Is a 17 feet boat enough?

rafaelnfernandes · Newbie Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 5

Hi everybody,

I have a chance to buy a cheap 17' direct drive boat, and will use it mainly to wakeboard. It has a 170 hp engine.

From the pictures I saw from the old air nautiques 2001, the hull is very similar, but of course, a little smaller.

The question is, would it (potentially) be capable of getting at least an average wake? (of course nothing compared to the monster wakes from the 22' wake boats, but something usable for air tricks, w2w... etc...)

My riding skills are still very low (without a boat, is hard to progress), I can only get up, ride goofy and switch, a feel ollies, and suface 180's.

Please, any comment would be appreciated.

P.S. I'm gonna have to stick with this boat for AT LEAST 1.5 - 2 years, until I make enough money to an upgrade...

Many thanks.

Suprahunter · Soul Rider Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 486 City: Lowell

That boat was made to pull a slalom skier. One driver one spotter one skier.
I don't know how much ballast you can put in it.

rafaelnfernandes · Newbie Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 5

Thanks SupraHunter,

I do plan to use some ballast on it. But the thing is, I will not have a chance to "play" with ballasts before I buy....

And it probably have a high pitch prop on it (that I plan to switch), so will be a problem to even use people as a kind of ballast for a quick run on the "test drive".

Again, thanks, hope more people show their opinions here.

JeffreyCH · Posted: Apr 23, 2009 7:09 pm Post subject:

I would say anything you can afford that gets you out there, go for it. Getting some heavy people to go would be a good idea, pack on as many as the boat will SAFELY hold. Meaning check the capacity plate, I think you will get into some problems on that small of a boat if you overweight it.

kartman · Posted: Apr 24, 2009 6:03 am Post subject:

i would go for it. i board behind a 16' outboard, and when i trim it and get all my friends in it, it puts out a decent size wake, you should have no prob with a 17'. do u know what the free board is? the more freeboard, the more ballast u can use. mine has like 12" or so, and i run 600#'s in the center toward the front. i would love to see pics when u get them.

WakeMikey · Addict Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 640 City: Fridley

Narrow boats make steeper wakes with less weight. As long as the floors and engine are in good shape you should be ok. Maybe one sac in the back. I do not have personal experience though.

NKCrider · Posted: Apr 24, 2009 10:39 am Post subject:

yes, its big enough. i ride behind a 17ft 1980 ski nautique, with no ballast besides my dad and 1-2 friends. no, your not going to get an x- star sized wake. but for a beginner (i am aswell) its good.

rafaelnfernandes · Newbie Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 5

Many many thanks for all of your comments!!

I lived in the US for a while and know the reality for you guys is completly different from over here (Brazil).

Here, boats are expensive and very $$$ to run. Gas costs double (right now around USD 4,37 a gallon, and we make less $$) and parts are extremely expensive...

Thats why, at least for the next couple of years, if I want a boat, a need to go with something very easy to maintain. But I didnt want to buy something that would be uselless wakeboarding wise. (I mean, usefult o w2w tricks, and maybe, down the road my first inverts)

I do plan to play a lot with ballasts and maybe buy a better propeller (I didnt see the boat yet, but I have the felling it will have a high pitch one).

If anyone else have opinions, ideias, experiences that wanna share, they are very welcome.

Thanks,

Rafael