FullFlavorPike

This is probably the same thing every open water skier who wants to learn the course says: Turns out everything I thought I knew about skiing was wrong and I have a lot to learn.

as a bonus you can go on strava and be KOM for all the segments in your local lake 🤣

Super cool boat that is going to provide tons of fun! Good for a booze cruise or ski session. that’s one of the biggest swim steps I have ever seen on an outboard ski boat. You might even be able to get double boots on 😂 I wonder if the hull is rated for a 225 someday 😂

Old mercury two strokes are not notoriously thirsty motors, at least when they are running flat out. At idle they waste a lot of gas, but if you’re mostly skiing on it you won’t be running it at the low efficiency rpm range as much as you otherwise might. the deck space is real nice, too.

I would not spend $40k to pull the kids in a tube if I had a perfectly good boat id upholster and seadek (or gator step if I was feeling thrifty) my perfectly good running boat — if you don’t sell it any time soon you don’t need to worry about “losing money” on the repairs, either.

I’m not super familiar with that engine but replacing the coil (not sure if it’s coil in cap or not, and I’m assuming you haven’t changed the cap and rotor as suggested since you said you swapped the alternator instead) may be worthwhile u less they’re crazy expensive. coils can be tricky because they sometimes develop shorts only when hot. Engine starts and runs, then bigs down under load. Never had it happen with a boat, but I have had the problem with two motorcycles and if that sounds like what you’re dealing with, maybe worth a look. you can always bench test it with a multimeter rather than go straight to replacing it; but that only works if the coil is shorted out even at room temperature. If course, if it fails a room temp bench test then you’ll have your answer.

Amazon beanbag chairs are even cheaper

Of course if OP knows how he should do it himself…but the fact that he’s asking whether the boat has wood sort of suggests he isn’t in the position to accurately verify whether the stringers are sound, and he might not know how to go about verifying it 🤷🏻‍♂️

Old boats rock but if you can get a marine surveyor to inspect the stringers, do it. If they’re in good shape you’ve got no problem, but if they are rotted out that’s a cost-prohibitive repair you don’t want to inherit unless you’re in the mood to restore an old boat.

Welcome to the forum. This thread is seven years old though….

My parents just bought a lot on Cold Stream Pond in Maine. This thread is giving me ideas for when I visit in future summers 😂

I had that thought too but then I figured if OP wants to turn his vintage whaler into a ski boat he sounds like the kind of guy who doesn’t let a lack of factory support hold him back 😂

Like 6balls said, a two stroke repower would be the way to go if you can. The discontinued etec is going to be a good bet for a lightweight high output repower. The HO models apparently push a lot more power than they are rated at. “Hot” motors sort of like your old tower of power.

If I were selling my boat, I’d let somebody do a sea test with the family; but probably not until after we had talked price and agreed to a deal if the boat checks out on the water.

yeah I saw yours. Clean. I was trying to find out about the thread by @VONMAN