DynaSkiPete

OK I guess I did not understand your intention. You'd likely have a lot of drag I would think until the bulk of the hull is out of the water. With a couple hundred thousand you could try your ideas.

You might want to give Todd at Twin Lakes Marine in Twin Lakes Wisconsin a call. He might be able to come up with a lease on an inboard boat. Maybe not. Calling is your best method of initial contact.

An outboard has a smaller wake than an inboard typically because less of the boat's wetted hull rides in the water. An inboard is considered a semi planning hull typically. An outboard is a planning hull. One of the problems with an outboard holding speed can be the boat going on and off plane. With no hull in the water there would only be the prop wash to cross.

Many boat companies have gone out of business trying to build more boats and selling them for less. Building fewer boats with a higher selling price and margin is a very sound business practice. Don't you think the big 3 have pondered building more and selling them cheaper? The ship builders build fewer and make way more profit per ship. A manufacturer wants to be building enough products to keep the plant busy and not incur overtime. Remember when a buyer had to wait for a long time to buy a Harley Davidson Motorcycle? Now that is no longer the case and Harley is struggling.

What is the incentive to sell boats cheaper? There really is none. All companies care about are profit margins. I could easily build a Closed Bow 20' model with a single outboard engine. The engines are very powerful and props make it easy to reduce speed variations. Mercury's new light weight V-6 four stroke has Smart Tow and includes digital throttle and shifting. So this covers speed and even launch control. Making the boat heavier will help in the slalom course and the barefoot wake behind the boat is decent customers seem to feel. All it takes are an order or two or seed money. Making a wrap around type of boarding platform can be done or just bigger boarding platforms. Again it just takes some money.

I own 6 Port-A-Dock lifts. They seem to work well for Dyna-Ski Boats. Two have canopies. All were purchased used at good prices. My lake is a big shallow one so the cantilever style is better suited to the area my three docks are in.

As a small niche boat manufacturer I will tell you that a company can no longer afford to make a new line of boats or even a model hoping to sell them. The old joke is "Want to make a small fortune in the boat business? Get in the business with a large fortune and get out quickly". When I was approached about building a "barefoot" outboard with the wake characteristics of a Flightcraft I bought a nice used outboard model. We studied it. When it came for time for the bare footers to put up money or place orders the project stalled and died. It takes money to make things happen. The bare footers have since then approached several other small boat companies. Each of the companies made a boat. No sales have come from this that I am aware of.

Often times manufacturers molds wear out so it makes more sense to come out with new models than to make molds to produce the same old boats. Manufacturers don't keep worn out molds they destroy them. Consumers often think they need the newest version and manufacturers want to sell you a new boat as often as possible. Bigger boats don't cost much more to build but the can charge more for them. OOPS . . . . . I told you some of the boat companies secrets.

A lift with an exposed cable is much easier to fix when the cable breaks and it will eventually unless you replace it often enough.

A nice inboard water ski boat could be produced in the $40,000 to $50,000 easily. The biggest problem is all the shoppers would compare it to the much more expensive boats being built by the big 3 making it a tough sell. There are many other issues. It costs a lot of money to get a boat approved for use at tournaments. Manufactures spend a lot of money marketing their boats. Way more than you can imagine. They also want to make a healthy profit. Dealers want to make a lot of money. This is all reflected in the price buyers pay. Dyna-Ski Boats operates on a smaller margin with no active dealers. Custom made to order. They are not for hard core skiers but many people like our boats.

An outboard powered boat can fairly easily be re-powered. Digital controls are making this cost more now. Outboard motors are expensive for many reasons. Name one leisure type product that is not?

Hello, I own Dyna-Ski Boats. I can build you an outboard water ski boat near your price point. However if you want an inboard buy one but no manufacturer will ever sell a new inboard water ski boat for a low price. Why should they when people will pay a lot more for them? Dyna-Ski is building a 20' Open Bow with the new Mercury V-6 four stroke for a customer. It has Smart Tow which is a Mercury developed type of speed control type device. You can check out my website at www.dyna-ski.com and blog at www.dynaskiboats.com We sell custom made boats all over the world so I guess we must be doing something right. I have sold 17.6 Open Bows which have a US Coast Guard maximum horsepower rating of 150 hp to many people that slalom and want a small wake. Several people on HP limited lakes have them with a single 75 hp motor. The tournament skiers will always want inboards. They need the status. I won't pay to have a boat certified by USA Water Ski. What's the point? Recreational skiers is a huge international market. Our boats are perfect for many people my customers tell me.