2001 Ski Nautique

[NautiqueJeff]

Heading to Maine later this week to pick up this 2001 Ski Nautique. Colors are Silver Cloud, Dark Red, and Neutral. Don't know much about it other than it has a GT40. The price was too good to pass up, even with the long drive. We'll see what shape it is in later this week! Packing my spare tires, grease gun, wiring extras, and other tools and heading out on Thursday for the 17-hour (each way) trip.

[NautiqueJeff]

Picked it up this morning from a camp in Weston, Maine. Should have it home tomorrow.

This boat, like most I pick up, is a mess. The engine is full of water, the carpet has plants growing out of it, the platform is wrecked, the interior, which was advertised as being in decent shape, is a very poorly-done replacement, the gauges are trash, and the gelcoat is a MESS.

And it has a million snaps around its perimeter for the cover. Ugh...

On the good side, only one of the two trailer bunks is loose, most lights work, and swapping out the old tires with my spares only took about an hour. Oh, and it has a good windshield (although the frame is drilled for snaps!!!).

Fun times ahead with this restoration!

[GMLIII]

NautiqueJeff just noticed the full cover snap hardware, do you plan to remove those during your restoration process?

[NautiqueJeff]

Yes. I never understand why anyone would put those snaps in like that.

I am actually not totally opposed to a snap cover. I had one on one of my very first Nautiques. The difference is that the snaps for that cover were on the underside of the rubrail. They were invisible (or at least very hard to see) and the cover worked great. Mounting the snaps to the rubrail worked great. Putting the snaps in the gelcoat/fiberglass is never a good idea though.

[MN Ryan]

Agreed on the snaps. Mine has them, though not nearly that many, and I hate them.

[NautiqueJeff]

This thing is a mess. Wow.

[SilentSeven]

Yeah, that looks pretty rough. Major dock rash, holes drilled all over the place, worthless interior and a questionable engine. Is there a 'no mas' point where you just say this ain't worth doing and just harvest parts? From the pics, the trailer looks like the only really decent item. And that throttle knob looks sexy! Oh...and maybe a barefoot boom as I see the mounting block on the pole.

[Scooter G]

Wow, didn't look nearly that rough from the 1st picture. Trailer looks good (SilentSeven)

[MN Ryan]

Ah, yes, they appear to have taking a liking to the 60-grit boat bumpers.

[xlair]

I'd focus on getting it running mechanically strong before doing anything aesthetic. There may not be enough here to save. Ask me how I know!!


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[bionaraq]

My father in laws 29' Regal LSR has a full snap in cover with vinyl windows so you can stay on it overnight. When the time came to replace it he specially went out of his way to find a factory cover and paid extra for it. It showed up with a pretty cover and a bag of snaps for you to put in yourself. It was a nightmare to keep the covers tight and make the snaps fit the original locations. That swore me off them for good. I'll take a normal cover any day over the nightmare of trying to replace the snap ons when the cover needs to be replaced.

[NautiqueJeff]

Don't get me wrong. I HATE that they put snaps into the fiberglass on this boat.

That said, the cover sure fits nicely...

[bturner]

Snaps on the fiberglass is a deal breaker for me, drives me nuts. I've walked away from a couple of boats that were like this. The better move I've seen the snap cover loving people do is to put them in the underside of the rub rail. With all your resources, what would be the cost to fix this? Would it be that cost adverse to do so?

[NautiqueJeff]

Oh, the snaps are definitely going.

And I agree. Underside of the rubrail snaps are great. I had a boat that was set up like that and I loved it.

[srock]

This statement is that of an optimistic person.

"On the good side, only one of the two trailer bunks is loose, most lights work, and swapping out the old tires with my spares only took about an hour. Oh, and it has a good windshield (although the frame is drilled for snaps!!!)."

I am sure the cover snaps are so the cover can be installed while tied to a bouy. I am a cover-over-the-tower and sides guy with a trailerable in the shed for those other occasions.