94 Sport Nautique help?

**MLars** · 06-29-2017, 07:14 AM

Can't help you with the mechanical issues but check out nautiqueparts.com. That's where I got new decals for my Sport Nautique

**functionoverfashion** · 06-29-2017, 08:49 AM

Originally posted by John Bell View Post

Been running my boat a few times already this summer, and would like some information on a few things.

1st - Fuel gauge is not working properly on my 94 SNOB, almost ran out of gas on my last trip out while gauge was still reading half full. I just so happened to check the tank and could see the fuel level was really low, so I idled in to trailer the boat and proceeded to add 5 gallons of fuel on land before leaving the river. Upon adding only a 5 gallon tank of gas it appears my gas tank is half way full now???? curious as to any comments on this.

Fuel sending units don't last forever, and depending on access - I'm not as familiar with this particular boat as others are, I'm sure - it's not that bad to replace. There are replacement sending units that you just need to bend in the right place for your particular tank depth (instructions are included with the product). Something like this.

Originally posted by John Bell View Post

2nd - I've been noticing the boat has been hesitating on take off when you give the boat maybe quarter throttle, along the lines of running around 10 mph or so, it feels very sluggish up until around over half throttle running around 20-23 mph. Comments? I plan on adding Perfect Pass in the next week or so and plan on doing the install myself, so any advice or info regarding this?

Do you have the original Pro-Tec ignition on this boat? You can tell by looking at the distributor and whether it looks like a traditional dist. with 9 wires coming off the top, or if it's just a flat black thing with a few wires going out. This is a famously problematic system that most people replace with a complete kit available from skidim.com - others run them for many years successfully, but that was my first thought when you mentioned a hesitation on a '94.

Originally posted by John Bell View Post

3rd - is lake temperature a necessity, i've noticed looking at the perfect pass systems and stuff there are some that come with paddle wheels to display water temp's. I live in Texas and as most people say the water down here is like warm bath water in the summer. Should i pay the money and have one of these units installed?

Personal preference. I feel like lake temp feels so drastically different based on the weather at the time... I could care less personally. Stick your hand in. That's up to you...

Originally posted by John Bell View Post

4th - Fuel & Oil advice, I'm not going to be cheap with either of these and want to maintain all fluids above standard. Suggestions on what type of oil to run, how often to change just to be on the safe side of things, what type of fuel to run, I know the manual states to run 87 (can't remember if the fuel should be leaded or unleaded or if it makes a big difference) question with fuel is what about most gas stations running the 10% ethanol with the 87, I live around the Ft. Worth area and ride regularly on the Brazos River off of Whitney Lake. Any gas stations you Texas guys recommend or what kind of fuel I should look for on the web near me.

Ethanol blended fuel... can be fine. If it's never been run in the boat before it may cause issues, but that's unlikely to be the case at this point. 87 is fine. Oil... I won't touch that one, people will debate this to the end of time. Most will probably recommend something with a Zinc additive.

Originally posted by John Bell View Post

And this may be off topic and forgive me if I am but does anyone know about decals for this boat, My boat is Purple and Teal, With the thick pinstripe in purple running right underneath the rub rail to the bow of the boat with a thin teal pinstripe bordering the purple. Does anyone know If I can order this pinstripe in say a 96 color pattern or would i have to go to a local vinyl shop and pay to have it done, as well with sport nautique logo. I have a small tear in the observers seat where the cushion meets and planned on redoing the upholstery in a baby blue color like that of Danny Hampson's 96 Sport Nautique, you can google it to find a video of Roswell installing a Aviator tower on it. Worth the hassle or should i stay with the stock colors

**surroundsound64** · 06-29-2017, 09:09 AM

Fuel gauges seem to be pretty inaccurate on the older boats... I think most just deal with it and add gas every xx number of hours

Do you have bad gas? That's the simplest and easiest fix. And while we are talking fuel, I try to run 89 octane ethanol free.

Perfeft pass is an easy install. Just follow the instructions.

I boated for 15 years without a depth or temp gauge. They are nice. Not necessary.

I like fancy oils... but in m GT40 (same engine as yours pretty much, I just ran straight 30 weight. Pennzoil I think it was)

x2 on nautiqueparts.com. Click on the link up top to help this site and enter "pnd" for a discount for yourself

**Tom_H** · 06-29-2017, 09:31 AM

1. Fuel gauge - could just be a hung up float, but on a direct drive, it should be pretty easy to investigate/replace, and they're relatively inexpensive.
2. Hesitation - Could be bad/old gas, but could also be a fuel filter or delivery problem. When was the last time you spun a new filter on? And like was mentioned above, there's always the protec issue if you still have it. Might also need new plugs/wires if they're getting old. Could even be injector problems if you've got the TBI engine
3. Lake temp/perfect pass. The only way I'd bother drilling a hole for a paddle-wheel unit is if I was boating on rivers frequently, which is sounds like you may be, as you'll get a better reading over GPS when you're dealing with a current. I personally don't care what the lake temp is since my hand or foot can tell me that, so I wouldn't ever base a paddle-wheel need on the temp readings - but whether you want the speed reading off it.
4. 87 octane is fine, and if you want to run non-oxy, go ahead, but up here, I have to drive a bit out of my way to get to a station that has it. I've never had an issue with ethanol fuel in my 94 so long as you're running it through relatively quickly. I usually do the last couple tanks of the season with non-oxy though so that I don't have the ethanol in there over the winter. Oil, I'd find something with some decent zddp levels for the flat tappet cam you have. Previously, I used Rotella, but Delo might be what I migrate to now. I like to change every 50 hours, or annually, whichever comes first.

Can't help you with the pinstriping

**Blamey** · 06-29-2017, 10:25 AM

Firstly, do you have a SNOB or a Sport Nautique, can you post a picture?

There are lots of oil option but for the older ford engines you want something with Zinc in it. You can read about oil for days. For Oil I use Valvoline 20W-50 VR1 Racing Motor Oil. You want a oil that has a good amount of zinc and VR1 is oneof those. As for the weight, don't really know what's best but 20W-50 was commonly used.

Now for the the boat color question. I have some thoughts here.

First, are you referring to the pinstripe or the gelcoat stripe in the side of the boat?

Second, I am pretty sure Danny's boat is teal and black (teal main stripe, black accent strip). The teal can just look more blue than green in certain lighting. Here are the colors from the 1995 CC brochure (I don't think the colors changed 94,95,96). The teal and black matches danny's boat.

I assume you have the this color scheme.

I had a teal 1995 Sport Nautique. I updated the interior to be light blue. My boat only had the teal stripe and didn't have the white. Here is a pic.

Here is a pic of my boat looking more blue than teal due to the lighting

I decided to change the interior of the boat to light blue. Here is a pic of the different colors. Old on right, new on left.

As mention above, I am pretty sure Danny's boat in the color of the right vinyl. The main reason I decided to change the vinyl was the original teal wasn't available and the new colors, while being a closer match to the original vinyl were more green, which I didn't like at all.

And here is the boat with most of the vinyl installed.

My thoughts after getting the boat done were that the interior looked much better in the new color but the difference in the outside stripe color and interior color were obvious to me. I finished the interior the day I sold the boat, so i did't have much time to 'get used to it'. I did think that if I had kept the boat I may have covered the stripe with a piece of vinyl so the color matched.

Attached Files

**John Bell** · 06-29-2017, 04:18 PM

The boat only has around 450 hours on it and it still has the PRO-TEC ignition and EFI, I'm hoping it's not the issue right now but if it is I'm fine with converting to the carb. I know the oil I have in my garage is a Pennzoil with zinc, but this year i had the oil changed at the dealership which is my first oil change on the boat since owning it due to having the Roswell Aviator tower installed. I didn't have an oil extractor on hand and didn't feel like waiting on ordering one so I just opted for the dealer to change.

Fuel filter is what I was thinking and hoping on, because I do not know when the last one was spun on, any advice on how often to change the fuel filter, maybe every season?

As for the Gas issues, I appreciate all the info and might try running the 89 octane if it won't harm the boat any.

Thank you @ MLars, functionoverfashion, surroundsound64, and Tom H

Blamey Its a 1994 Sport Nautique, I apologize for using SNOB, and I don't have any current pics of the boat but you're spot on with the color scheme. I will snag some pics this weekend on the water as I kinda need to update my profile a little bit. But yes I guess I'm referring to the gelcoat accent stripe, any way to have this redone without forking out a bunch of money. Because I hate to say it but I love the color scheme of your boat, it even matches my wakeboard pretty close, and I would love to have the same interior scheme but with the purple Gel coat turned Blue Black or would it be better to stay original and just go with redoing the upholstery to match the Gel Coat?

**John Bell** · 06-29-2017, 04:41 PM

@surroundsound64
I work and stay around the Kilgore/Longview area more so Gladewater, what are some lakes in the area to check out for boarding/skiing?

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**surroundsound64** · 06-29-2017, 09:55 PM

Originally posted by John Bell View Post

@surroundsound64
I work and stay around the Kilgore/Longview area more so Gladewater, what are some lakes in the area to check out for boarding/skiing?

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Great! Gladewater is a nice small lake. Very rarely is it too busy. Caddo is my favorite.
903-806-3232. Holler some time. We are going to be out a few times over the next week.

-Larry

**Blamey** · 06-29-2017, 10:53 PM

Changing the color of the gel is tricky. New gel will be expensive.

You can paint over it but this will probably devalue the boat and it's generally not recommend to paint over gel as it's not as nice a finish.

You could get a large vinyl wrap, but that would probably be pretty pricey too. I'd guess about 2k but I'm not really sure.

Honestly if you don't like the color, easiest fix is to get a new boat or live with it.

If you can live with the exterior, then you could probably get away with updating the interior like I did. The blue will kinda match the teal stripe.

If it were me with your boat, I'd keep it original. The teal and purple is a weird option but it's kinda unique to that period and kinda stands out for that reason. It's probably not the color scheme I'd choose for a boat but if I had it, I'd embrace it.

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**Blamey** · 06-30-2017, 09:59 AM

Thanks for the kind words on the interior. I was never really sure about that boat. I took a risk on changing the vinyl color but I planned to keep the boat for a long time and knew I'd be happier with the Light Blue.

I would never have changed it if I knew that I'd be selling the boat in 6 months but I ended up getting a smoking deal on a 96 Super Sport. I wanted to add a tower and was looking at spending 3k on it and had mixed feelings about putting a tower on a Sport.

I ended up getting the Super Sport with a tower and even after putting about 1k into the boat and paying taxes, I still have some change left over from the sale of the Sport.

It'll take me some time to get the Super Sport looking as nice as the Sport but I have a boat now that works better for my family , even if it doesn't look as good.

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**John Bell** · 07-02-2017, 08:52 AM

Here are some photos of the boat from yesterday!

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**Jonny Quest** · 07-02-2017, 10:23 AM

Fuel. I recommend 89 octane at or near sea level. Best option is the non-ethanol fuel. I used to live in Houston (up near Conroe) and non-ethanol fuel was available.

Hesitation. Sounds like the ProTech and / or throttle-body fuel injection acting up. I have a 1994 Ski that had the same set-up. I changed out to high performance distributor and carburetor. Best decision I made. Engine runs like new. IMO, the best carb is the QuickFuel M-600 marine carb. A great distributor is the Davis Unified Ignition (DUI) HEI style distributor. The ProTech is a ticking time-bomb and you never know when it will fail. Repair parts for the Holley TBI and ProTech are NLA (no longer available). When my ProTech failed, I was in the middle of a large lake and had to be towed back to the marina.

Fuel Sending Unit. Sending units can and do fail. Not a big deal. If you change, I recommend going to a reed type fuel sending unit.

Oil. You have a flat tappet camshaft, so you want an oil with a high ZDDP content. Most motor-heads like the 20W-50 oils. I use Royal Purple HPS as it has high ZDDP. Valvoline VR-1 is good too. Another option is to go with a ZDDP additive (Lucas TB Zinc Plus) and add to your favorite brand of 20W-50 low ZDDP oil.

For your PCM 1.23:1 transmission, don't use synthetic transmission fluid. Stay with the traditional Dex/Merc non-synthetic.

JQ

**Blamey** · 07-03-2017, 09:53 AM

Boat looks great. If you really need to do anything then cover the teal with a pin stripe with maybe a black stripe and remove the teal when replacing the interior. Anything else and you'd just be better off getting a new boat in a difference color.