1995 Nautique Super Sport

[dhmcfadin]

I've had her for about 2 weeks now. GT40 run's phenomenal, vinyl and gelcoat are in great condition. Everything is original including the wiring. Nothing modified or mutilated. Only non-factory items are a replacement headunit and the FCC upgrade. So far I've completed a full tune up. In the next few months I'll give it a little refresh:

• Polish/buff
• Fix the cosmetic blemishes
• Replace observer seat cushion
• Fix the crack on the dash
• Replace steering cable and bilge pumps
• Replace rudder and prop shaft packing
• New prop
• Throw a OEM FCT2 tower. White lower, teal upper.

Other than that, this boat is pretty pristine. Got lucky because I bought it without seeing it in person.

[dhmcfadin]

[dhmcfadin]

[bturner]

Very nice indeed.

[hal2814]

Nice! Mine was that same year and color except it had a solid teal exterior strip instead of the black and teal. The interior was identical. Be careful with that dash pod. It’s probably super brittle due to age. Mine was.

[dhmcfadin]

Nice! Mine was that same year and color except it had a solid teal exterior strip instead of the black and teal. The interior was identical. Be careful with that dash pod. It’s probably super brittle due to age. Mine was.

Yeah, it is pretty brittle. I will more than likely make a fiberglass mold of this one like I did on my 99. The color scheme on this boat is also interesting. The 95 brochure doesn’t show this color combo. They show the wide teal and narrow black combo.

[ATX Jeep]

Great looking boat, I’ve been eyeballing that same kind of boat. Saw one with Roswell aviator pro tower looked awesome.

[wakeballer]

I have this boat in red, 1995 as well. I absolutely love it. Just replaced the steering cable on it, made a world of difference! Check out this video from this seasons riding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKmeV8PALwU&t

[dhmcfadin]

I have this boat in red, 1995 as well. I absolutely love it. Just replaced the steering cable on it, made a world of difference! Check out this video from this seasons riding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKmeV8PALwU&t

Great video, thanks for sharing!

[dhmcfadin]

Spent the last week completing some much needed maintenance:

• Remove fuel tank- This was the only way to access the front bilge pump, wiring harness, and bilge hoses.
• Bleach and pressure wash bilge from bow to stern.
• Replace prop shaft and rudder packing
• Install two new 800 gph bilge pumps
• New bilge hoses
• New steering cable
• New fuel hoses
• New fuel pickup tube
• New check valve
• New vibration pads under the fuel tank
• Clean up exposed wire and replace old connectors
• Pressure wash all carpets
• Pressure wash all panels

Couple things I found when working on this 25 year old bold.

• CHECK EVERY SINGLE NUT AND BOLT- Prior to replacing my steering cable, the helm had some pretty significant movement. I attributed this to just being old. Once I put the new cable in, I noticed from under the dash that the helm seemed cockeyed. Low and behold, the nuts holding on the lower steering assembly had backed themselves off. Each bold took 7-10 turns with my socket wrench to tight up. Once I did this, the movement was mitigated but there was still some movement within the steering wheel itself. I popped the center cap off. The nut holding the steering wheel to the helm shaft was so loose, I could spin it off with my fingers. Once I tightened this up, virtually all play was eliminated. Steering is now buttery smooth with that new steering cable.
• When removing the gas tank, the first time is going to a huge pain the ***. There is very little room to slide the tank out from under the ski pylon support brackets due to the vdrive. Because the filler neck is raised off the tank, the tank hits the right side pylon support bracket and hits the front of the vdrive case when you try to lift the tank out. You have to literally pry the tank out of there. Based on the force I had to use, I knew the tank would not be going back into the boat unless I removed some of the obstruction. It was clear Nautique installed the fuel tank before the engine. I decided to cut a small notch out of the right hand side of the pylon bracket. Made reinstalling the tank a breeze. Now if I ever need to remove the tank again, it will slide right out with no curse words.

[dhmcfadin]

Oh the joys of owning a 25 year old boat. So as you see above, I spent a number of hours cleaning the interior and hull of the boat. Also completed quite a bit of maintenance. I also upgraded the GT40 ECU to the newer 300m calibration. Since then, I've taking the boat out a number of times and it ran beautifly.

The last time I went out, I noticed some new water in the bilge. Replaced the shaft and rudder packing with gortex. Test drove and still had a leak. Filled the hull with water on the trailer and waited. Water started dripping from the shaft log. Turns out the 3M 5200 sealant has started breaking down after all these years. Unbolted the shaft log, slid it down to the strut and then went through a very tedious process of cleaning all of silicon off while laying under the boat. Reinstalled with new silicone and all was good.

Took the boat out a few more times and then started to smell exhaust within the boat. Found that now one of the exhaust manifold gaskets started leaking and that one of the exhaust manifold gasket risers had been leaking. The boat sat for about a week while I waited for parts from SKIDIM. Prior to letting the boat sit, I did a pretty thorough analysis of the engine, transmission, v-drive, hoses, dash wiring, battery cables, etc just to make sure there wasn't anything else I might need. Everything checked out.

Parts came in last Friday and I brought the boat to the house. Opened up the engine hatch and noticed a small amount of red fluid sitting in the bottom of the boat under the transmission. As you guessed it, the trans has developed a small leak. I looked closely at where the fluid was dripping from and it appears to be from the seal between the transmission adapter housing. I then took note of where the small amount of fluid was pooling. It was pooling within the crevice between the shaft log and the hull of the boat. I now believe that the reason the shaft log stared leaking in the first place is that the 5200 sealant broke down due to extended exposure to transmission fluid. Could be wrong. When I got the boat from transport, there was NO transmission fluid in the bottom of the boat so it's all speculation at this point. Regardless, it looks like I will be replacing the seals in the trans.

Moving on from that issue, I circled back to what I originally was planning to repair, the exhaust manifold and riser gaskets. Got the passenger side manifold off and replaced the gasket no problem. Bolts were rusted but I purchased the complete service kit so I was going to be replacing everything including the elbows and hoses. Then I proceeded to unbolt the riser. Put my 1/2" socket to the bolt and gave it a decent amount of force. Felt and heard a "snap". Riser bolt was now sheered off within the manifold. Drivers side was in the same condition. Went to unbolt the other riser bolts. Snap, snap, snap. What was initially going to cost about $150.00 to fix is now an $800.00 repair. New manifolds and riser sare on their way from SKIDIM as we speak. I am still trying to figure out what to do with the trans. I really was not planning or wanting to do much more on this boat for the time being. I wanted to have a boat to go have fun while the longhorn boat was out of commission. If y'all know of any alternatives other than to pull the trans and v-drive out of the boat, let me know.

I love working on this stuff so I gotta laugh. It's just one of those things.

[NautiqueJeff]

If it is just a small leak, which it sounds like it is, I'd probably just run it until your other boat is finished, and then go after it. I'd just keep an eye on the fluid level and not worry too much about it (unless you just feel like fixing it now).

My '99 Air Tique has a similar trans fluid leak. I am watching it, but I don't plan to fix it this winter. Maybe next winter.

[dhmcfadin]

Post edited to remove unnecessary quote. See Quote Guidelines here.

Glad to know I am not alone. Probably a dumb question but am I crazy for considering trying some trans stop-leak?

[NautiqueJeff]

I would not do that.

[dhmcfadin]

Post edited to remove unnecessary quote. See Quote Guidelines here.

That all I needed to hear.