How big is too big for pulling a skier?

MMcCawley

Member
Sep 11, 2010
156
San Clemente, Ca
Boat Info
1989 268 Sundancer
Engines
454 Mercruiser w/Bravo I Drive
Hi guys,

Wanted to get some opinions... At what point is a boat too big/heavy for pulling a skier/wakeboarder/etc? In particular I'm considering a 1985 25' Sundancer as a great all-around multipurpose ocean and lake boat but I'm concerned that it's going to be too big to pull a skier. This particular boat has a single 350 Chevy and an OMC outdrive and weighs roughly 4700 lbs dry.

Thanks for the feedback,
Matt
 
Depends on how much skiing you plan on doing. My wife occasionally ski's behind our 26' Sundancer, but it's not something you would want to do all day or with a lot of people. I have the 7.4 liter with an Alpha1.
 
The bigger the boat, the bigger the wake, the bigger the air.
 
We do it behind the 268. Ski, Wakeboard, Tube...Like they say...bigger wake. Wake boarders don't know what they are missing!:lol:
 
So is it safe to say that a 25' Sundancer with a 350 will have enough acceleration to pull a single skier out of the water?
 
So is it safe to say that a 25' Sundancer with a 350 will have enough acceleration to pull a single skier out of the water?

You'll have enough power. The question is whether the skier will get fatigued just getting out of the hole. Cruisers don't have great hole shots so the skier might be plowing water for awhile until you get enough speed to pull them up. I've only skied behind ski boats so I can't say for sure. And you will need a nice long area to run because you won't be doing tight button hooks with your Sundancer....though it would be fun to jump the wake on a turn.
 
We had friends that would pull 5 skiers at a time behind their 38' egg harbor. We had a 250 (with a 7.4) that we would pull skiers, but it cost a lot in fuel and we did not do that often... It would be fine for an all around boat...
 
Although we do not regularly ski behind our 44DB... we have done it once, this past weekend. It was just to say we've done it...
[youtube]TAQRpYYjby8[/youtube]
 
Although we do not regularly ski behind our 44DB... we have done it once, this past weekend. It was just to say we've done it...
[youtube]TAQRpYYjby8[/youtube]

BWAHAHAHAA!:smt043 NICE!!!!!!

Thats about a $50 hole-shot right there huh?:thumbsup:
 
Our son tried wakeboarding behind our 260 but there are a couple of issues. Keeping the boat at the correct speed was difficult becaus the speed that he likes is right between the boat plowing and it coming up on plane. Once the boat comes on plane the speed jumps of course and that was too fast for him. The other issue especially on a river that is narrow was being able to see around the boat to know whether or not he could go outside the wake. With the bow up, not alot of visibility. Also getting back to a fallen skiier or boarder takes longer and that is not good with other boats in the area. He now goes and instructs at a wakeboard park using high speed winches. If we were really into it, I would just buy a ski or wakeboard boat. Not to that point for our family.
 
That's why we bought a Sea Doo Speedster! We can pull a tube or skier all day on 20 gallons. The 320DA would use that in 30 minutes...
 
My kids are in the beginning stages, so I wouldn't put them behind anything over 22 feet (or maybe a 240 now that they measure the platforms in there). Sure, you can ski behind almost anything, but beyond a certain point the wakes become too big and the hole shots start to suck.

If you have a larger boat, you may consider picking up a sub-$5000 18 foot'er--that's what we did.
 
My previous boat was 26 foot with a single 350 CID sterndrive. Nothing wrong with that size boat for water-skiing or tubing. We also skiied behind a friend's 27' Sea Ray with a single 7.4 and Bravo drive. No problems there either. We use to slalom and combo ski both boats. No problem. A friend also spent a day behind mine on trick skis doing flips and backward skiing, etc.

We skied and tubed with the 330. It was okay, but the turning circle is a bit wide and the fuel consumption was a bit excessive. The other boats were much cheaper to run. We ski and tube now with a Sea Doo RXT-X. A lot of power, but fun
 
My kids are in the beginning stages, so I wouldn't put them behind anything over 22 feet (or maybe a 240 now that they measure the platforms in there). Sure, you can ski behind almost anything, but beyond a certain point the wakes become too big and the hole shots start to suck.

If you have a larger boat, you may consider picking up a sub-$5000 18 foot'er--that's what we did.
Completely agree... when we're not skiiing behind the 44' (which we only did once) we ski behind this... which cost me ~5K.
5036188360_f7b1c910f8_o.jpg
 
So I guess all in all the answer is YES (yea) but you will pay for it in GAS. hole-shot and can be modified with prop selection and bow-down with tabs.... yes fun fun fun till the sun goes down
 
We used to ski on Lake Michigan behind a 26 SR express. We saw people skiing in the North Channel a few years ago in Government Bay behind a 39 SR. Cruise ship trumps everything.
 
I saw the Mythbusters episode when they skied behind the cruise ship... they didn't get up behind the cruise ship... the dude got up behind a whaler-type boat and then he grabbed a line that was dragging in the water behind the ship. So although quite cool, I'm going to say that doesn't count! Surely someone here has skied or 'boarded behind a boat bigger than 44'.

And MMcCawley, my MasterCraft is a 1990. It's in really nice shape for a 20 year old boat.
 

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