Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

[westwinds]

Would there be much gain in performance/speed going to a new boat designed for water skiing vs. a current pontoon boat with the same horsepower and load? The pontoon boat with 600 pounds is adequate for pulling 100 pound child with 90 horsepower Yamaha 4 cycle. The child will likely become 200 pounds in a few years. The idea here is to take the 90 horsepower outboard and use it on a new ski boat with five seats or more, and go with a 10 horsepower on the pontoon boat just using it for leisurely cursing, swimming and fishing. If the 90 horsepower on a ski boat is adequate, what make and size of boat would be recommended?

 

[rallyart]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

A 16' with a 90 would be fine for skiing. Just make sure that whatever boat you get it is light. Plan on changing the prop.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

Well, I think you need to define what the best purpose for the new boat is. If you are just pulling a skier in open water and only a dozen times a year, I wouldn't be buying a dedicated ski rig for it. Sure, a 90HP is decent power, but unless you strap it to a bass boat or other 17' or less vessel, you aren't going to get much of an advantage over the pontoon in that respect. I learned to ski behind a trihull bass boat with a 90HP Johnson, and I could still get up on slalom behind it today if I had to @ 200lbs. However, if you are looking to get into watersports more, an 18-21' v-hull runabout with a V6/V8 power (180-260HP) is probably a better option. If you like the deck layout of the pontoon, you may want to look a the modern deck boats which usually have I/O power. If you are looking to really get into waterskiing, then an inboard drive tournament ski boat is the best option.

 

[westwinds]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

Thanks for replies. So, who makes good, light ski boats for a 90 horsepower outboard in the 16 to 17 foot length?

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

I guess my response would be, why not just sell the engine with the pontoon, then get a boat already equipped with a larger engine?

 

[westwinds]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

I guess my response would be, why not just sell the engine with the pontoon, then get a boat already equipped with a larger engine?

We want to keep the pontoon and use an outboard of about 10 horsepower with gearing and prop like you have on a long shaft outboard. The pontoon would be used for swimming, fishing, watching wildlife, just sailing around the lake slowly

 

[skibrain]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

Generally speaking, to get the hole shot required for pulling skiers it is nice to have the max. Engine size for which a hull is rated. A 15-16' boat is more typically tsted for 90 hp max.

My first boat was $2800 with 90hp motor.

Top speed about 40-42mph. Hull around 700 lbs. i could just barely get my buddy 210 lb up on a slalom ski. 2 skis no problem, as long as just one spotter.

Many 18' boats will take a 135 or 150 hp max. My neighbor had a bet nice 18' SeaRay with 90hp. It was way underpowered.

 

[westwinds]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

Generally speaking, to get the hole shot required for pulling skiers it is nice to have the max. Engine size for which a hull is rated. A 15-16' boat is more typically tsted for 90 hp max.

My first boat was $2800 with 90hp motor.

Top speed about 40-42mph. Hull around 700 lbs. i could just barely get my buddy 210 lb up on a slalom ski. 2 skis no problem, as long as just one spotter.

Many 18' boats will take a 135 or 150 hp max. My neighbor had a bet nice 18' SeaRay with 90hp. It was way underpowered.

Thanks, this is the kind of information I need. Is 40 mph the recommended speed? Weight of boat and crew, what's the tradeoff between the weight of the person on ski and spotter, driver, anyone else?

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

You won't be skiing at 40mph. 25mph is good for two skis, 30-36 for slalom skiers. Well there's not really much correlation in the skier weight vs those in the boat. Basically, the more weight you have in the boat, the longer the boat will take to get up on plane and up to speed. This also goes the same for the weight of the skier, the heavier they are, the longer they will take to get up out of the water.

 

[skibrain]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

Agree with above. Top speed not the focus. Weight is the enemy of performance. Performance being acceleration, or the ability for a boat to get up on plane to around 20 mph. So with a given motor size - in your case 90 hp,, a 1,000 lb hull with 400 lb of fuel gear and people in boat would seem about the maximum I would want for decent performance. Add four more people in that boat and you may really struggle to pull a skier up. So leave them on the pontoon when you go skiing. Or if you buy a 2,000 boat and have just the driver it may be too much for the 90.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Now Water Ski With 90 HP Pontoon, Considering New Ski Boat with Same 90 HP?

I'll chime in here (albeit a little late) and agree with what everyone else has said. I have a 15 ft fish-n-ski with a 90 on it (the boat's rated for 90 max) and it does a good job of pulling skiers. The only downside of a boat that size is that it's a bit snug, but we always managed to have fun. I will say that it takes more constant attention to maintain speed with this boat than with my bigger Checkmate, but a boat in that size range with a 90 will do well for what you want.