Water Skiing Behind a Tinny . . .

Does anyone water ski behind their tinny? I'd like to know the minimum hp required.
I'm guessing 90HP 2-stroke on a 16' hull.

Ive seen a few people ski behind a 16ft mod v and 35hp Im pretty sure

I've water skied, comfortably, behind a 15' powered by an old (crank rated, pin drive) 40 hp.

Probably wouldn't be the best way to teach an absolute novice, unless they are fairly small, as one does have to push water for a bit, but once you get moving, it works well.

Funny thing is, a good friend of ours, and his whole family is seriously involved in competitive water skiing. His nearly grown kids rank in the top 3 nationally, so they are pretty heavily invested in water skiing. Growing up though, he learned on a fiberglass boat with a 25, and really thought he was living well when his dad replaced that with a 40 horse, as that was one of the biggest motors on the lake. :lol:

These days, they're running MasterCrafts and Correct Crafts with 6 liter inboards, and he says if all he had was the 40 horse these days, he likely wouldn't even bother. Funny how much the perception can change in short time.

Not trying to thread steal, but along the same lines, what about towing a tube ? My 7 year old just wants to be pulled along, and I know my 9.9 can do it... Just wondering if anyone else has done it?

Used to tow tubes and whatnot behind my ol' 14' tracker and 20hp Merc all the time.

I seen some guys knee boarding behind a small fiberglass boat with a 25hp. Looked like it had plenty of power. Not sure but it seems like a 25 on a light tin boat would do better???

DC Snider said:

Used to tow tubes and whatnot behind my ol' 14' tracker and 20hp Merc all the time.

Click to expand...

How did you tie to the boat? I have two grab handles on the stern braces, do you make a 'Y' coming out past the motor?

Check out the vid below of some Aussies skiing behind a 12' on boat running a 15 hp and the guy wakeboarding behind a Gheenoe. A 9.9 should be able to pull a 7 year old along nicely. As far as the rigging goes, yeah create a "Y" behind the boat with one line going from to either stern cleat, then tie the tow lie to it to form the "Y", as if your were towing another vessel. Of course, you can always buy ski ropes and the whole nine too. Try to make sure the line itself floats and/or add some chunks of foam to it so it won't sink and foul your prop.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1UXeC6QG-4&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-wIQ_7z1w&feature=related

how do you get back in a 12 or 14' boat afterwards?

You just remove the skis, toss 'em in the boat and climb over the side. Hopefully, your buddy is heavy enough to counterbalance the boat as you do so. I can even climb into/out of my little 14' semi-V tinny with no one in the pretty easily. It helps that i have a grab bar (duh), but it's really not the bad.

When pulling a tube, the back on the boat will be very low to the water until you get onto plane. Once on plane and you get going you will not have problem

My dad used to ski behind a1436 with a 15 hp Johnson. I learned behind a 1650 xpress with a 40 hp yammy. That boat also had big aluminum racks for floundering I find it easier behind a smaller hp boat. For me, the big hp boats just pull me over.

I did a lot of waterskiing behind a 14 foot Dura Craft with a 25 Merc when I was a kid.

I've also skied behind my 16 foot Dura Craft jet. In fact, I just got through doing some modifications to a nice ski pole, made entirely out of stainless steel.

It's about 6 foot tall, fits into the pintle mount on the stern of my boat, with tube bracing that bolts to the gunwales.

Initially, I used some small diameter SS cable as guy wires to brace it, then quickly found out that didn't work when I snapped one of the wires while skiing behind the boat last summer. :roll:

The guy wires were really not a good idea to begin with, as they were small diameter, and it would be too easy to 'clothesline' oneself, possibly cutting off some body parts. :shock:

So, I did away with the guy wires, and instead used some thin wall SS tubing. The tube bracing is welded to the main tube, but I cut those brace tubes, near the main upright, and put internal sleeves made out of solid aluminum stock, turned on the lathe to fit snugly inside the SS tubing, then drilled for a SS bolt on each side of the joint, on both bracing tubes. This way, I can break it down into 3 pieces when I'm not using it.

Haven't got to try it out yet, as I'm currently replacing the steering cable in the jetboat as I write this. But I'm anxious to see how it works out! When I do, I'll get some video and post it to my youtube channel.

acabtp said:

how do you get back in a 12 or 14' boat afterwards?

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I often used the cavitation plate of the outboard as a 'step' to get back in. But you have to be careful doing that, if your foot slips, you could get sliced on a prop blade.

I've done both tubes and skis.....then again...I was running a 225 hp jet too which made it effortless.

Waterskiiing behind a tin boat.....my 16 foot Dura Craft with a 160 horsepower MR-1 inboard jet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hykX4wjzRI4&feature=plcp

I've been pulling tubes and skiers with my 18' starcraft 90hp for 20 years. Problem you run into is the amount of wear and tear on the hull. I've replaced the transom twice over the years and am dealing with leaks now.

jr1053 said:

I've been pulling tubes and skiers with my 18' starcraft 90hp for 20 years. Problem you run into is the amount of wear and tear on the hull. I've replaced the transom twice over the years and am dealing with leaks now.

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That's why I think my pintle mount design I'm using on my jetboat is the perfect application. The pintle will drop into a rear deck plate, and the cross bracing bolts to the gunwales. This takes a LOT of the stress off the transom.