Pulling waterskiers?

[Capt Redbeard]

Hi<br /><br />Does the length of the rope used for waterskiing effect how much power you motor has for pulling a skier up out of the water? <br /><br />I have an old 33 hp Johnson Super Sea Horse on a 14ft fiberglass boat and can only pull up one small skier although an advertisement I found says it has enough power for two adult skiers. They are using 2 short ropes. Any suggestions?<br /><br />Thanks

 

[moderator1]

Re: Pulling waterskiers?

Capt Redbeard,<br /><br />I am going to move your question to the Boat Questions section. I think you will get a better response there.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: Pulling waterskiers?

I think you'd have to prop down (Drop pitch) to be successful at pulling 2 adults, and if anything, longer ropes would be better than short. You'd get just alittle more stretch with the longer rope, and the initial load would not be as much.<br />33hp on a 14ft fiberglass might be a slight bit on the small side for skiing, but dropping pitch would help as long as you don't over-rev when not skiing...........

 

[ahollinger]

Re: Pulling waterskiers?

I have skied behind a johnboat with a 10 horse motor. The skies of yesterday were much bigger, and provided more surface area to "push" the skier to the top of the water. Try some old wood skies, and i bet you won't have any trouble.

 

[MrBill]

Re: Pulling waterskiers?

Large, wide skis are still available...I bought a pair (OBrien) last year to easily get big skiers up and especially to teach slalom skiers from a dead start.<br /><br />The rope length does not matter, but the distance between two skiers, or going outside the wake does. The farther one or two skiers wander from directly behind the boat, it puts on additional strain. If you've pulled a slalom skier who goes way outside the wake and cuts back hard you know how you feel "tugging" on the rear of the boat unless it's a high torque/high speed ski boat, like a Sanger.