Water skiing behind a 625# 16' Laser V?

[Lemmers]

I'm looking at a '93 Laser 16' V-hull with an inline 115, bob's cone w/low water pickup, 24pitch laser II. Supposedly it runs low 70's.

Anyway, I've been talking to the original owner and he doesn't think I'll be able to pull a skier or tuber 'cause the boats too light and the ass end will slide all over.

I'm pretty new to light and fast boats, but can't see why it wouldn't work for skiing and tubing, especially if proped down a bit.

Thoughts/experiences?

Thanks in advance,
Lemmers

[84exciter]

with a 140 then a 235 skiied the course to 28 off just need a compentent driver(a little countersteering):D

[Ron V]

Get behind ANY high performance outboard, and you will never get behind a MasterCraft or Malibu again. The wake on an inboard is like Mt. Everest compared to the boat you are looking at. Also, I find that I am much less likely to get hurt behind an outboard because of the nature of the pull and the softness of the wake.

[Ilovespeed]

you are wakeboarding then mastercrafts and such are heaven
TYler

[CompKing]

I agree,small boats with big motors make great ski boats:) Total weight of mine is under #1100,I put in the ski pole and change to 17 pitch prop and it will make you kiss your ski tip on take off and has almost no wake:cool: :)

[Jimbob]

It's Laser's 19' mod v-pad boat, with a 200hp Merc. It does get pulled around a little when a decent skier is pulling hard, but a driver can compensate. The wake is not too bad and has a soft crest.
I differ with Ron V's view about the inboard's wakes. Some of the new wake making inboards used for wakeboarding do make big wakes but a comp skiboat makes a far smaller wake than your average outboard. I ski behind a buddy's Ski Supreme, it's wakes are far smaller the any outboard I've skied behind but it does has a small rooster tail. I don't have any experience behind something like a outboard Flightcraft, but they are suppose to have a small wake.
The owner of the 16' Laser is right, the boat will slide around some with a skier, how much depends on the skiers' abilities. A really good skier will make it a handfull to drive.Tubing I wouldn't think would be a prob.
If your looking to do alot of sking, you might be better off with a larger boat with more motor. Having 2-3 people in the boat while sking helps keep the boat tracking straight too.

Just me 2 cents' worth.:D

[Rusrog]

mount a ski tow bar in the boat. Don't mount it too high or too far back. My mom has a CVX-17 Glastron Carlson with a 175 Merc that will pull the house down and with the tow bar you would have a decent time trying to drag the boat around.

That 16 Laser should make a good ski rig....

Russ Rogers
Ft Worth TX

PS I sometimes ski behind my buddy's Tige tournament boat with an extended pole for Air Chairin' and I have to say that the wake behind that boat is perfect for slalom. Low, soft and very flat.... even better than Mom's old Carlson.....

[Superdave]

Less than 350# with a 1500xs and a 26' cleaver, pulled tubers, and sleds with no problem. They got a little scared at the 60mph mark tho:eek:
Dave

[Boaterbum]

Hey there, I agree with the rest, I run a Vector, 200hp Jonnie not sure the exact wieght, !!!! I run a torque shift prop when I wanna play with people on a rope behind me, and it isn't like it is uncontrolable when they cut around, you can feel them back there, but, I wouldn't worry about it too much with that Laser... Like the other guy said though, make sure that ski pilon gets mounted INSIDE the boat, and not wayy off the back on the transom or whatnot......
Where are you lookin at this boat? I was just talking to a guy with am 88', 16.5 Laser for sale, 175 merc, 80mph on top.....
not sure on price yet... sharp boat....
email me , I can shoot you his email addy, didn't want to post it here with his okay...... was gonna post a pic, but, it won't load on here tonight.,..

[thaw ripper]

Cool! ! ! Welcome Aboard! Ha just need the right prop! I'll help ya out if I can :D Would post some pixs but I can't I don't know what's wong?:confused: Nice Boat! bakeracerx@yahoo.com

[Spd-Kilz]

At our cottage, our neighbour skiis (slalom of course!) behind his Hydrostream Venus (21') with the 225 ProMax. Hes a hard skiier (been skiing since he was like 10,11,12 etc..) and is now in his 40's. THe ProMax handles the skiiers well, but it likes to scream bettter!!!!! Its wake it not to bad.

I myself, ski behind a 14' Aluminum boat with 40 Mariner motor. I'm only 115 lbs so its pretty simple, but I do pull the boat here and there. Driver has to compensate what I do. IT all works good, as long as you have a good driver...:)

[Matt Gent]

Recreational just fooling around, no problem.

If you are trying to pull up a large skier, particularly on slalom, you might have some trouble using a ski to bar if it is tall enough to get over the inline 6. We had an old 1400 merc on our hydrostream vandal years back, and it doesn't have a ton of torque. For big skiers you can use a bridle off the back, it puts less leverage on the boat and will plane quicker. We had to switch to a bridle full time when the pylon started to crack the deck. Tubes pull particularly hard on the rope, especially if the boat driver is aggressive.

If you are competitively slalom skiing in bouys, the driver will have to be attentive to keep the boat straight, but you don't buy a laser for that anyways.

[CMF]

Just curious what the reason is to put the pole as far forward as possible. I've got a voyager and was going to put a pole in it for skiing. The best place (visually) would be behing the back seat and in front of the splashwell. Should I use the tripod configuration for better support?

[Psyco]

16 Laser w/135 Merc v-6,25"Laser II. Would pull a slalom up with sum exertion. Tubers no problem. Drop the motor down and go. Does the bote have the factory mounts for the ski bar? It should if made after '86.
625# is the bare hull. You throw in rigging,motor,seats,batteries,gas tanks,windshield and three bodies and she's gonna be 1800# easy. Low 70's is quite optimistic with a 115. Very optimistic.

[Lemmers]

I just gave the boat a quick 2 or 3 minute look. It's a '91 hull (supposedly) that went unsold until '98. It doesn't have a ski pole and I didn't notice a mount in the floor for it (but I wasn't really looking for one at the time).

The original owner told me he'd run 26 laser II spring and fall (cool weather), and a 24 during the summer. He claims he could spin them both at 6100 w/the inline '88 115. The guy that's selling it (the second owner) doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, so he's not much help.

The motor's mounted high on the transom with no jack plate, single cable steering and no hot foot. I'll hopefully be able to get the boat in the water next week with the seller. I'll bring my gps....

Can you shed some light on the ski pole mount and or help me determine the actual year of the hull?

Thanks,
Lemmers

[Psyco]

The last 2 digits in the serial # will tell ya the year. The ser# is molded into the hull on the starboard (right) rear and on the top cap at the rear deck facing forward. Most later model Lasers came from the factory with a Swivel-eze ski pole. There should be two mounts at the rear of the hull on either side of the slash well and a threaded mount in the rear deck for the pole itself.
If all ya wanna do is ski and cruise,set the prop shaft about 1" below the pad. If ya don't have a jack plate to facilitate raising/lowering the motor,use no more than a 6" setback. Do install a hotfoot and when the steering cable gives up the ghost,install a dual cable system. And when that 115 craps out,put a 260 Horn motor in it's place.:eek: :D :cool:
If ya buy the bote,remove the exhaust plate and make sure the cooling passages aren't silted up and install a new water pump w/key. I am assuming this 115 is an inline six. They are good motors,they just require a little TLC.

Good luck.

[Boaterbum]

hey there, we'll try to get the pix on here now... see if it works......
The guy is located in Hanover, PA...
Seems to be looking to get around 4grand for her......
guess not, no pics yet... if ya want the pics, I can email a few to ya... shoot me an email at boaterbum@aol.com

[Ron V]

The reason for putting the pole as forward as possible is that it helps give the boat more leverage. That's why the tournament inboards have them further forward. The Hydrodyne outboards used in tournaments have them in the back, but with 2 or 3 outboards and anywhere from 300 to 675 horsepower doing the work, popping a wheelie doesn't affect the pull as much.

Jimbob-the only inboard I've been behind that had a wake small enough to consider even close to the worst outboard I've been behind was a Malibu Sportster, and I skied at 15 off behind it. The inboards are okay at 36 mph with a 40 ft towrope, but at the standard 75 feet and at recreational 28-32 mph speeds, the wake is a nightmare compared to a light outboard. Though I must admit I skied behind a 21' Caravelle Interceptor I/O and it took the cake, made the inboard wakes look like canoe wakes. My ears popped when I came down off of it and cut to the outside.

[Jimbob]

With a comp ski boat ya need to be at least 15off or else the wake does get pretty big, but thats what their made for, short line sking.
And sking behind a POS I/O, I don't know if I can call that sking, maybe just survial at best. Those wakes are out there to kill ya.:p
But if I have my choice I rather be behind about any O/B v-pad boat. Cause after the sking is done, then ya get to go fast. Ain't no comp boat out there that can go 75mph+.:D

[Ron V]

I like the "surviving" comment. That's about as good as it can be put. It actually becomes terrifying skiing behind some of those big boats. Part of the reason I don't like I/Os and inboards is because the pull is too strong and steady. I only weigh 125 lbs., so I feel like I'm being keelhauled behind them. For free style recreational slalom skiing, I like a boat that I CAN drag around a bit when I cut hard because it doesn't feel like it's trying to pull me forward on my face. A boat that has some give to it allows me to dig in harder in the turns.