Hello, We are a family of 5 and are in the process of purchasing a 18 xtr legend. Would the standard 115 merc be sufficient to pull an adult skier or do we need to spend the money on the pro xs command thrust?
Thanks for the help.
A 115hp on a 18 foot boat is under powered, I have a 17′ Trophy with a 115hp and it is almost to small for that boat. You should be looking at the 150hp+. You will have a hard time pulling an adult skier with 4 people in the boat with a 115hp.
Does it help that it’s an aluminum fish/ski and not a fibreglass boat?
A 115hp on a 18 foot boat is under powered, I have a 17′ Trophy with a 115hp and it is almost to small for that boat. You should be looking at the 150hp+. You will have a hard time pulling an adult skier with a 115 on that size boat.
I don’t agree. I have a Merc 115 CT on my Lund Alaskan 2000 DC and I’ve never felt underpowered.
My decision I think at this point is whether or not to pay for the Pro xs ct or just go with the standard 115? Thanks again for the input.
My decision I think at this point is whether or not to pay for the Pro xs ct or just go with the standard 115? Thanks again for the input.
Some may not have looked at the hull specs yet, it’s a 17’6″ 1225# hull. I’d go with the Pro XS CT, just to have the lower-gear-ratio lower unit, and more “grunt” out of the hole to get a skier popped-up. More prop choices too with the CT lower unit.
HRG
Skier as in an occasional adult on 2 skis or a slalom skier?
I honestly don’t think there will be a huge difference between the 2, but if you have the money, why not upgrade? (it’s easy for me to spend someone else’s money)
Neither will be great at pulling a slalom skier but should handle an adult on 2 skis just fine. You’d probably be fine to drop a ski, but getting up on 1 would be a chore (unless your adults are 130 lbs).
March 3, 2020 at 9:14 am
#1919641
My decision I think at this point is whether or not to pay for the Pro xs ct or just go with the standard 115? Thanks again for the input.
I agree with HRG and Ralph.
I don’t know anything about Legend boats so I looked up the website and see the same specs that HRG mentioned and it has a max hp of 150. If you want to pull around payload and a skier I would get as much HP as you can afford. It looks like about $1,00 to to to the ProXS CT and that would be a no brainier for me. In my opinion a Lund Alaskan is a bit of a different situation as it is only rated for a 125 so a 115 is basically max HP for most motor manufactures.
I haven’t skiied since I was a teenager, just want to be sure that the motor works for worse case scenario. This is our first boat for the cottage so we are a bit clueless. I appreciate any advise you can give us.
The boat that you have on your picture looks like about the same size and has a Merc on it? Mind me asking your specs? and do you use it to ski at all?
Yes, you’ll be ale to pull an adult skier in that boat with a 115hp. I pulled adult skiers in a 16′ with a 40hp.
If you can afford to max out HP rating then do it, otherwise enjoy the boat! It’ll do everything you’ll want it to do.
The picture is of my Lund Pro V 1775 with a 150 hp Mercury 4 Stroke. I have never puled a skier with this boat but I am sure it would be fine. 17’10” long, 95″ wide and an approximate hull weight of 1350 lbs. I tend to run with a lot of fishing gear and have a preference to run quickly if I want so I can usually hit 50 mph or a bit less.
Yes it will but imo you are greatly under powering that boat, by the time you put fuel gear and people you’ll wish you would’ve went bigger
Your a family of five so will there be any other water sports involved?
How much tubing and skiing do you plan on doing? If it’s more than fishing you may be disappointed in the long run.
Most my days of summer fun have at least couple adults in the boat, bunch of kids, coolers, water toys. It would be pain in the as$ if you had to drop off a cooler at dockside, or maybe a kid and adult, the front trolling motor etc bc you can’t get up on plane or have the engine at a funny high rpm when up bc of all the weight and there goes your gas consumption.
It’s a smaller hull, lighter, but how much fishing stuff you gonna have in there? Kicker motor? How many batteries and where they situated? Lots of questions I’d ask myself before I bought a new boat. A 150 would make that thing scream, isn’t there something in between?
Will it work with either of the 115’s – yes. Will it work Great – Probably not. If there is anyway you can afford the extra cost for the additional 35HP I would. I know of a fair amount of friends who have ended up with a underpowered motor and they were not happy. They only made that mistake once.
A 150 would make that thing scream, isn’t there something in between?
No. There’s a surprisingly large gap in Merc’s lineup, it goes straight from 115 to 150.
I see the dilemma. Legend’s website has the 150 upgrade for an upcharge of $4500 (CAN) over the standard 115. Yikes.
Grouse
That’s my dilemma especially considering I don’t have a real boat now to compare it to. We have a 14 ft aluminum with a 9.9.
It’s far easier to buy the 150 now than later when you may wish you did.
Bruce, IMO this comes down to how you’ll use the boat on the occasions when you ski. You say this is the boat for the cottage, so presumably, you won’t have to ski with the entire family plus gear loaded on-board the boat. That will help a lot in terms of making the most of available HP.
For years, we pulled adult slalom skiers with a 40 HP on a 17 foot Alumacraft. As long as you limit people in the boat to 2 adults, it worked fine, but that was coming up on 2 skis and dropping 1 when on plane.
I would think a 115 with 2 adults would work just fine for occasionally skiing. No, it’s not a freaking Mastercraft, but IMO it’d work just fine.
As an alternative, wakeboards pull WAY easier and wakeboarding is far less tiring than waterskiing. You’d have no problem pulling a wakeboarder out of the hole with a 115. It’s a different skill but fun to learn. Something to think about.
Grouse
There is no replacement for displacement. Put the 150 on it and then you never have to worry. It would be very disappointing to buy a brand new boat only for it to be underpowered.
My boating experience spans 60 to 61 years now. Ok I was 4 or 5 when dad came home with the first boat and mom wanted to shoot him. It was the very best thing that my father of a family of 6 could have done! SO my thoughts,
When you have your family all in the boat, Mom, dad and 3 chillin’s now what kind of weight is that? Then in say 4 years how much more will be added?
Tubing it will not matter. On two skis pulling one to two younger kids on a rope most likely won’t matter. Slalom ski teens You will start to see a difference with two in tow. Dad in slalom with mom or oldest driving, well good luck and keep your mouth shut! lol.
Older teens and adults come up hard on slalom! When there are even just a couple of bodies in the boat to be legal, a seasoned slalom skier can and does struggle to get up with an underpowered boat!
The angle of the rope with where it is attached on the boat normally becomes at a negative angle to the surface of the water. Meaning the ass end of the boat becomes a bit lower to equal than the hands of the skier as they try to get up. The motor is working it’s azz off to help them get up, sometimes to no avail!
Even when the rope is at a positive angle it is still a challenge for older (not chillin’s) skiers to make it. Trust me, I grew up behind an underpowered boat.
Now once they are up, ya, you can make it work.
My 2 Abraham Lincoln’s.
It’s easy to spend someone else’s money, but like many have suggested, one should max the horsepower no matter what type or make of boat they were buying if at all Financially possible!!!
Kind of like a garage. Never heard anyone say ‘I wish I would have built my garage smaller’.
Happy Boating
I thought I read somewhere that the 115 Pro xs dynoes close to 135 HP?
If the upcharge for the 150 is not an option for you, and you are set on the 115 ProXS, get the CT. The larger gearcase allows for a way bigger prop selection including larger diameter low pitch options which can help with getting skiers out of the water with less than maxed out HP boats. The larger gearcase also helps provide lift which helps fight some of the less than ideal effects of having a heavy load in the boat.
I’ll take a guess that the odds of adult slalom skiers is a very low probability given the OPs posts. Heck slalom is even becoming a unicorn sport out on the water. If this is true that it’s very unlikely to have full grown adult slalom skiers than I can understand not putting out the extra money for a 150.
Boat power, skier weight, and level of skier technique have a huge influence in the process. Yes in college at 150 pounds when I was skiing 3 days a week I got up behind a 16 foot Lund with a 35hp. However I couldn’t get up to full speed to cut. Fast forward to age 40, 185 pounds, and very rusty on technique, tried to get up behind a 17′ Smokercraft with a 115hp 2 stroke. Couldn’t do it with 4 adults in the boat. Dropped down to 3 people in the boat and moved the one observer from the stern to the bow, successful.
As mentioned above tubing, wakeboarding, and two skis will work with that boat and a 115. Slalom skiers may have to get up on 2 and drop once on plane.
I don’t know anything about the ProXS but if it can give you more prop options that’s good flexibility down the road.
I’m probably overthinking this decision but I just don’t have anything to compare it to. We are going to go with the 115 I think, just wasn’t sure if the pro xs ct was necessary. It is going to be a cottage boat and if I have to get up on two skis then I’ll be ok with that. Just wanted to make sure the boat will be alright with the 5 of us in it.
Gear ratio is a great idea. Top end really don’t matter when you just need to pop em out of hole.
Might burn more gas but alot cheaper than a 150!
A 4 blade prop on that 115 will help too. I have a 125opti with a spitfire 4 blade. The hole shot is great, which is what you will need with a heavy load and/or towing sports. Ask your dealer about 4 blade props with that setup and see what they have to say. The smaller diameter of several of the 4 blade props today negate a lot of the top end loss that used to be seen by going with 4 blades.
Duplicate post, sorry
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
