Trouble pulling skier out of the hole

[Kweaver]

I am a new boat owner, I have a 2006 Tahoe 215 with a 4.3 Mercruiser engine which I believe is a 220hp. I have attempted to pull a 6’1 175 lb very athletic skier out of the water and it takes him way too much effort to get up. He does eventually but it’s out of pure strength. I have tried several ways, from throttling all the way down immediately to slowly working the throttle down, but nothing seems to work. I even tried getting up and I never cld. I was pulled up from a jet ski a lot easier than the boat. Any thoughts or ideas on what cld be wrong? Is it the boat? The driver?

 

[Chris51280]

what prop are you running? how many people are in the boat? This should not be a problem at all. There are others that can ski with less than half the hp. not a lot of people had 220hp in the early day. just saying

 

[Earl Cordova]

I had a 4.3 in a 18' Seaswirl cuddy cabin and certain people were hard to get up because they had their ski pointed straight up and were basically fighting the boat.
For example my sister who was a little smaller than the guy you mentioned, but was very strong was very hard to get up.
The ski needs to be tucked up with their knees in there chest and let the boat pull them up and the driver needs to apply as much power as the skier can hang on to.
People that try to pull themselves up will have the hardest time, and the stronger the person the more they try to pull themselves up.

 

[Kweaver]

what prop are you running? how many people are in the boat? This should not be a problem at all. There are others that can ski with less than half the hp. not a lot of people had 220hp in the early day. just saying

It is a stern drive, if that’s what you mean by prop. I only had me and one other person in the boat so wait should definitely not be the issue. I would think I could have even more in the boat and still not have a problem.

 

[Kweaver]

I had a 4.3 in a 18' Seaswirl cuddy cabin and certain people were hard to get up because they had their ski pointed straight up and were basically fighting the boat.
For example my sister who was a little smaller than the guy you mentioned, but was very strong was very hard to get up.
The ski needs to be tucked up with their knees in there chest and let the boat pull them up and the driver needs to apply as much power as the skier can hang on to.
People that try to pull themselves up will have the hardest time, and the stronger the person the more they try to pull themselves up.

I am honestly not sure if how they are holding their legs and skis is the issue. When both he and I were being pulled up by the JetSki, we are using the same form as we did with the boat. Another thing I forgot to mention, is once he was pretty much out of the water, I had the throttle all the way down but the boat was struggling to get up to speed and he kept telling me to go faster because he was about to fall/sink.

 

[Chris51280]

i think you have the wrong pitch on your prop. they do make different propellers for either top speed or for tubing/skiing. sounds like you have a 3 blade high pitch prop. the so called hole shot you can achieve with a 4 blade prop which means a lot of low end power with decent speed enough for water skiing or tubing. get an aluminum one, they are cheap around 100 to 150 with the sleeve another 40 bucks or so and see. but it would help to know what you currently have on the boat. outdrive or not.

 

[rjwilliams11741]

A properly propped 220 HP IO should pop a 175 lb person out of the water with no problem.

 

[poconojoe]

Probably prop related.
I don't pull skiers, but would improper trim have that effect?
I have a brother-in-law that had no idea what his trim was for. I had to explain it to him.

 

[Kweaver]

These are all super helpful, thank you!! I believe it is just a 3 blade propeller. I have done a lot of research on the trim, and believe I am trimming correctly. I have made all kinds of adjustments when trying to pull up the skier, so think I am doing that correctly. I was thinking what r

i think you have the wrong pitch on your prop. they do make different propellers for either top speed or for tubing/skiing. sounds like you have a 3 blade high pitch prop. the so called hole shot you can achieve with a 4 blade prop which means a lot of low end power with decent speed enough for water skiing or tubing. get an aluminum one, they are cheap around 100 to 150 with the sleeve another 40 bucks or so and see. but it would help to know what you currently have on the boat. outdrive or not.

This is super helpful, thank you!!! I believe what I have is just a 3 blade prop and I have it trimmed all the way down, which is what I have read you should do. I will take a look at those links you sent. I have a stern drive, so will what you sent still work?

 

[Kweaver]

A properly propped 220 HP IO should pop a 175 lb person out of the water with no problem.

I was thinking what I had would work, but now seeing that I may need a 4 blade prop, I am hoping that will help!

 

[Kweaver]

Probably prop related.
I don't pull skiers, but would improper trim have that effect?
I have a brother-in-law that had no idea what his trim was for. I had to explain it to him.

I have done a lot of research on how to trim based on what I am doing, and have spent some time just working the trim to try to learn. I believe I am trimming correctly with the skier, as everything I have read said to have the trim all the way down to get a skier out of the hole. Once they are up, when they get up, I adjust so that my RPMs aren't going too high.

 

[rjwilliams11741]

I have done a lot of research on how to trim based on what I am doing, and have spent some time just working the trim to try to learn. I believe I am trimming correctly with the skier, as everything I have read said to have the trim all the way down to get a skier out of the hole. Once they are up, when they get up, I adjust so that my RPMs aren't going too high.

Yes, trimming is important but equally important is the pitch of your prop. If you are going to pull a skier or pull toys. I use a 13 pitch 3 blade prob and easily pull 200 lb. skiers out of the hole.

 

[Kweaver]

Yes, trimming is important but equally important is the pitch of your prop. If you are going to pull a skier or pull toys. I use a 13 pitch 3 blade prob and easily pull 200 lb. skiers out of the hole.

Can you explain what you mean by pitch of the prop? I have a 3 blade, but no idea what the pitch is or what that means.

 

[Chris51280]

inches per revolution it moves the boat forward.
Are you punching it when you pull the skier out? you need to do that and then ease up on the throttle the moment you hit the speed needed and the skier is out of the water

 

[Sea Rider]

Need to prop right that motor to rev at its max wot rpm factory stated. For skiing purposes you need only a driver, a spotter and a skier, the rest of the boating gang can remain at terra firme sipping cold ones. Probably will need a dedicated prop for that purpose or count with a variable pitch prop for the skier to have fun..

Happy Boating​

 

[Kweaver]

I just found what prop I have:

14-1/4X21RH Quicksilver Black Diamond Propeller (QA1918X)

Quicksilver 14-1/4X21RH 3-blade Black Diamond aluminum propeller. For use on outboards and sterndrives. Works with Mercury, Mercruiser, Yamaha, and Honda. Part#s QA1918X, 48-832832A45 .

propshopinc.com

Can anyone tell me if I need something different?

 

[Kweaver]

inches per revolution it moves the boat forward.
Are you punching it when you pull the skier out? you need to do that and then ease up on the throttle the moment you hit the speed needed and the skier is out of the water

Yes, I am punching it, but it just tends to drag them, then once they are up, I ease back, but again, it is taking too much effort to get them out of the whole.

 

[Chris51280]

you should get a 4 blade prop. it helps with the acceleration because it has more "bite" due to more surface area pushing water. top end suffers a bit but if you are not at constant full speed (which you shouldn't) you are ok.
What is your current speed and rpm at top speed. We can guess what ratio you have unless you know it. With that info we can work a bit better

 

[Kweaver]

you should get a 4 blade prop. it helps with the acceleration because it has more "bite" due to more surface area pushing water. top end suffers a bit but if you are not at constant full speed (which you shouldn't) you are ok.
What is your current speed and rpm at top speed. We can guess what ratio you have unless you know it. With that info we can work a bit better

When you ask what is current speed and rpm at top speed, are you referring to when I am trying to get the skier out of the water? At this point, I don't know, I would have to check next time in the water. If you mean something else, can you explain?

 

[Sea Rider]

How many souls were onboard when the atlethic skier couldn't get out of the hole fast enough ? What's the min-max wot rpm range factory stated for that IB ? Once it's known , go for a wot run with only 3 up and report the max rpm achieved ? Need to prop right that motor to run towards it's max wot rpm range to get the skier out of the hole much faster...

Happy Boating​