Press Release: Have todays waterski enthusiast been Brainwashed???

[Guest]

All through the years, people have been led to believe that the only boat design on the market that operates well for competitive skiing is the inboard. A few of the inboard boat manufacturers have concentrated their efforts in producing a boat that will handle the demands of today’s competitive skier, and they’ve done quite well. But by staying with the same basic design and technology of a straight inboard, skiers have been short changed.
The basic design of the inboard is ancient. The only bottom design that has ever worked well with the inboard is the Warped Vee design, in which the front portion of the planning hull has a Vee shape, and as it continues back, it flattens out almost completely. This bottom shape is inefficient and rough riding. This bottom design operates best with a center-mounted engine that takes up desirable interior space. To make the boat turn and handle well it has to have two or three fins mounted on the bottom towards the front to give it a pivot point to turn on. Since the inboard boat has no directional qualities built into the hull, the ski bar has to be located towards the front of the boat, usually over the fins. This prevents the skier from pulling the boat from side to side. Back seat passengers have to then dodge the rope.
Besides the interior room discomforts, the inboard boat has many design problems. The first problem is a major one - overheating. This is largely due to inboards’ picking up their cooling water through the bottom. Since it uses surface water, debris can get picked up and clog the cooling system.
Hull vibration is another inherent problem in design. Due to the location of the prop under the hull, extreme vibration can be felt. It is caused by the turbulence and constant cavitation against the surface.
There has never been successful positive steering in reverse on an inboard hull. Another problem is the the exhaust system~ two rubber hoses connected to fiberglass mufflers that deliver the noise and cooling water outside the boat. Besides the excessive noise problem, both the rubber hose and fiberglass mufflers cannot withstand the extreme heat buildup from loss of cooling water.
Keeping a dry bilge is impossible in an inboard due to the number of thru-hull ports such as rudder, prop shaft, exhaust, cooling, ect. These are only a few of the drawbacks to an inboard boat.
There is a state-of-art ski boat now availible that solves all of these problems. The prototypes of this fantastic new design were built in August of 1981. The have been under rigorous testing ever since. This state-of-the-art technology is extremely efficient and offers a superb ride. It has absolutely no hull vibration. It leaves a turbulence free wake and table with no rooster tail. It has no noisy exhaust system. The boat will maintain planning speed in the 12 to 14 mph range. The boat weighs 2300 lbs . With comparable horsepowered engines it will run 13 to 15 mph faster than the best inboard, making its top speed around 60mph. This computes to a 17% more effeicent hull- thus 17% better fuel economy. The boat handles and performs like a sports car and holds all of waterski magazines records for speed, acceleration and handling. It has less bow rise than most inboards and can move up to 20mph in REVERSE! That’s fast enough to pull a wakeboarder!
Dollar for Dollar this boat will outperform out handle and has more storage, leg room and creature comforts than any inboard on the market. It will run in shallower water and give a smoother ride than any inboard. And Yet people still like driving inboards???
Ive been in the boating industry for around 20 years and have driven a large number or tournament approved and recreational ski boats and cant seem to find another boat to match it. This model of boat wont cause inboard manufacturers to go bankrupt but it will give that serious skier something to consider. Why spend your money on a boat that wont perform?

Note: In case your wondering the name of this boat ill tell you. It’s manufactured by Moore Marine Marketing in Mcqueeney, Texas. Its called the Ski-Pro Extreme.

[Guest]

this reads like spam eh?

[Jeff]

Because it was posted anonymously, I'll move it to the "Press Releases" forum.

I was curious to see the boat being duscussed so I went looking and attached the image below which I found at http://users3.ev1.net/~philski

[gonzo]

Ok let's anylise these wild claims ;)
1)"The only bottom design that has ever worked well with the inboard is the Warped Vee design, in which the front portion of the planning hull has a Vee shape, and as it continues back, it flattens out almost completely."--how about stepped hulls?
2)"This bottom shape is inefficient and rough riding"--that design has a pretty good ride. Semi-displacement sportfishing boats do very well in offshore conditions with it
3)"This bottom design operates best with a center-mounted engine that takes up desirable interior space"--There are many Vee-drives and outboards with Warped Vee bottoms that perform well.
4)"Besides the interior room discomforts, the inboard boat has many design problems. The first problem is a major one - overheating. "--This is a wierd claim: that all inboards overheat. Gimme a break!
5)"Hull vibration is another inherent problem in design. Due to the location of the prop under the hull, extreme vibration can be felt. It is caused by the turbulence and constant cavitation against the surface."--Another strange claim. I have operated many ski boats that don't vibrate. "Extreme vibration" is at the very least an exageration, most likely a lie.
6)"There has never been successful positive steering in reverse on an inboard hull"--Wrong again. There are many ways to steer a boat in reverse. One of them is a set of twin mini-rudders forward of the propeller. Who skis in reverse anyway?
7)"Another problem is the the exhaust system~ two rubber hoses connected to fiberglass mufflers that deliver the noise and cooling water outside the boat. Besides the excessive noise problem, both the rubber hose and fiberglass mufflers cannot withstand the extreme heat buildup from loss of cooling water"--Why would it loose cooling water? C'mon, this is a lame sales pitch. In any case, an outboard will also overheat without cooling water.
8)"Keeping a dry bilge is impossible in an inboard due to the number of thru-hull ports such as rudder, prop shaft, exhaust, cooling, ect. " Are you claiming that exhaust and intake through-hull fittings always leak? That sounds like another sales pitch lie.
9)"It has absolutely no hull vibration."--Another exageration. There is ALWAYS vibration. Give us some numbers, after all this is a forum of knowledgable people, not your sales floor.
10)"It leaves a turbulence free wake and table with no rooster tail"--I take this as another exageration. There is ALWAYS some turbulence. As for rooster tail, ski boats are designed not to have one; those are PWC's.
11)"It has no noisy exhaust system"--It implies inboards are inherently noisy. It depends on the choice of exhaust system. Also give us some Db numbers instead of jive.
12)"The boat will maintain planning speed in the 12 to 14 mph range."--Let's do the math on this. Planing is at least three times the hull speed. If it planes at 12 mph the waterline length of this boat is no more than eleven feet. What is this, a boat for mini-me?
13)"With comparable horsepowered engines it will run 13 to 15 mph faster than the best inboard, making its top speed around 60mph. This computes to a 17% more effeicent hull- thus 17% better fuel economy. "--This doesn't give any data about efficiency at operating speeds. It may be 17% more fuel efficient at top speeds, but that is meaningless.

[Willallison]

I worked as a water-ski instructor for a few years and was a State slalom champion back in the days when I wasn't bright enough to realise that the water here in Tasmania is COLD!!

I've owned and operated inboard ski boats from most of the top manufacturers - both US and Aussie made. I'd have to agree with much that our phantom poster has said: Inboards are slow, noisy, leak, vibrate, awkward to launch and recover, go rusty in salt water, have no room in them, they go sideways in reverse...the list goes on.

I solved all of the above by buying an outboard.:!:

Like Gonzo, I would have to take issue with a number of the claims made, though. The placement of the ski pole for instance is best located at the boats centre of turning, so any boat will benefit from having the pole located some way fwd of the transom. Indeed competition outboard boats have their pole located some way fwd too.

The reason the transom is flat is to create the smallest possible wake at tournament slaom speeds - up to 36mph. It does produce a very rough riding hull - but then these aren't offshore raceboats!

I never experienced an overheating engine - regular maintenance of the water pump(s) should see to that.

As to the pic that Jeff posted - I'd like to see it doing 20mph in reverse!!