90 HP enough for pulling tubes?

Question

Looking at buying my first boat. I have my eye on a 17' Bowrider, recent vintage. It has a 90 HP outboard. Most of the boats on our lakes that I see pulling kids on tubes seem to be inboards, that I assume are larger.

Does this boat seem reasonable for what I want to do - mainly pull a couple of kids 10-14 on tubes? Is there any benefit from an inboard?

Many thanks!

Answer 1

You should have no problem with that size motor and boat. Inboards have a lot more power than an outboard.

Answer 2

I could pull both tubes and skis (full size adults) with my 14' tri-hull with a 40HP Evinrude. It was hard for me at 250 lbs to slalom, but I could ski.

I now have a 17' tri-hull with a 65HP Evinrude. It pulls two, and even my fat self!

You should be good to go.

Yes there are benefits to inboards, but some trade offs as well. The I/O's will give more power, and are (arguably) more reliable. Repair costs on an I/O may be more than an O/B.

Answer 3

you should not have any trouble pulling tubers with that size engine. You could probably pull a single skier if they were light enough. Keep an eye on your RPM's when you run it. Max RPM's should be at about 5500. Increasing or decreasing the pitch on your prop will change your RPM's to accomodate what you want to do with the boat. Increasing your pitch will provide more pulling power but decrease your top end speed. Most marine shops will have a chart that will get you where you want to be on your prop.

Answer 4

It will be ok for that.  You may struggle to pull a skier or wakeboarder and you will not be able to take more than 2-3 passengers while towing but it should be fine.  The outboard motor is fine as well, you just have to get a tower to tow or use floating 3 way rope to tie to the tiedowns on the transom.  My friend has a 16' 5" boat with a 90 hp motor and It pulls tube and kneeboard just fine not to mention that i own a construction company and i am in pretty good shape and I weigh 235 lbs so a 10 yr old should be no problem.  Slow to pull skier up out of the water is the only problem but a strong skier/wakeboarder or a light person can get up behind 90 hp. A tube does not require that much hp I have seen them towed behind 35 hp pontoon boats before.  Boats cost lots of money be prepared for gas, oil props engine work  every trip out is like 2 hours prep, 3 hours tubing and 2 hours of work when you get back.

Answer 5

Well i would say its good. if its aluminum that is good. i have a 16' aluminum lund fishing boat with a 25Hp on it, and i was able to waterski behind it, but very poorly, so i could waterski behind it, you could tube behind it.

Answer 6

if is a tri hull it may be tough