to and watch the rider to know what they want and what’s too much based on the condition of the lake.

I’ll agree 100% with mr geets response that the rope dragging in the water is a detriment to tubing especially when you start slinging them out of the wake. A ski pole makes a huge difference. Skiing; not so much because they are elevated.

If this is your first pontoon boat, I would step up a bit if you are serious about the water sports. The 115-125 with lifting strakes is probably the first level to consider and the second is the tri-toons with 150+ hp.