Wakeboarding boat advice needed

[Cosmographer]

Hello all,

I will soon be purchasing my first boat (Dyna 45'), and would like to get an accompanying speedboat for watersport activities such as wakeboarding and banana boat towing. While I'm new to these kinds of things, local friends here love to go out for a daytrip to the islands for these kinds of activities. (I doubt they are hardcore wakerboarders tho).

So I'm looking for a boat that 1) is small enough to either share my mooring without incurring additional charges or be small enough to be hauled up onto my Dyna, 2) will be decent enough for the activities mentioned without requiring pricey upgrades, and 3) not be too expensive.

So far, I've found these deals:
1) Bayliner 2050: 21', 150hp Evinrude, 1996, 8 person capacity, wakeboard tower: $8,124 USD
2) AB Inflatable RIB: 11', 25hp Mercury, 2006, 4 person capacity, no tower: $6,190 USD
3) Dinghy: 16.5', 50hp Suzuki, 6 person capacity, no tower: $5,800 USD
4) Searay 180: 18', 150hp Evinrude, 1992, 6 person capacity, no tower: $8,400 USD

How do these options sound? I really like the RIB because it seems so easy to store on my Dyna, but not sure if it will cut the mustard, so to speak. Finally, if I can't haul it up, then do most people just tow them? Does this create a ton of drag and eat into the fuel efficiency?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[brick75]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

Interesting question. If you're primary purpose is for wakeboarding or other towing watersports, I definitely would not go with the RIB. An 11' inflatable with a 25hp motor is not what you'd call an ideal watersports boat. You'll get guys telling you that they've wakeboarded behind something as small as a canoe with a 50lb thrust trolling motor :facepalm: but the fact is that you need a decent amount of pull to get people up out of the water efficiently and you also need to create a nice wake if you want to enjoy the sport to it's fullest.

It sounds like you just need to decide what's most important to you. The ability to haul up, or a good boat for watersports (you may not find one that satisfies both). Option 1 or 4 would do just fine for watersports, but I can't imagine it would be efficient or safe to tow something like that behind a larger boat. I don't have any personal experience with that, but I bet if you asked that question in the general forum, you'd get plenty of the veterans out there saying it's not a good idea. Also the prices you list for options 1 and 4 seem quite high for boats of that age. Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

No input on how any of these would be to tow, but either 1 or 4 would work fine for boarding. Tower is nice once you start jumping more and helps with storage of the boards when underway.

 

[Cosmographer]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

Thank you for the input! I'll keep my eyes open for something cheaper too

 

[Cosmographer]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

I'm looking at another boat with a 1988 Mercruiser engine with 350 hours. Cost is about $6,700 USD. Is that a lot of hours for an inboard speedboat engine? Does this sound like a good deal?

 

[KD4UPL]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

350 hours on a 1988?? That boat has hardly ever been run. I wouldn't buy it because very little use is probably harder on the engine than more than average use.
Of your boat choices 1 or 4 would be okay. The other two boats will get pulled around when the wakeboarder cuts. I've pulled a wakeboard with a jet ski before and you could feel the back of the ski move around when the boarder cut back and forth across the wake.

 

[brick75]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

I'm looking at another boat with a 1988 Mercruiser engine with 350 hours. Cost is about $6,700 USD. Is that a lot of hours for an inboard speedboat engine? Does this sound like a good deal?

If you average that out, it's a little under 15 hours of use per year which would be considered pretty low usage but not a huge deal if it was consistent. The real question is did it get used regularly or did it sit unused for years on end? If it sat unused for 10 years, that could be a big problem, especially if it wasn't properly set up for long-term storage. I would definitely have something like that checked out by a mechanic before buying.

And again, I don't know what kind of boat this is, but it seems like a high asking price for something that old. Have you checked Craigslist? Should be able to find better deals there than on a dealer site. Another thing to consider is that prior to 1995 or 1996, they used a different kind of plywood for the flooring in boats that wasn't nearly as good at standing up to the elements. If you buy one older than this, be sure to test the floor for soft spots and be aware that you may end up with an expensive repair if you have to replace it.

 

[Cosmographer]

Re: Wakeboarding boat advice needed

Thanks for the advice. One other one I just found and am considering is:

Four Winns 170: 2005, 140HP Mercury Outboard Petrol 2 Stroke with tower, ski post, etc. for $4900. Seems like the best deal so far, on paper anyway. I'm going to go take a look at it next week.