I know, no great options, but i've got to find a boat that fits. Our local lake has an 18' and 115 hp restrictions. Any ideas for a boat?

I am not sure if they make one that small but I think a seaswirl spyder would work pretty good with a smaller outboard like that. <BR> <BR>See if you can cheat and somehow get a bigger outboard and change out the stickers on the outboard to say 115.

They make one. Here is an 18' with a 115 johnson. <BR> <BR><a href="http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/boa/1264877422.html" target="_blank">http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/boa/1264877422.html</a>

i have heard good things about bayliner hulls for wakeboarding on a budget....throw a low pitch prop on there and you can load her with about 1500# and some people. <BR> <BR>just an example you can find with 115 <BR> <BR> <BR><a href="http://regina.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-boats-1990-Bayliner-Capri-1800-W0QQAdIdZ141398753" target="_blank">http://regina.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-boats-1990-Bayliner-Capri-1800-W0QQAdIdZ141398753</a> <BR> <BR>(Message edited by absoluteboarder on July 14, 2009)

thanks Brett, Michael. Found a seaswirl 17.5 locally(DE, MD, NJ). The spyder looks sweet but haven't found any around here yet. Hard to find an I/O or I that's 115 or below and seems most bayliners are I/O. I'm not opposed to removing decals but would hate to be called on it and have a boat with no lake to boat on.

It is almost impossible to find an i/o 115 or under I think. For quite a few years the smallest I/O motor people are using is the 3.0L Chevy which is 130hp I believe.

There is a 17' Ski Nautique out there somewhere I think. De-tune that carb to under 115hp and away you go! <IMG SRC="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0>

I think a Ski-Tique is 17' from the late 70s like said above. Just don't lift the engine cover, EVER!

I swear I've seen a 17.5' Ski Nautique that was newer then the '70's Ski Tique.

I think you are right J. There was one in the 90's that was smaller than the ski nautique. The problem is that it probably had a 240+ hp engine and I don't think you could detune it that much. Also it probably says the hp in some documentation and that is what they are going to look at. they probably won't dyno his motor.

they made an airtique too. had ballast and an stock extended pylon. fudge some paperwork buy some 115 hp stickers. or but a 2001 and cut 9" off the front like an epic.

If you have the money just buy a new boat and have the boat manufacturer fudge and make the numbers work in you favor. <BR> <BR>My dad bought an Ocean Alexander a couple years ago. On the title and all the paperwork it says it is a 40 foot boat but they never made a 40' boat but the particular model is actually 42'. The original owner had them fudge the paperwork so she wouldn't have to go the over 40' bouy at Avalon on Catalina Island. It saved her something likek a quarter million dollars. Apparently the rights to tie up to a bouy at Avalon are not cheap. I want to say her 40' bouy was worth about a million bucks.

You can put Perfect Pass on outboards if you know how... <BR> <BR>What do you want to do with the boat? <BR> <BR>If it were me I'd try to pick up a boat like a Flightcraft 18XLT. You can modify the engine to limit it to 115hp easily enough. You wouldn't be able to barefoot behind it though and slalom at 36mph may not be possible. 115hp may just push it to 36mph but I doubt it. <BR> <BR>If this is just for wakeboarding the flightcraft would do a great job given your local limitations. <BR> <BR>Tricks to limit power and to prove you've done it: <BR> <BR>1. Electronic ignition with a hard rev limiter. Those 220hp engines had to spin to 4400rpm or so to make that kind of power. Limit it to say 2600- 2800rpm. <BR>2. Install a muffler or fresh air exhaust <BR>3. Install a throttle stop. It will need to be substantial (i.e. not easy to disable) and you would still need a rev limiter as well. <BR>4. Might also be possible to get Perfect Pass to make a RPM cruise control for you which limits RPM to a certain value and can not be switched off. <BR> <BR>You could dyno it in boat leaving the velvet drive in place as this chews out power as well. Outboards are rated at the prop so I assume this is OK for inboards. <BR> <BR>Get a certificate from an engine builder specifying the output after all this is done. <BR> <BR>Then don't be stupid. If the boat is quiet (PUT MUFFLERS ON or better still fresh air exhaust) and is never driven fast and never at high revs (do not disable this stuff) then you can't be called in to serious question. <BR> <BR>At low RPM, a stock 80's 350 chev doesn't make a lot of horsepower so it won't take much to knobble it back to 115. <BR> <BR>Otherwise a 115 E-TEC would be a great outboard option then just fit it up with Perfect Pass (PM me for details on that) <BR> <BR>Greg

how would they know? there's no way for them to dyno a boat motor on the lake to ensure that it meets proper hp ratings. You could just as easily hop up a 115 to more hp and hide that as you could detune another engine hiding it's real capabilities. Variations in speed can be explained to different prop choices. <BR> <BR>I guess my question is how are they enforcing this rule?

Get a Jetboat, but the are some seadoo with less than 115 HP and around 16 feet and there not bad boats.

Move to a different lake.

They won't be able to dyno your boat. But if somebody complains about your boat (which they will because it looks too big and they can't have one) you can take the appropriate person for a drive. You can show that the boat doesn't have the top end speed and show the rev limiter in operation. The boat will accelerate nearly as fast as a normal inboard but it will hit a limiter at 2800rpm.

Make a "Lemonscraft" and start wakeskating! <BR> <BR>check out this video of Blake Steele KILLING it behind a john boat. <BR><a href="http://vimeo.com/5289926?hd=1" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/5289926?hd=1</a> <BR> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/719595.jpg" alt="Upload"> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/719596.jpg" alt="Upload">