Engine HPs

[j3r3m7]

How much power do you guys think is the bare minimum for a servicable wakeboard boat to have? Is it really 200+ or will less do if you accept that you can't weight the boat to the max and take along more than 4 passengers...

My previous boat, a brendella, had 250 and that always did the job with full fatsacs and 5 in the boat. How much lower than that do you think would really affect your handling and capacity?

[saltwater_cowboy]

A lot depends on the size and weight of the boat.

I ride regually on a 18ft searay with a 3.0 130hp inboard. With 4 people on the boat its not a struggle to get up but is noticeably slower than my own boat. I think maybe 4 a fatsac would be its limit though.

My 22ft maxum has 300hp and I start to notice slower starts when there is 6 people or more on board. With 10 its not struggling but again it is that little bit slower to plane out.

Boats up to 20ft need a good 260hp to be able to cope with normal wakeboard ballast of around 1500lbs. 20-22ft and you need 300hp, over 22ft and your talking 315hp minimum.

[julians]

Not really relevent to this conversation, but anyway:-

Until this year I used to wakeboard off a zodiac inflatable with 50hp, pulled you up with 3 15stone people on the boat and one on the board, no wake to speak of though, so only good for wakeskating really.

Its for sale on the off chance that someone wants it.

[j3r3m7]

Cheers for the replies... so as you know I'm doing some boat searching at the moment and am building a table/faq item to help out fellow boat buyers on wakechat.

One thing I'll do now is list suitable boats such as the Maxum 1800 SR3 and rate the ideal engine combo and then a minimum engine size. Not only will a decent list of boats help out searchers but a minimum engine size should save people from buying the right boat to a too small engine.

e.g.

Bowriders
Maxum 1800 SR3
Engine: Ideal:4.3l, Minimum: 3.0l
Worthwhile Extras: Turbo drinks holder widget

What do you think, what else should I list?

[saltwater_cowboy]

If you really wanted to do some worth while research you could find out if the manufacturers offer a factory fitted tower, perfect pass and the amount of storage for fat sacs if there is no factory ballast.

They are the options us boarders are really interested in and while many will order new boats with them fitted if others are looking at second user boats without its nice to know that if there was a factory fit option then retro fitting these parts on should be easy.

[Tower_boy]

OK my spin on that rig:


1800SR3 Min engine 4.3 V6 merc - preffered 4.3MPI V6 Merc.
Don't touch the 3.0 litre unless you want to do serious down-propping to something like a 17 pitch and be unable to use WOT.

Preffered extras: These will over rev with anything less than a 19pitch prop and will be very very near the limit with the 19 - I ran this for 2 years on a 4.3 carb. Preffered prop is the 21 pitch High 5 for a good mix of speed and power. Stock prop is a 23 pitch 3 blade aluminium - this is only good for spare or ebay unless you have the MPI, even then.. its hit and miss.

Something to bear in mind with the maxums is they changed around 96-97. anything before then left a lot to be desired on the quality front but still, there's alot worse out there, its just Sea ray were far ahead in those times. 2001 was an awesome year. 2002-2003 - avoid them as they have dodgy vinyl. 2005/6 is the year they seem to have gotten themselves sorted with quality stereos, nice vinyl, few tweaks to fit and finish and very convenient wiring configurations for the avid DIY'er etc...