Is 40hp enough to get up on a wakeboard?

Question

I inherited a 16 ft 1960 Glasspar boat from my grandfather. It has a merc 40 hp motor, I think my granpa used it mostly for fishing, but I want to be able to wakeboard, and ski behind it too. Is 40hp enough, or do I need to get a bigger motor?

Answer 1

40hp would be fine.

Answer 2

The more powerful the motor, the quicker to get the boat on plane.  Test the boat without anyone in the water, see how long it takes to get it on plane.  Keep in mind, if you have never wakeboarded before, it is going to be very difficult to learn to get up.  You are going to have to work it a lot harder than if the boat does most of the work.  I can get up behind an older Seadoo on a wakeskate, so I know it is possible to get up and ride, but you will have to muscle it a bit more than behind a boat with more HP.   Give it a try, if you have trouble getting up or learning to get up, you might want to check out:

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewforum....

You might find some riders on this site in your area who would be glad to take out you.  There are a lot of friendly folks on this site willing to grow the sport and always open to sharing a pull.

Good luck...

Answer 3

If you weigh less than about 75 lbs it will work OK.

Boat driver and mandatory spotter should also be of similar weight. That boat has a heavy hull. You need at least 90 hp to do any real water sports other than fishing.

Answer 4

If you are wakeboarding,you only need to go about 20 MPH to get out of the water.  However, you need to go a little faster for skiing--especially slalom.

Answer 5

NO NO NO!!!!! That is not even close!!!!

I have been wakeboarding for 10 years! My friend had a boat that was 40hp and I could not get up for nothing (even though I am very experiecnced!!!

You definently need a better boat!

Answer 6

As long as you don't have a lot of people in thee boat. I had a 40hp mercury on my 16' bass tracker. It was fine until you put the 3rd or 4th person in it and it started bogging down. I could of went to the power prop but then you loose your speed. So I upgrade to a Yamaha 60. The boat will run around 45 to 50 mph now and no matter how many I have in the boat it is the same.

It also does top speed in 3.6 sec. So it makes a lot of difference.

If I were you I would try it out first to see if it works for you. It cost $5,400.00 to change the motor out on my boat. Good Luck.