Yes, my brother and I had that 22 hp in the 1960s and it did pull us on skis. It had a bit of trouble with a deep water single ski start though. Would have loved at 35 hp but I didn’t think my little 14′ wood boat could handle it. Back then I believe that a 75hp was as big a they came- and they were enormous. Imaging putting 4 of them on the back of the boat to equal one modern day 300hp. Reply
I switched to a 3 bladed prop with a lower pitch for skiing. I lost a knot or so at top end but the prop made skiing better. I was reminiscing with a friend a week or so ago about the “Suicide Mercs” those were in the 75 – 90 HP range and were either direct drive with no gears or direct reversing where you had to shut it down, shift into reverse and restart.. Reply