Engine option question

[tigebeach71]

Hello all,

I am new to the Tigeowners website and the world of Tige boats. I recently owned a 20ft I/O but sold it to purchase a wakersurf/wakeboard boat. After a lot of research I have narrowed it down to the Tige Z1. Right now I am in the process of figuring out what options I want on my new boat and should be pulling the trigger on ordering a new 14 Z1 in the next month or so. I plan on using the new boat to mainly wakesurf, a little bit of wakeboarding, and a lot of cruising the lake and river with the family.

I am stuck on the engine decision. I haven't decided if I want to spend the extra money and upgrade to the 6.0l 409hp engine instead of the standard 5.7l 350hp engine....This is why.

My old boat would cruise at 60mph but did not have the best hole shot to get on plane. I believe the Z1 with 5.7l engine and stock prop tops out around 48mph. I know I/O's and V-drive boats are very different in how they drive and Tige boats are not made/meant to go fast.

With that said, If I decide to go with the 5.7l engine and change the stock prop to get the boat to have a higher top speed, will I kill the hole shot on the boat to the point I have a hard time getting on plane with a loaded boat?

Now IF that is the case, would upgrading the boat to the 6.0l 409hp engine while upgrading the stock prop to get that extra top speed keep the hole shot on the boat while giving me a little more on the top end due to the extra HP?

Long story short, I want my boat to have a higher top speed while keeping the hole shot. What engine will best allow me to get that?

[jmhatchett]

First off welcome to TO, lots of great folks here with tons of knowledge.

For what you are wanting the 6.0 would be ideal, but what youre wanting is not what these boats are made for. I have not seen anyone re-prop their boats for a better top speed. Everyone here is doing the opposite and re-propping the boat to achieve a better hole shot and get the ballast filled boat up to surfing speed or up to wakeboard cruising speed.

I personally have a 22Ve with a 5.7 343 engine and run approximately 2000 pounds of ballast plus average of 10 people of average size, i put a prop on mine to give better hole shot and sacrifice top speed (i think i lost 2mph top speed by changing props, but gained a ton in low end power). Once you start looking to surf and wakeboard with weight you are going to want a prop that will get the boat up and moving rather than race across the lake IMO.

If you re-prop to have higher top speed you will kill your low end take off power, may not be able to get a heavily weighted boat on plane or to keep plane at wakeboarding speeds with a higher pitched prop.

[whitlock87]

First welcome
From what I been told, the design of the hull will prevent it from reaching the speed you want.
Also the large engine will eat a LOT more gas

I can run at around 26-30 at get 6 GPH. if I run at 40, it goes down to 10GPH
David

[chpthril]

What is it that you are buying a sports specific tow boat for? Going to a higher pitched prop to gain top end speed is going to be a sacrifice to hole shot and speed holding when the boat is loaded with ballast as its intended to. About 75% of those that surf, load the boats down to a point that they exceed the capabilities of the stock prop and need to prop DOWN in pitch. This reduces the top speed, increases the WOT RPMs, but improves the hole shot and speed holding. To be honest, the hull design has a lot to do with a boats top speed, not just the engine or prop pushing it. An I/O hull's, especially a go-fast like a Baja, is designed to do just that, get up in plan and go fast with as little hull in the water. A tow boat needs as much hull in the water to create the desired wake/wave. You can have one or the other, but not both with any quality.

[Ewok]

Here is an example of different boats for different uses. The Bayliner was my old boat, it has a 205hp V8 with a 5 blade SS prop and Alpha1 stern drive and it topped out at 48 mph. My RZ2 has a 343 hp engine and only tops out at 43 mph. The Bayliner has a great rough water ride and on choppy days I could cruise at 30 mph and keep everyone comfortable. In the same conditions I have to slow it down and drive bewteen 15-20 mph to keep the same level of comfort in the Tige. I had some issues pulling wakebaorders out of the water with the bayliner, one 250 lb guy who was unstable when he was learning was barley able to get out of the water, the Tige is a tractor on the water and has no issues pulling people out of the water even when my ballast is full and I've got 10 guys in the boat. They are 2 very different boats for 2 very different goals on the water and inboard ski boats are not designed for speed. I think going with the bigger engine will give you a few more mph but you are never going to get close to 60 mph and running at top speed is only comfortable if the water is glass.

[boardman74]

Like said above if you are looking for top speed I think you are buying the wrong boat. I really doubt you will get anywhere close to 48 with the stock 350hp motor. RZR's only run in the low 40's and I doubt the Z1 is any faster. If you propped up I have a feeling you will really dislike the boat. It would feel like a pig. Most ski boats are propped up about as far as you would want to go stock. Like others have said as you add ballast and alot of people you prop down. The boat would be lucky to hit 48 with the 6.0L engine. Moving up engines in inboards is about power, not speed. Most of the time you only gain a mph or 2.

Where did you see or get the idea the Z1 would run 48 MPH with the stock engine?

[tigebeach71]

First off, thanks for all the quick replies. I think all your replies answered my question....you can't have the best of both worlds with a tow boat....great hole shot and fast top speed. Don't get me wrong, the stock motor and prop, in regards to mph is more than enough.....I was just curious as to if you are able to squeeze a little more out of the boat with a different motor/prom combination. chpthril, to answer your question, "What is it that you are buying a sports specific tow boat for?" A few months back I was out with a buddy on his Malibu and tried surfing for the first time and absolutely fell in love with it.....so much so that I sold my current boat to purchase a type of boat that will allow me to surf. My buddies Malibu is a beautiful boat, however when I began looking at the different makers I came across Tige. After looking at a 13 Z1 I felt that Tige was the best boat for me.

[tigebeach71]

Don't quote me on the 48mph...I could very well be wrong. A couple weeks back I came across a website (I can't remember which one) which I believe listed the top speed of the Z1 at 48mph. Like I said, don't quote me on that. I have been doing a ton of research on the internet about buying a new boat, including a lot of reading on this website, so I may have misread it.

[Dandy]

Hi Tigebeach,

A little off topic, but we have a 2013 Z1 so if you have any questions, please feel free to PM me and I will do my best to answer. If you are surfing, get the Convex VX. In 2013, they initially had the incorrect brackets for the, so we had ours with the wrong brackets, took it off in between and now with the new brackets - now that it is right, it IS right.

We have noticed that you will need an additional 200-400 lbs on the surf side to really step the wake up. Ragboy on here has done alot of work with this on the Z3 and Z1 with VX. I believe he is working on custom sacks for the Z1 to get the extra weight in place. Chptril (already replied to your post) has a great reputation for ballast and stereo products, assitance and service.

FYI: With our stock 537 prop, we top out right around 40 MPH. All in all it has been a good prop for us. Unfortunatly our trailer will not allow us to go to the 1235 prop that so many use. I believe that Boatmate has done something with thier trailers to allow for a larger prop (assuming your dealer orders Boatmate)

Good Luck

[IDBoating]

Presuming you really do want a wakeboat, let's get back to the original question of whether you should pay for the bigger engine. As noted by others here, a ~350HP engine with correct prop has a LOT of power. Ewok's boat is 22 feet long with a 343 and does great. My boat is two feet longer, heavier, and has more ballast yet still does great with the same engine and (I believe) the same prop. My boat tops out at ~41MPH after being repropped for maximum low-end grunt, and I seriously doubt you will want to take one of these boats over 40MPH very often. So there's no doubt that the ~350HP engines can do the job in most circumstances.

A classic exception to that rule is when you're running the boat on a high altitude lake, where you lose HP on normally aspirated engines due to the reduction in air pressure. If I lived in or around Denver, for example, I'd have the larger engine.

There is also one of my favorite quotes: "I've never wished for a smaller engine." However, when it comes to boats, the larger engine options cost a whole lot so I would have to balance that rule of thumb against the whopping sum it would cost me.

Bottom line: The ~350's are plenty under most circumstances for what these boats are designed to do. If you're trying to overcome the hull's intended behavior with lots more raw power, you're throwing your money away and should be looking at other boat styles. Otherwise, unless you live at altitude, a ~350 is likely to be just fine.

[boardman74]

@ Dandy...Closer to 40 is more what i was thinking. My RZR would do about 42-43 empty. Both the R20's I ran were right in the same range, so low 40's is what I was thinking. Thanks for confirming!! 48 seemed really fast with the stock engine.

[LKG PH Creek]

It'll do 48 on a river..... during a flood!

[dom w. forte]

Our Tige rep use to change the prop on the RZ2 with 6.0l 2 years in a row and pull the Feets on Fire barefoot barefoot competition and squeeze about 52 to 55 mph out of that boat I thought thats pretty good.

[e4nash]

FYI: With our stock 537 prop, we top out right around 40 MPH. All in all it has been a good prop for us. Unfortunatly our trailer will not allow us to go to the 1235 prop that so many use. I believe that Boatmate has done something with thier trailers to allow for a larger prop (assuming your dealer orders Boatmate)

Good Luck

You should go with the Acme 1433. Same benefits of the 1235 but in a smaller size so it will clear the trailer.

[McSpoon]

I put the 1235 on my 13' Z1 the third week we had it. The prop had about a half inch of clearance to the frame. I never worried about dinging the trailer with the prop because once your seated on the bunks you can't hit the prop on the trailer, unless you come in waaaay hot and crooked. I'm selling my boat so if your interested in a 1235 with 40 hours on it let me know.

Buy this prop and don't look back, it's 10x better than the stock prop. I couldn't get the wakeboard wake to clean up with the stock prop. With full pro surf ballast and 8 adults it still shot out of the hole