Water Skiing and Small RIBs

[jfm]

Mmmm... you made me thinking.
On the 80, surely the space would be enough also for a proper skiboat, and a 2500lbs davit is available as an option.
Now, the Mastercraft 190 which is my favourite, at 2600lbs is not much above that limit...
...I'm sure there must be some other skiboats a tad lighter!

Tee hee!
But would be a lousy tender imho? Imagine going to the beach in a shaft drive! I would fancy a custom Rib X about 5.5m and a Yam 125 or something in that bracket, as a general purpose tender and an acceptable (not perfect) ski boat. But heck, 2500lbs and that huge deck space gives you a helluva lot of choice

[jfm]

BTW, the W'Bay and yam being discussed above is, I've just noticed, exactly the boat in EME's avatar

[MapisM]

But would be a lousy tender imho?

Absolutely. Also the ride would be very bumpy, in even the smallest waves.
Bound to spill any sort of drink!
But hey, life ain't a bed of roses...

[MapisM]

$6M --question so which rib and engine would you get ... say 3.2m maximum and max power engine

If waterski is important, I'd rather try to stretch the size to 3.6 and go with http://www.novurania.com/html/deluxe-360/deluxe-360.htm, with the 40 yammy (which it can use legally).
It's a very good tender also aside from w/ski, btw.

[EME]

Thanks for the help all ... and I promise to reveal more if and when things materialise. This question is actually rather important in the whole.

I 'know that 3.2metres is fine .. and hope (subject to some engineering questions) 3.4m is OK . Unfortunately MapisM, I'm pretty sure that 3.6m is too much.

[Nick_H]

Of the two biggest brands, Avon and Zodiac (I think?), the Zodiac 340 has a shallower V, and is therefore less comfortable in a chop, but slightly better for skiing. The tubes are also mounted lower, and it takes a short shaft whereas Avon takes a long shaft, so it sits on the bathing platform a bit better, which is why I bought one. I think the Avon is a better RIB though.

edit: the perfect engine for one of these if you want to ski is a Mercury/Mariner 30 hp superlight 2 stroke. They weighed under 50 kgs, and being 2 strokes had much more pull. I was offered one brand new, old stock, when I bought my tender, but I opted for the quiter, less smoke option of an 80 kg Honda 4 stroke instead, which in retrospect was a mistake (although as mistakes go, its struggling to break into my top 100).

[MapisM]

edit: the perfect engine for one of these if you want to ski is a Mercury/Mariner 30 hp superlight 2 stroke. They weighed under 50 kgs, and being 2 strokes had much more pull.

Just curious, what model year was that?
My 2 stroke Merc 25hp weighs 51kg (2 cyl, 400cc, no trim).
When I bought it (2003, IIRC), I wasn't aware of anything lighter, let alone more powerful. But maybe I missed that "superlight" stuff...?

[wakeup]

Tee hee!
But would be a lousy tender imho? Imagine going to the beach in a shaft drive! I would fancy a custom Rib X about 5.5m and a Yam 125 or something in that bracket, as a general purpose tender and an acceptable (not perfect) ski boat. But heck, 2500lbs and that huge deck space gives you a helluva lot of choice

Surely there is a missing factor in all of this!

The weight of the big ugly barsteward driving the thing, I think it might struggle to get on the plane let alone tow a skier

[Nick_H]

Just curious, what model year was that?
My 2 stroke Merc 25hp weighs 51kg (2 cyl, 400cc, no trim).
When I bought it (2003, IIRC), I wasn't aware of anything lighter, let alone more powerful. But maybe I missed that "superlight" stuff...?

IIRC Mercury and Mariner made both a 2 cyl and 3 cyl 30hp rated outboard, and called the 2 cyl version the "light". Quick google search also found this reference to it as the "portable". I don't know any model year data, but it was available right up until 2 strokes were banned.


http://www.boatsplus.com.au/mariner-...w/prod_58.html

[EME]

Surely there is a missing factor in all of this!

The weight of the big ugly barsteward driving the thing, I think it might struggle to get on the plane let alone tow a skier

Why ,, you driving?