My '87 Barefoot Nautique

[bhectus]

Here's a couple pics of my '87 BFN. Started life from the factory as a Barefoot Nautique but decal'd as a Dominique as the original owner (who I bought the boat from) did not like the BFN decals. He gave me all the original owner's paperwork including bill of sale from S.E. Correct Craft and there's a cool little note at the bottom of the original invoice that says: "Needs Dominique decals". Everything else says Barefoot Nautique including hull ID, capacity placard, and invoice so I decided to bring her back to what she should look like. Has 427 original hours, 351W motor (no big block ), new interior including carpet, rear dogbox cupholders!, and stereo. Also put on a new Acme 540 prop to wake her up some. The boat is in excellent shape and I'm excited to get her out for the 2013 season.

These things were the first to go!




The PO decided it was a good idea to seal the teak......ON THE BOAT????


So I had to fix it.


Just buffed her out and put on the new BFN decals today, what a PITA!

[AirTool]

Its a labor of love....but with a reward.

[Storm34]

Looks great Bret! Hopefully I make it to the SJRR again this year to take a run behind her!

[SkiTower]

THANK YOU for not putting a tower on that beautiful boat. Great job restoring it

[Andy]

Nicely done! Great job on the teak, I need to get busy on mine I guess.

[Zach@n3]

Chris, Lets car pool to SJRR. Mark wants to take a big N3 trip down there when he gets the footer done.

[Air206]

Chris, Lets car pool to SJRR. Mark wants to take a big N3 trip down there when he gets the footer done.

Zach - come get me on the way....I wanna spend some time in Mark's Footer!

[Zach@n3]

Let's rent a 15 passneger van and fill it up Steve! haha.

[Storm34]

Sounds like too much fun!

[MTRBTR]

Did you replace the wood on the gunwales or just take it off and restore it? I love those 87 -89 gunwales with the wood on them.

[fyrhog]

I LIKE,,,very nice job.

[MMasariu]

Bret
What does she top out at with the 540? I just picked up a very similar boat (with not nearly as fresh an engine) and want to get some more top end.
Thanks
Matt

[TRBenj]

My '87 Barefoot Nautique

I haven't driven a small block bfn, but I've driven big block bfn's and small and big block 2001 SN's. I've concluded that the 2 hulls run very similar top speeds with comparable (stock) engines. That would put a small block late bfn right around 43mph, give or take.

You already have the best prop for a 1:1 small block boat... Assuming you're tuned up properly and running about as fast as described above, the only way to add more speed is by increasing hp (engine modifications). A basic h/c/i upgrade with p-heads would get you over the 300hp mark and allow the boat to run with a stock big block in the 47-48mph range.

[barefootinjimmy]

I had a 1987 SN with a 351W. and the only thing I did was ported & polished the exhaust ports, including the manifolds, and cleaned up the intake where the intake meets the head. I thought that bought a little bit more top end. It is hard to remember the exact mph, but I thought it 45-46 mph. It is hard to remember the mph, but I know how much I miss that boat. Still!

[TRBenj]

Generally speaking, later (87+) 2001's and BFN's are 2-3mph slower than the earlier boats. The additional weight of the delux interior and, more importantly, forward weight shift with the new deck and cockpit slowed the boats down a bit. A perfectly dialed in (tune, prop, conditions) 87-88 2001/351w will sometimes be capable of 44mph, but 43.x is more typical. I have seen earlier (82-86) 2001's run anywhere from 44.x to 46 on the GPS.

Big block BFN's tend to run bout 47-48 for the later models (87-90) and 49-51 on the earlier ones. The big block 2001 I drove was good for 49 and change.