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I'll try and give a condensed version as I could probably spend 2 pages writing about it. I recently purchased a 2003 Sante from the second owner. Many of you might be aware what water blisters are, but I was not. As you can probably tell by the pictures, I thought they were actually a textured design on the hull to prevent algae growth or something, they are uniform along the water line and transom. There is one small area on the hull, but otherwise just a 6 inch line across both sides of the boat and below the swim deck.
Turns out they are at first cosmetic, but can quickly turn into structural problems if left untreated as water can start delaminating the resin. I've owned a 1985 nautique for 12 years, left it in the water for entire seasons, with no issues. So I was surprised when I found out these were water blisters on this hull from sitting in the water. The previous owner (had it for the last 4 years) who has purchased many new nautiques from the dealership before, was also unaware of this and even returned $1,500 to me.
I live about 10 miles down the street from the manufacturing plant and the dealership in Orlando, so I called up the dealership first, and to my surprise was told that sometimes this happens when a boat is left in the water for any extended period of time, and not a whole lot was known why some get it and some don't. I spoke with both previous owners, and was told it was not kept in the water for any longer than a few weeks at a time at most, and it was stored on a boat lift. I could not get the dealership to be of any help on why it happened or what could be done. I contacted the manufacturing headquarters and was told the same thing, sometimes you can have two identical boats in the same water, one will get it and one will not. I asked if that could possibly be an manufacturing issue then, and was told there was no way to tell. Was again told there was nothing that could be done on their end.
To make a long story short, it's a brand new boat to me (and only a 5-year old hull), so I hate to do nothing or have a repair job done that won't last. I 've had the person who does gelcoat work for nautique give me an estimate of $5,000 to strip down, dry, and re-gelcoat, but there was no guarantee of them returning. This is what I'm leaning towards doing, but I was also told that today's bottom paint is just as good as gel-coat and half the price. I've posted a few pictures, if anyone has any suggestions on what they would do I would appreciate it. Unfortunately this may be the last nautique I buy as we have several malibu and mastercrafts that sit in the water much longer with no issues. I understand nautique is under no obligations to do anything at all, but the reason I went with one intstead of the others was they are supposed to be the best built ski boat on the market. One of the repair guys I had look at it said it looks like there could have been moister present when the original layer was applied, but that's just conjecture. Oh well, it's buyer beware, so I'm going to eat the cost and get it fixed one way or another, but I'm not exactly thrilled the way nautique handled it. Again, any thoughts or advice on how to take care of the hull would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Turns out they are at first cosmetic, but can quickly turn into structural problems if left untreated as water can start delaminating the resin. I've owned a 1985 nautique for 12 years, left it in the water for entire seasons, with no issues. So I was surprised when I found out these were water blisters on this hull from sitting in the water. The previous owner (had it for the last 4 years) who has purchased many new nautiques from the dealership before, was also unaware of this and even returned $1,500 to me.
I live about 10 miles down the street from the manufacturing plant and the dealership in Orlando, so I called up the dealership first, and to my surprise was told that sometimes this happens when a boat is left in the water for any extended period of time, and not a whole lot was known why some get it and some don't. I spoke with both previous owners, and was told it was not kept in the water for any longer than a few weeks at a time at most, and it was stored on a boat lift. I could not get the dealership to be of any help on why it happened or what could be done. I contacted the manufacturing headquarters and was told the same thing, sometimes you can have two identical boats in the same water, one will get it and one will not. I asked if that could possibly be an manufacturing issue then, and was told there was no way to tell. Was again told there was nothing that could be done on their end.
To make a long story short, it's a brand new boat to me (and only a 5-year old hull), so I hate to do nothing or have a repair job done that won't last. I 've had the person who does gelcoat work for nautique give me an estimate of $5,000 to strip down, dry, and re-gelcoat, but there was no guarantee of them returning. This is what I'm leaning towards doing, but I was also told that today's bottom paint is just as good as gel-coat and half the price. I've posted a few pictures, if anyone has any suggestions on what they would do I would appreciate it. Unfortunately this may be the last nautique I buy as we have several malibu and mastercrafts that sit in the water much longer with no issues. I understand nautique is under no obligations to do anything at all, but the reason I went with one intstead of the others was they are supposed to be the best built ski boat on the market. One of the repair guys I had look at it said it looks like there could have been moister present when the original layer was applied, but that's just conjecture. Oh well, it's buyer beware, so I'm going to eat the cost and get it fixed one way or another, but I'm not exactly thrilled the way nautique handled it. Again, any thoughts or advice on how to take care of the hull would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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