Modded 3.0 Johnson with MAD EFI

Thanks for that post. I had no idea it would pull that much off the pylon, especially with a small block motor. Were there any modifications to the boat, like bow ballast or modifications to the pylon?

This is the kind of information these club drivers have that would take an individual more than a lifetime to gain. It should help some of us to decide which engine we need.

In my opinion these motors as delivered are not optimized for water skiing. They are marketed to the bassboat flatsboat offshore boat people where their goal is to go fast and not worry too much about the midrange or slow speed pulling power. A change in gear ratio to a higher numerical (lower gear) ratio will make them deliver more torque to the prop and therefore pull harder while sacrificing some top end capability. A very low pitch prop like a 15 or 17 will help, but not as much. Those two modifications together will optimize the motors for skiing and are my recommendation if pulling big loads is required.

More pull is always good if the hull will handle it. More weight is not good in my opinion, so it is a trade off.

Thanks to both club drivers and anyone else that wants to contribute. I appreciate it.

jim

 

Standard tripod pylon, and no ballast. We wanted to keep the weight as low as possible in the boat to maximize top speed, and minimize wake for barefoot acts.

The troll out speed on the big pull was quite fast... I believe the boat was mostly on plane, and the skiers still sunk quite a bit. Also, as I mentioned before, the pylon was pulling the floor up quite a bit. Even on smaller pulls (1-2 couples off the dock) you could notice the floor moving a little bit.

It seems that a 150 or 175 outboard on an 18' dyne will pull the same as an inboard with the now "standard" 315 horses. Go to a big block, and you should be able to blow away some of the bigger displacement inboards.

 

That is quite an accomplishment for a 40+ year old design 18 foot boat don't you think? I would guess that the new design with the back seat will haul as many passengers as an inboard while out pulling it.

I rode in the number one tow boat at Sea World of Ohio when my daughter skied there. He took a healthy run when he pulled the pyramid off the dock. I was surprised. I also taped it. It was a great ride.

jim

 

I remember a few summer ago the Skimmers Dyne was broke (go figure, right?), and we were using my 18 betwwen shows to pull some acts. I wanted to see how much it would pull. We pulled a BF pyrmaid with no problem, 5 footers, 3/2/1 pre fab with no problem, 3 beach starts, etc. During the show (I was riding, and the normal driver was driving) we were scheduled to pull the ballet line. I told him I hope they scaled it back a few. When I saw this gigantic line of girls come marching out to the pier, I literally started laughing. I said " what does the show director think this is a twin rig or what?" It was like 14 girls. I was thinking there was no way in he"" this is going to pull this. When the line came tight the nose shot straight up. We lost like 4, and ended up with 10. I was amazed it could even do that. Keep in mind that I was using the tri pod mounted through the new style deck.

Greg

 

Our rule at our club is 10 or less off the pylon, 12 or more off the transom. That applies to twin/triples. You can certainly rig something up to pull down low on a single, it is just kind of a pain. I know Badgerland would pull down low when they were running the single V8's. I think they pulled 20 or 22 with a single V8 Evinrude. The pull is so much smoother down low anyway because you do not get the lever effect the pylon gives because of the bow coming up so much more when pulling off the pylon.

Ballet line is obviously different since they have to be on the pylon/release, but the girls are lighter than the pyramid guys and the hop dock start helps alot.

I know of a team which shall remain anonymous who broke the pylon through the splashwell on a 20 footer a few years back by pulling too many off the pylon, I think it was 8 couples/16 people. Pylon was still connected through the floor, but the splashwell was ripped open pretty bad by the pylon being pulled back and down.

 

I think Diamond did that to an 18.

How do you rig a low pull on an 18 single?

jim

 

Before I was with the River Rats, the splashwell on their twin was cracked pretty bad from excessive pylon use. the original remedy was to silicone the cracks and make a support for the pylon that ran out to and along the edges towards the rear of the boat. Kind of similar to the tripod pylon on the 18's, but steel, and very crude. The cracks were eventually fixed when we had the hull rebuilt (around 99 or 2000), and I added a plate to the top and bottom side of the splashwell that the pylon went through, and has multiple bolts through the splashwell to help distribute the load. This has held up well since then.

We are now fairly close to what Erich mentioned for limits on the pylon. We will occasionally do 12 off the pylon (for a quick and easy to hook up 4 tier), but generally try to keep it down around 10 or less off the pylon.

 

I like this thread, very educational. I have heard about the steel reinforcements, but never saw one.

I can't figure out how to make a low pull rig for a single unless I use a pulley which I think would be dangerous with the loads we are talking about if something breaks. I guess some type of beam that tied to the stern eyes and was behind the motor might work. I'll never need it, but I can see how a big block powered 18 would to take advantage of the extra pulling power available.

jim

 

I don't see why it would be any different than our triple rig, we have a bridle that goes around the center motor to the pulling eyes and it has a 6500lb capacity locking caribeaner clip on it. Maybe I'll have to try to find out what a single 225 on a 20' dyne can pull this summer. Our single rig will have a 225 E-Tec on it with a new 15 pitch Rebel prop from BRP.

The bridle is made of 1" nylon rope.

 

So you are saying that it hooks to stern eyes that are fairly close together? Do you think the 18 would steer ok with that?

jim