[Mjstockham]

I have a 2007 4200 Open with a 42” swim platform. Does anyone know what the capacity of this platform is?  My wife wants to put 900lb waverunner on the platform and I’m worried it isn’t rated for that amount of weight. Thanks.

[Sans Peur]

I would call Tiara and ask. That being said, I would think it will require a little additional support added to the bottom of the platform. Putting a Rib on there isn't a problem, but they aren't anywhere near 900 lbs.

[Maxwell]

We have an 03 Cat powered 42 Open. Aside from having to overcome the challenge of deploying and retrieving the jetski, and the fact that the platform sits close to the water, I don't believe it will be strong enough to carry that kind of load. Frankly in my experience (I'll elaborate later) that much weight would make the boat a little tender (exaggerated rolling in a beam sea) etc. When we originally decided we wanted a larger tender, I researched everything I could. First thing I looked at was removing the existing platform and having a submersible platform installed. Problem here is, the cockpit deck on the open is low to the water to make it easier to drag fish in the back door. This means that if the the platform we installed was any wider than the existing 42", it would drag in the water when coming on and off plane (you would also have to have very tall chocks to keep the jetski/tender from getting washed off coming off plane etc.) Next, I looked at a 2 stage platform, with the idea that when we're at the dock, it would be level with the cockpit and allow for stepping on and off and underway it would be raised to keep our tender out of harms way. In theory this made sense, but knowing how we use the boat, I couldn't find one that I felt would be rigid enough to stand up to running the boat in heavier weather. We opted for a Freedom Lift. When first talking to Freedom Lift, they said the lift is easily capable of lifting 800 lbs and that it is actually engineered for more. The transom is sandwiched between the lift arm plate on the outside and a large backing plate on the inside. The inside plate is then tied into the stringer system with high tension cables to prevent transom flex etc. Having not purchased a tender before installing the lift, I tried a friend's Zodiac 340 (roughly 800 lbs dry) the first day we had the lift. We took the boat out in 3' seas, and ran it in every direction. In a beam sea, at slow and cruising speed, the rolling motion was definitely exaggerated from the added weight of the dinghy. In any other sea, the dinghy was moving a lot and when we pulled the coffin box at the stern, you could physically see the transom flexing from the inside. Not good... I had my yard re-engineer how the back plates tie into the stringers giving with the high tension cables a better angle and beefing up the back plates. We have a 600lb Walker Bay Generation LTE and regularly run in less than ideal conditions without issue.

Good luck!