Need boat opinion !!

[Catch This Wake]

Pls Help !! I'm on a budget and am looking for a cheap lake boat for wakeboarding... Its a rather small lake, so I'm looking at a 19'5 Tahoe Q4 w/ a 135hp (I/O) merc b/c of the price....

Boat and driver approx 2500 lbs... Is 135 hp enough? Would it sufice for all levels of wakeboarding?? From what I understand cruises at approx 22 mph. I know speed isnt that relevant....

What do you guys think?

Thanks....

[parks143dna]

depends on how big the rider is. I'm 195 and if it were me I'd want more power.

[Bowen]

Catch This Wake, before you do anything, how much are you looking at spending?...if you don't wanna say PM me. For pretty cheap you can get an older ski boat that will be AWESOME for wakeboarding after you throw some fat sacs and a tower/pylon on it. What year tahoe are you looking at? to answer your question 135 will not be enough, b/c you will want your friends to come out too, and you will have drinks, and later on you'll want fat sacs to perfect the wake. go with an older ski boat. There is one listed in the classifieds for 3500, it looks in fairly good shape, will need some elbow grease but its doable. And go talk to your local dealers they might have an 80's ski boat that would be good for wakeboarding. All of us on here can walk you through the process of converting it to a wake boat...

[HyperRash]

I don't think it would be enough

[garrett720]

check the classifieds, thats not enough

[cRaZyMo]

i weigh 240 and used to ride behind a 115hp, if that helps u at all

[03Belmont]

cRaZyMo, But how much weight was in the boat, how big was the boat, etc. IMO 135hp wouldnt be a good at all.. Look at a older ski boat we just sld one of our boats for $5,000 that was restored and had a tower... Look for somthing like that if somewhere around 5K is in your price rang your looking to spend

[marlinempress]

I learned on a tri-hull with a 40hp motor....and I weigh about 235. The driver had to floor it, then climb up on top of the bow with everyone else to get it to plane out

[matt1808]

since it is a Q4 i am guessing you are buying it new. if you are buying it new then I would go with the Q6 if it isn't too much, or get an option motor. I have a Q7 with a 5.0 mpi Alpha and i have had several compliments about the wake, even from inboard owners. Also the 5.0 is plenty for me. only problems I have had with it are wiring issues and many of those problems have been the dealerships fault. and eventually we had to get a new wiring harness.

[wakesnake]

yer i dont think it will be enough power mate

[Catch This Wake]

OK thanks guys... but here is te next boat we are looking at. It is a jet boat that does about sixty MPH so I'm guessing it has a lot of power. Ill get more specifics later. But does riding behind a decnt sized jet boat make much of a difference than riding behind a boat with the same power. It will probably need fat sacs but besides that... i wanna hear your opinions again. I also want to put a pole or a tower on it too.

[vawakemonster]

i wouldnt go there................drcrny sized riders will pull jet boats when they give a hard cut and jet boats are hard to weight...........i would go with an older skiboat

[Catch This Wake]

will it give enough wake to do rolls and stuff like that???

[Powaman]

I hafta say my I/O has 165 hp but close enough to 135 and I say that should be enough power just get a prop for power, not speed. My boat with 5 people on it and all our gear and 3/4 tank of gas has a different prop and it'll pull up people easily and quickly, and I'm 175 pounds. People even comment on how quick it pulls them out of the water and these people boarded behind a 91 ski supreme with twice the horsepower. The downfall? Our boat with this prop maxes out around 35-40. But I don't need any faster so this works just fine. I say if you choose a good prop and don't expect a ski boat quick pull out of the water it should suffice just fine. Now if your super pros and want a super quick pull of the water you migth be dissapointed.

[matt1808]

Powaman, yea but you wont have enough power to add much weight

[ballywho]

I ride behind a mako171 with a 90hp outboard, I can get 2 wakeboarders up with no problem w/o flooring it. The top speed is about 40 and that is more than fast enough. The best part... I save soooooooo much on ga$$$ compared to all of you. Remember that the bigger the prop the bigger the acc. and fuel bill, the smaller the top speed.
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[marlinempress]

I think that's the other way around ballywho....

[ballywho]

nope, a bigger prop takes more energy to turn (bigger fuel bill) and it has more bite (better acc.)
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[jonsmith2340]

Here's a little info on the prop question: A prop with a pitch of 17", in an ideal situation with no slipping, will move the boat forward 17" with one revolution. Conversely, a pitch of 15" will move the boat forward 15". Therefore a lower pitched prop is what most of us think of as a "power" prop and a higher pitched prop is a "speed" prop. The power props will decrease top speed but I don't know about fuel consumption. To me I would think that you would use more fuel because you will be running at a higher rpm to travel the same mph, translating into more fuel, but this could be very boat and motor specific.

[ballywho]

You have to remember that a 17" pitch prop takes alot of energy to turn. That is why tugboats con only go 8 or 10 knots but with a barge they can go 6 or 9 knots, because the huge props have an equal bite. They move alot of water with each revolution.

On the fuel question rpm's isn't everything. The amount of resistance causes alot of the fuel consumption, hence more burned while wakeboarding than running floored. Wakeboarding has alot more resistance at low rpms while running has more rpms with less resistance.
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[Catch This Wake]

So if I get the tahoe with the right prop i should be fine correct??? Ya i have a good sized lake for boarding, but small enought that i dont need to go more than 40. Actually more than 25 if I'm behind it.

[ballywho]

hopefully, see if you can demo it first. But yes a prop will make a difference.
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[Catch This Wake]

thanx man i appreaciate it

[matt1808]

Catch This Wake, just to point this out again if you are going to be adding weight later on that will not be enough power probably. If you can, get a motor option and(or) try looking for a year or two old Q7 or go for the Q6. Also the Q series are actually pretty good boat and you can get them to throw a pretty respectable wake. I already have a post higher on the page talking bout the motor I got in my Q7 if you haven't read it yet.

just remember you WILL want to add weight later and that motor you mentioned wont be able to handle much added weight.

[dirtysparks]

If you're on a budget, the 135 will be plenty. I run 1200 lbs. in my 3.0 with no problems. I'm 5'11 and 170 lbs. Weight it front to back....if you throw it all in back you'll have problems. Prop change would be required. Something like a 15 or 16 pitch.

[Catch This Wake]

thanx