question about engine power/skiing

[mikemerrill50]

i have a general question for you all. i personally do not ski, but i have friends and family members who do (and i want to get into it). i'm looking at getting a bayliner 18ft with a mercury i/o with 135hp. it gets on plane in 4.7 sec. it goes 0-30 in 7.2 sec.
would this be adequate enough to pull a slalom skiier of any size, intertube, wakeboard, etc.? i'm not trying to compare this to a $60k wakeboard boat, of course.

thank you very much!

 

[mitchell6]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

most i/o are designed to pull skier's or wakeboarders the size don't really matter as long as everybody knows how to ski. If your still trying to learn and the motor is not giving you the hp to get out of the water you can lighten the load in the boat just the driver and the spoter and it will help good luck.

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

yes ......

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

i have a general question for you all. i personally do not ski, but i have friends and family members who do (and i want to get into it). i'm looking at getting a bayliner 18ft with a mercury i/o with 135hp. it gets on plane in 4.7 sec. it goes 0-30 in 7.2 sec.
would this be adequate enough to pull a slalom skiier of any size, intertube, wakeboard, etc.? i'm not trying to compare this to a $60k wakeboard boat, of course.

thank you very much!

Should be enough but if you have trouble popping them up and out of the water then consider your weight distribution in the boat, your trim settings and maybe even have to drop some prop pitch. However you wont know until you try it.
I drop a couple of inches pitch when i have to pull a couple of skiers up at a time. Makes it a whole lot easier.

 

[mikemerrill50]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

thanks for your replies!

 

[contractorguy]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

Knew a Mike Merrill from Kansas years back...Fuller Brush Man!

 

[Liquid_force]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

On a single ski it would be tough on someone ~200lb+ unless they're a good skier.
Tough to learn for a big person.
=<150, no probs.

2 skis/tubing/wakeboarding not a concern.

 

[Kachadurian]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

I don't think that's enough power for a full grown adult. I'm 200 lbs and I can just get up behind my brothers 19' Four Winns with a 190hp. And even then he had to reprop it with a lower pitch.

A 135 OI is a pretty small engine. A good, strong Skier will be able to get up but any learning adult will not. Kids should be fine. It will also work fine for Tubing.

tom

 

[wire2]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

My first boat was a 15' Leavens with a Merc 65 4 cyl.
I was into skiing, was a bit tough to get up on 1, so traded up to a 17' with a 140 hp Merc I/O.

LOTS of power, I thought, double the o/b.

Yes, but also more weight. I still wasn't happy with it.

I kept it a few years and bit the bullet. 19' with a 260 5.7
Then modded it for 300 hp.

NOW I'm happy.

 

[OldMercsRule]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

One of the reasons I luv me old black "boat anchors"!

There are very few boat motor combinations regardless of age/power/etc. that can match the increadable in yer face stump pullin' gut wrenchin' hole shots me old black girls generate on the fairly light boats I run. I am 210 lbs, and I've been skiing fer years, and my buds are at least as large as I am. I'll snort them outa the hole real easy IF they can hold onto the rope, (300 lbs NO PROBLEM: Mrs. Jones).

When ya put one of my girls to the wall they do respond. A 300 or 400 hp IO may kill me once it gets rollin' (no doubt), but they would have ta catch me down the lake, if they have the big top end speed they generally do.

If yer a water skiier, (as opposed to wake boards as me kids use), ya can't beat an ol' inline6 Merc. (My wakes are at least an inch high: a real SHAME isn't it).

My $.02. JR

 

[wire2]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

I wonder who this is directed to???

>>A 300 or 400 hp IO may kill me once it gets rollin' (no doubt), but they would have ta catch me down the lake, if they have the big top end speed they generally do.<<

Well, maybe. With the original 14? x 21 ss on it I get 58 mph on the fish finder. But that's at 5500 rpm, I need to get that down to 4800 with a 23 or maybe even a 25. That may bump me up to 62-65.


But I'll readily concede that you have me with power/weight with one of your tall black ladies on a light boat, J.R.


>>If yer a water skiier, .... ya can't beat an ol' inline6 Merc. (My wakes are at least an inch high: a real SHAME isn't it)<<

You say that like there's something wrong with a bit of wake?
I usually do my hot-dogging on a tunnel Taperflex but occasionally, when I teach someone to ski, I might put a pair on and see how much air I can get over my 6" wake. ~30"

Two sons of a friend have a huge black plastic bag in the back of their inboard ski boat. It has 600 lbs of water in it to make enough wake for wakeboarding. Even with a 260, that's a sluggish boat.

Seriously J.R., you and I would have a great time if we got together. We'd spend the day out-doing each other, then pretend we weren't tired half to death.

Here's your 1? change.

 

[OldMercsRule]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

I wonder who this is directed to???

>>A 300 or 400 hp IO may kill me once it gets rollin' (no doubt), but they would have ta catch me down the lake, if they have the big top end speed they generally do.<<

Well, maybe. With the original 14? x 21 ss on it I get 58 mph on the fish finder. But that's at 5500 rpm, I need to get that down to 4800 with a 23 or maybe even a 25. That may bump me up to 62-65.


But I'll readily concede that you have me with power/weight with one of your tall black ladies on a light boat, J.R.


>>If yer a water skiier, .... ya can't beat an ol' inline6 Merc. (My wakes are at least an inch high: a real SHAME isn't it)<<

You say that like there's something wrong with a bit of wake?
I usually do my hot-dogging on a tunnel Taperflex but occasionally, when I teach someone to ski, I might put a pair on and see how much air I can get over my 6" wake. ~30"

Two sons of a friend have a huge black plastic bag in the back of their inboard ski boat. It has 600 lbs of water in it to make enough wake for wakeboarding. Even with a 260, that's a sluggish boat.

Seriously J.R., you and I would have a great time if we got together. We'd spend the day out-doing each other, then pretend we weren't tired half to death.

Here's your 1? change.

Thanks fer the reply Wire2!

Me 115 on my 16' Jolly would give ya a run fer yer top speed too!!

I used to have a 1250 short shaft on a 14' Carlson tunnel hull that ran low to mid 70s MPH range as clocked by a Beemer on one of the Lake Washington Floating bridges, and the hole shot was like a 66' GTO, or maybe a L88 Vette.

I'm an old fart and the Lake I ski is like a mill pond where a pebble in the middle would send ripples to each shore, soooooo I HATE any wakes. My kids fill up water bladders in my old Sabre Craft, or have 8 to 10 people in it to force a large wake. I hate to jump wakes!!!

I'd like to watch yer dock start with 15 feet of slack, (behind yer boat not mine), I still think you'd never want that much behind me Jolly!! I prolly get a little deeper into the water after steppin' off the dock then you do, but it still beats a deep water start.

Where do ya ski? I can never get partners as they are all gettin' toooooo old n' fat!! Yer boat sounds very Kool. JR

 

[wire2]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

I have a cottage on a lake that's part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. It's a series of lakes and canals that starts at the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario, snakes through the lower middle of the province and ends at Port Severn, Georgian bay, about 240 miles by boat.

It has 44 locks, one is 10 minutes from me, on Buckhorn Lake. Some are 65 feet rise/drop.

Google Earth some towns like Peterborough, Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon , in Ontario, Canada and you'll see all the small lakes we have here. There's pickerel (walleye), large and small mouth bass, muskie, pike, perch.

On calm days I ski, on windy days I wind surf, on cool days I ride a Kawasaki KLX through the woods. Trails go for hundreds of miles to different towns.

Some days see black bear, moose, deer, pheasant, partridge.

See http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/index_e.asp
or
http://www.cruising.ca/trent/index.html

Tunnel hull? Now you're cheating.

Actually, I thought about getting one a few years back. Very performance oriented but less practical than a deep V for all around family boating. My bowrider serves a variety of uses.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

I know the Trent Severn waterways well. You have a grear area available to you. Glad to see you enjoy it. I am a little far away from there unless I trailer for 5 to 6 hours. But it would be nice to be closer.

 

[CampionGuy]

Re: question about engine power/skiing

Learned to ski on Lake Chandos near Apsley. Beautiful country, my parents, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins all had cottages on the lake. I'm in BC now but hankerin to take the new wife back to where the memories are sweet and the lakes are sweeter.

Doug