enough h.p.?

i was trying to get my friend into wakeboarding this summer and i finaly succeeded and he bought his own board(a cheap hydroslide 135 cm)the problem is our boat only has a 115 h/p motor and his boat only has a 90. hes pretty big(6,0 160lbs)and the boat just draggs him through the water until he cant hold on and has to let go of the rope. so he never gets to the point where he;s able to stand, do you think the board is too small, or is the motor? im pretty sure its not his technique but hey I could be wrong.

i rode behind a 90 hp at my friends house once im 6ft 4in 170lbs and it was really hard to get the boat to accelerate so i could get up easily but when i did it was fine. it should be ok

We used to (as in until late this year) ride behind an 80 horse outboard, I would assume that the engine isn't the problem. It looks to me that the board might be too small. Either that or technique, in which case my post doesn't help much. Ah well.

EDIT: Irrelivent, but I thought I would just share this for the heck of it. When my dad used to slalom, he skiied behind a 6 horse engine... The ski was more pushing through the water than on top of it, but he was still up. It amazes me to this day.

(Message edited by pwningjr on October 11, 2007)

I watched a guy wakeboard behind a 15 HP tin boat at the end of summer. I have no idea how he got up but he did.

That is plenty of hp for a small boat. 160lbs is not a big rider. Work on the technique of getting up. many people try to force getting up and end up pushing the board underwater instead of allowing it to stay on top.FWIW: We used to have a sea ray with 90hp and as heavily weighted as it would get and still pulled a bigger guy then you are trying to.

thats plenty of power I have ridin behind a 25hp before (5'9" 190) it did take some doing but a 90 is more then enough.
I think dan is right he is doing something wrong.One more trick to do is once up stay in a butter slide till the boat speeds up it creates less drag.

"im pretty sure its not his technique but hey I could be wrong."

Totally a lack of technique.

My first time up was behind a 14 ft jon boat with a 25 hp. I am 6'0 185 lbs. We used that boat for three months. I was also on a board that was too small. I say it is technique.

I'm 6'2" 75 kg, around 160 lb. I've skurfed behind a 12 foot tinny (2 up, driver and spotter) with a 10 horse motor on my 6'6", it didn't pull very well, was hard to get the board to plane, but once it did it went pretty hard. Pulled me out is the important part anyway, it can be done.

i ride behibd a 250cc quad in a canal sometimes i'm 6'2 240 lbs and i can get up no prob it's probably technique bro just work on it u'll get it down.

I'm 5'11"@175lb, I wake behind a 115. No problems here.

start with the board under the water. not on top. as the boat moves forward try to think of sliding it through the water, letting the boat pick up speed, instead of trying to force yourself up quickly by immediately pushing the water with all your weight. takes a little practice, but you should be able to get up.

My 17' boat has only 50HP (30mph top speed) and we have a couple 180# guys who ride just fine. Have him stay squatted on the board, and like mentioned above let the board slide on top of the water. Once he's sliding he can stand right up.

The Jury verdict is in. Plenty of HP! Try watching some vids. Once he gets it, the 90 or the 115 will pop him right up.

If you feel you have to have more hole shot, you can get a lower pitch prop for the motors. Just watch for over-revs if you do.

allright thanks for the advice everyone hope we getout again before winter!