2001 air nautique restoration question

[Rahawkins]

I am new to the forum so thank you everyone for all your help. I purchased my 1st 2001 Air Nautique about 3 weeks ago to start a semi restoration (only semi because carpet and upholstery are in great condition). I took to my local boat mechanic shop to get the GT-40 checked out. Boat had set since October 2021 according to the winterize tag on the steering wheel, and previous owner. Upon mechanic starting to check into everything a majority of the wiring is severely degraded, also upon pulling and replacing starter and solenoid it appears water set in the fly wheel housing for a while based on rust on flywheel original plan was to install new fuel lines and fuel pump based on how long it has set and see what happens... Mechanic approached me with well what do we want to do, stated we will probably have 15+ hours in rewiring boat... I have reached out to Correct Craft to see if wiring harnesses are still available to assist in the speed of the job. So far we have decided to keep moving forward with checking compression on motor and doing what is necessary to check out motor. I feel I made a good deal on this boat, and have a lot of room. Just wanted advice from some folks who may have been in this position on wiring or a motor you are just totally unsure of. Mechanic recommends total swap out instead of rebuild base on getting warranty on new motor... Any help is very much appreciated so below are the questions:

1. What has anyone been able to do referring to wire degradation issues including to motor and behind dash

2. Unknown GT-40 situation and determining if should be pulled and replaced.

[NautiqueJeff]

I have worked on a ton of Nautiques of this vintage, and none have ever had such bad wiring issues that the entire boat harness needed to be changed. I'm not familiar with your particular boat, but it would be very surprising to me that an entire harness would need to be changed.

I have heard of GT-40 engine harnesses needing to be replaced before, and I can tell you from personal experience that PCM does NOT have these harnesses available.

[jpwhit]

Seems premature to be talking about replacing a motor that hasn't really been checked out very throughly. Makes me think your mechanic may not be very comfortable working on that engine. I wonder if you should take it somewhere else for a more objective opinion.

Pictures of the wiring harnesses condition would be useful. Can't really offer much opinion on that without see more of what's going on.

[bturner]

Couple thoughts.....

• As stated above I would take it to a dealer and see what they say before going with this one mechanic.
• How electrically inclined are you. I have not seen this harness but have worked with them on several project boats and unless something is really amiss, on this year boat would probably make my own. You can buy a lot of marine grade wire in various colors for 15 hours of a mechanic's time.
• Was this a salt water boat by chance? I haven't seen rust issues from boats that have sat for 3 years to the degree you mention without submersion or saltwater use. If it partially sunk in saltwater it would explain a lot.
• I would also finish checking out the engine before making any further plans on repairs. Know what you have BEFORE dropping big cash into this boat. You need to know what you're working with before the spending starts or prepare to pay for things 2 and 3 times along the restoration process.

[Rahawkins]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for all the replies.

So I agree it is most likely to early to determine if motor needs to be swapped, I have all the wiring diagrams printed off and it doesn’t seem to be all that much in terms of total circuit count…

The boat has no salt water time at all, we replaced the starter and solenoid and that is when we noticed significant rust on the flywheel, the teeth seem to still be well in tact only surface rust though.

Nautique Jeff- Thank you for the info on the harness to the motor…

Guys I am very excited about the project, they are like old sports cars to me… Thank you for all the advice can’t wait to get her going and teach my kids how to ski and wakeboard.