I have an '89 Malibu Skier my kids and I use on the lake. Once in a while the water is smooth enough for this old guy to get a good ski, but most of the time we're just cruising around, doing a bit of wake boarding, swimming, sunbathing, fishing, listening to Jimmy Buffet...just generally chilling and relaxing. It's good family fun.
The boat puts out a tiny wake (it's a ski boat) and when we're under way we're usually not doing more than 20-25mph. I've put some better alloy heads on the engine, better inlet manifold and carburetor, improved the ignition, etc. so the stock hp/tq has gone from 260 to about 375. Chevy 350. She's capable of 60+mph (done it twice by myself, on an empty lake, glass smooth water, GPS verified). Fun, simple, capable lake boat, and we drive it in a very restrained/safe and mellow manner.
A couple weekends ago we had my nine year old in the water learning how to get up on two skis. We had the flag out as she was getting lined up for a start, about 40 feet off the stern. I saw what looked like about a 45 foot Donzi/Fountain type boat coming directly at us at great speed - I stood up and waved a second red flag hysterically and blew the horn. At the last second the boat turned and missed running over my daughter by less than 100 feet. It scared my daughter to death and I just about had a heart attack. Holy crap. If it ever came about that I may be in proximity to the driver some day, all I can say is that it wouldn't be a good day for him.
What is it with stupid people and extremely fast boats? There seems to be some correlation. Personally, I think the slower your boat goes the more intelligent you are....with sailors generally coming out on top of the intelligence pile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp50CSUKBbc
The boat puts out a tiny wake (it's a ski boat) and when we're under way we're usually not doing more than 20-25mph. I've put some better alloy heads on the engine, better inlet manifold and carburetor, improved the ignition, etc. so the stock hp/tq has gone from 260 to about 375. Chevy 350. She's capable of 60+mph (done it twice by myself, on an empty lake, glass smooth water, GPS verified). Fun, simple, capable lake boat, and we drive it in a very restrained/safe and mellow manner.
A couple weekends ago we had my nine year old in the water learning how to get up on two skis. We had the flag out as she was getting lined up for a start, about 40 feet off the stern. I saw what looked like about a 45 foot Donzi/Fountain type boat coming directly at us at great speed - I stood up and waved a second red flag hysterically and blew the horn. At the last second the boat turned and missed running over my daughter by less than 100 feet. It scared my daughter to death and I just about had a heart attack. Holy crap. If it ever came about that I may be in proximity to the driver some day, all I can say is that it wouldn't be a good day for him.
What is it with stupid people and extremely fast boats? There seems to be some correlation. Personally, I think the slower your boat goes the more intelligent you are....with sailors generally coming out on top of the intelligence pile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp50CSUKBbc
