2001 Sport Nautique Project Boat

[NautiqueJeff]

Nothing official yet. We just finalized the design, and it still needs to be cut. I'm not sure how long that will take.

[NautiqueJeff]

Got the engine running today, changed the FCC filter, changed plugs, changed oil and filter, dropped in a battery and went for a test ride! First time I have had this boat on the water, and I am happy to say that it runs great!!!

Still need to do some electrical work on the dash. Speedometer, tachometer, temperature and depth gauges work. Oil pressure, volts, and fuel do not.

[GMLIII]

Coming together Jeff . Just noticed you did not have the Sport Nautique side stern raised lettering will you be adding those ?

[Neptune442]

I don't think you can find the original black domed Sport Nautique lettering anymore. I think I've looked everywhere.

[NautiqueJeff]

That's correct. The domed version is no longer available. I do have new lettering in the correct black with gold flake outline though. NautiqueParts sells it, but it isn't domed.

https://www.nautiqueparts.com/produc...0-2002-raised/

No decals or pin striping are on the boat right now. I took all of that off so that the entire boat could be wet sanded and buffed.

[functionoverfashion]

Nice work so far! I am jealous of your winter project. I suppose I could take my boat on the lake right now, on a trailer behind a truck. The ice is probably still about 2 feet thick out there.

[NautiqueJeff]

When running the boat, it had a pesky leak near the back that I was having trouble finding. Well, I found it tonight, and I am glad to say that it is just a split ballast hose on the starboard tank. I closed the seacock for the ballast system, and no more leaking. Not sure why I didn't try that earlier.

Now the fun part -- I guess this means I have to pull the ballast tanks out to address the hoses on the underside of the tanks. On this era of boat, the water flow is controlled by two knobs that open and close the VENT for each tank. There is a fill assist pump and a drain assist pump (one fill pump used for BOTH tanks, and one drain pump used for BOTH tanks, you control the flow to each tank by whether or not the vent is open). With the broken hose(s), the vacuum or air block needed to fill or empty by the pumps can't be created, so I have one half-full port tank and an empty starboard tank. No big deal. I can drain the water out of the port tank somehow. My big question is what I should do with this system. It is so outdated that I am very tempted to pull the tanks and install bags in the back with real pumps that actually work. If I do that, the ballast gauges won't work, the vent controls won't be functional, and I will likely have to CUT out the tanks. Even if I wanted to fix the broken hoses, I am not sure I could get the tanks out without MAJOR work, like pulling the gas tank, and even then I am not sure they'd come out without breaking.

Maybe I should just cut it all out and put NOTHING in its place. The Launch Control System was an option on this model, and only holds a whopping 400 pounds of ballast!

Thoughts?

[brit_hunsicker]

I’d say get rid of them. Especially if you are having issues and need to pull the tanks anyways. You can fit so much more in bags, or leave that up to the next person. A couple of ballast puppy’s and (2) 400lb bags should fit pretty easy. I can’t remember if the bottom of the tanks are flat or contoured on that era, but that may be the only issue if you want to go back with bags. I replaced my hard tanks with bags in my ‘01 SAN and I don’t miss the gauges at all. The function is 10x better with ballast puppies and bags.

If you decide to go with a couple of 400 lb bags, I’d cut you a deal on some. I’ve got a set in great shape that used to sit on top of my hard tanks. When I yanked the tanks, I upgraded to 650 bags.


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[GMLIII]

When running the boat, it had a pesky leak near the back that I was having trouble finding. Well, I found it tonight, and I am glad to say that it is just a split ballast hose on the starboard tank. I closed the seacock for the ballast system, and no more leaking. Not sure why I didn't try that earlier.

Now the fun part -- I guess this means I have to pull the ballast tanks out to address the hoses on the underside of the tanks. On this era of boat, the water flow is controlled by two knobs that open and close the VENT for each tank. There is a fill assist pump and a drain assist pump (one fill pump used for BOTH tanks, and one drain pump used for BOTH tanks, you control the flow to each tank by whether or not the vent is open). With the broken hose(s), the vacuum or air block needed to fill or empty by the pumps can't be created, so I have one half-full port tank and an empty starboard tank. No big deal. I can drain the water out of the port tank somehow. My big question is what I should do with this system. It is so outdated that I am very tempted to pull the tanks and install bags in the back with real pumps that actually work. If I do that, the ballast gauges won't work, the vent controls won't be functional, and I will likely have to CUT out the tanks. Even if I wanted to fix the broken hoses, I am not sure I could get the tanks out without MAJOR work, like pulling the gas tank, and even then I am not sure they'd come out without breaking.

Maybe I should just cut it all out and put NOTHING in its place. The Launch Control System was an option on this model, and only holds a whopping 400 pounds of ballast!

Thoughts?

I will say in my SN 2001 , the 400 lb ballast enhanced the wake some what but not to a large degree. Maybe just keep this as a ski boat and forget ballast . This boat is still decent in the slalom course at short line (28-35 off)

[functionoverfashion]

Where you don't intend to keep this boat, I'd lean toward taking out the old tanks and doing nothing to replace them. You don't know what the buyer might do with this boat, so I wouldn't spend extra money putting in pumps and bags only to find out that the buyer is a slalom skier who just wants an open bow. You know you won't get much of the money back that you spend on a ballast system.

I know I'd rather have a blank slate than an outdated, quirky system that was only good for 400lbs.

On the other hand, if you have to take apart the rear of the boat, e.g. gas tank, etc. just to remove the old tanks, then maybe it's worth putting in a pump setup with a couple bags so a buyer would have the option to build off that. If you have a pump somewhere already, you could do that pretty inexpensively.

[Neptune442]

If your potential buyer is anything like me when I purchased my Sport, then the extra time/effort/money you'll spend fixing/adding ballast would be a waste. Our kids are ages 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. Do I hope that someday they'll need a boat with ballast? Of course. But do they need it now? Not at all. I purchased my Sport because of it's versatility and affordability. It's going to allow them to learn a little bit of everything on the water. In a few years when they're ready for it - we'll upgrade to a more modern boat with a tower and ballast at the flip of a switch. I don't see any point in trying to pretend that my Sport is a world-class wakeboard/surf boat.
The way you have that Sport looking now - it is going to sell itself. Clean, runs well, versatile, affordable. It's going to be a great entry into the world of direct drive boats for someone - much like mine is to me.

[NautiqueJeff]

This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. Unless I can get them out easily without pulling the gas tank (in which case I'll just fix the original system), I think I'll just cut them out and leave them out. If a buyer wants ballast, I'll throw in some bags that I have here.

[t.franscioni]

If it was mine I’d pull it all out and make it storage (makes the most sense for a direct drive that’s very limited on storage as it is or just fix the hose and leave it factory if the plan was to sell it after completion. I’m changing my ballast system to bags but mine is a SAN and like you said the gauges won’t work and that is kinda goofy to me so I purchased a new blank guage pod/bezel piece that installs under the throttle and im just going to leave it blank and not cut any holes in it so it will look factory as if the boat never came with ballast gauges (I’m assuming your gauges are under the throttle in that bezel). An idea if you end up pulling the ballast and converting to storage and don’t want useless gauges installed. When I purchased the bezel from Nautique parts it only came in orange so you have to paint to match.

[brit_hunsicker]

Our kids are ages 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10.

My god you've been busy over the last 11 years!


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[Neptune442]

My god you've been busy over the last 11 years!


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I know, it's been fun! I grew up on a lake...so not having a boat for the past 10 years has been painful. But since we've basically always had an infant in the house, I knew that had I purchased one earlier, it would just gather dust and create frustration. Now that we're done with babies, I'm so excited to enter this new phase of life where we can enjoy the lake/boat life