We went out and played on the lake for Labor Day. To make the short day trip simpler we left the mast at home.
We had along our towing inner tube, a kneeboard and a pair of skis. The mac did a great job of keeping us entertained. It was my wife and I, our three boys and a friend of theirs for a total of 6 on board.
Towing the tube is a piece of cake and if you lay flat on your stomach the ride is plenty wild even at only 15 knots. The knee board is also well suited for the mac. It fits the speed profile well. And just to see, I had them toss me the water-skis. I was surprised how quick and hard our Tohatsu 50 was able to pull me out. While it is a bit slower that you might want, there was no problem staying up on a plane. I did have to make sure I swung wide in the turns so I didn't start to sink. It was a very rough day and the going on 2 was fine but my tests lifting a ski lead me to think I wouldn't be able to get up or stay up on one ski. Pictures and the story are up at http://www.ddunn.org/LogBook65.htm .
The boat was loaded with all our usual stuff. We only had the under seat cooler along, not the extra at the galley. For a day trip we didn't have the normal multiple bags of clothes, but all the rest of the stuff shown here, http://www.ddunn.org/storage.htm , was on board. Also no dinghy and dinghy motor along or crab pots. Water was about 3/4 full and I had 3 tanks of gas.
We take the easy way out with the tow lines. The tube line is tied to the starboard aft pulpit down low below where the BBQ is mounted. The ski rope is tied to the port aft pulpit below the lifesling. Not a great solution if we were towing a lot, but for once or twice a year it seems to serve fine. Neither of the lines interferes with the rudders when up. You can actually set the tube between the rudder on top of the motor and look cool driving around just like the inboard wake board boats.
Duane, you sure had a lot more fun than me last weekend!
Forget the boat, how much do you weigh?
And what kind of speed were you clocking when you were on the skis?
I suppose it can't be too easy water skiing under 20 mph.
You should have your family doing commercials for Mac's. You use it as it was intended. It is the perfect boat for a family...it has something for everyone...Happy Family
My boys love it too! They have a 'waverider' inflatable... here we are on Lake Winnepesaukee (NH), doing some slow-speed tows until they got used to it:
That's why I was impressed. Just like in the video I was skiing behind the mac, all 180lbs of me. I'm sure the boat went faster with me behind it than it does with me in it.
It really wasn't hard to stay up at all even though we were only doing 15 (17.25mph) knots. The boat does slow down in tight turns though to around 12-13 knots. I had to swing wide cracking the whip to keep enough speed up or I started to sink. My wife needs to learn to make bigger turns. Getting up on two was a piece of cake.
At 15 knots I don't think starting on a single ski would be possible. Maybe on glass smooth water you could pull out on two and then drop one once you are up although I'm sure staying up would still be a challenge going that slow. Pull out to the side for that big arching spray turn and you might stop the boat in it's tracks.
The other difficult adjustment was getting used to bringing the rope to the skiier. The boat won't circle tight enough to get the rope there that way. We had to go to a tail wag manouver to bring the rope to the person in the water.
