New to me 97 SN

[Ceruzziracing]

Just picked her up from a co-worker a few weeks ago after pestering him for a year
Had 305 total hours, garage kept, GT40 EFI, etc. Brand new trailer plus threw in a BI barefoot boom and pylon. Gelcoat glossy and interior pretty **** clean!

[ClemsonDave]

Looks sweet! Congrats! I thought the '97 had a curved 2 piece windshield.

[Ceruzziracing]

IIRC, mine was an early model 97 (built in 96). Don't know if they had a mid model year update? Oh, just for kicks, this boat was supposedly built originally for Julio Iglesias' son (per the second owner who purchased it with 50 hrs on the clock). The build plaque only has the initials J.I.P. though, no full name...my boats brush with fame lol

[a.klos]

Its 176 Ski nautique, Nice handy boat. I'm wondering hows the wake behind it compared to 196.

[DanielC]

A 176 with a GT-40 should be one quick little boat.

The last four digits of the serial number will tell you the model year, and the month and year it was molded.

[Ceruzziracing]

She runs strong, will yank my arms off if I let the wife pull me ;-). At work now so don't have VIN handy but I remember decoding it right after I got the factory manual. She was built in late 96 but is registered/titled as a 97. Normal practice for the manufacturer. And yup, it's a 176, forgot to mention that in my first post. Haven't ridden behind a 196, so nothing to compare it to. I'm primarily a wakeboarder but like to dabble with the slalom. I've only used the slalom with my wakeboard rope which I think is probably about 25' shorter than a standard slalom rope. Could use a bit more wake for boarding but don't know how aggressive I'm going to get with sacs. Already not alot of room once the wife and daughters are on board.

[pfm]

nice lookin sn

[Ceruzziracing]

Last 4 of VIN G697. Manufactured July 1996, model year designation 1997. Now I just need to figure out which tower to install. Anyone have suggestions? I've looked at several aftermarket, price varies like crazy!

[a.klos]

That would be cool 176 with a tower. May be FCT will fit.

[Ceruzziracing]

Just need to find a style I like...plus, don't want to devalue the boat. Seems like there's not alot of talk about the 176, read in another forum that the production run was only 3 years and am curious as to the number of 176's ever produced. I don't have any plans to turn around and sell her, but I can see it getting cramped once my girls hit there teens in a few years...

[swc5150]

Those are cool boats! Congrats! What's the top end on it with the GT40? I bet it's a screamer!

[behindpropellers]

I have a 176. GT-40 heads acme 470 prop. Fastest inboard here.

We deep up 4 barefooters with it pretty easy and it runs 40 with 4 people. The wake is great for slalom. I am in the process of replacing the rudder on mine. The 176 has a smaller rudder with a 1.125" shaft and the normal nautique rudder has a 1.250" shaft.

All the boat we need for our small lake and a pontoon boat.

Tim

[Ceruzziracing]

It does haul the mail Unfortunately the only thing that I'm having issue with are the gauges. I only had one functioning speedo and that wasn't reading accurately. Plus, the tach jumps around and reads well in excess of 5000 at 3/4 throttle. I tried clearing the rubber tubes leading to the pitots. The dead speedo had a clear line, haven't played with the other. I don't have a GPS, but seat of the pants is feeling every bit of 50 mph. I'm probably going to replace the Teleflex gauges with some Autometer Marine gauges and they have a GPS sensored speedo that looks great and fits stock openings. Thanks for all the kind words, I do love her!

[DanielC]

First the tach, check the electrical connections between the engine and the tachometer. This includes where the wire plugs into on the back of the tachometer, the multipin connector the plugs the dash board into the boat, and there is a connector on the back of the engine, for all the electrical stuff going to the engine.

Your Airguide speedometers are way better than any GPS system. Simple to fix, also. The speedometer is just a pressure gauge, calibrated in miles per hour. The pitot tube is just a hole, facing forward, the water builds more pressure in, the faster you go. There is a hose connecting the two. There is a balance tube, behind the gas tank, in line with the hose.

DO NOT USE FULL AIR PRESSURE FROM AN AIR COMPRESSOR TO DO THIS!
I think 25 MPH equals about only about 10 PSI.
Remove the dash pod, and remove the hose from the back of the speedometer. Gently blow air in to the speedometer, and see if the speedo moves. If it does, blow air into the hose, that connected to the speedometer, and listen for air leaks. The only place air should be leaking out is at the end of the pitot tube.
If air is not coming out there, remove the hose from the top of the pitot tube, and blow air backwards (down) through the pitot tube. You can use more pressure here to clear out any thing clogging the pitot tube.

GPS is useful for calibrating your Airguide speedometers, if you are going in a straight line, the GPS speed is holding steady, the RPM is not changing, and the load on the boat is steady. Other than that, GPS speed is not as reliable as pepler would have you believe, especially at lower speeds.

[Ceruzziracing]

Thanks Dan, I actually have used your advice before to troubleshoot the gauges. The rubber line and pitot check clear for the dead gauge, the other just failed Sunday and I haven't had a chance to check, too busy at work From what I can tell, I have one bad gauge, the other I'm suspecting is plugged as I was in shallow/weedy water when it went. Tried the reverse move and no joy. For air, I just blew through the tubes and also used a small plastic volley ball pump so as not to exceed the 25psi. When I get some time I'm going to chase the tach wires and make sure nothing is loose or any bad grounds throughout. All other gauges are fine. I'm not running slalom buoys and don't really need a speedo, just would like to not have a dash full of dead or jumping gauges. Although, it would be easier to tell my wife what speed to run instead of the constant thumb up/down/ok signs