1997 super sport nautique resto-mod

[orzech]

So I picked up a super sport this spring and absolutely love it. I put roughly 125-150 hrs on it in 3 months. It has been used and abused but i am slowly bringing it back to life. I started off by removing all the decals to wetsand and buff the hull. This winter I removed everything on the top half of the hull to wetsand/buff and bring the white back to life. While i was in there i decided to get all the chrome accents on the boat powdercoated black. The boat came with half of the interior recovered so I am having the few remaining panels redone this winter also. Lastly i wanted to clean up the dash by removing the beat up and faded fake carbon fiber panels with some real carbon fiber. The perfect pass gauge decided to crap out on me so i picked up a yellow Mastercraft gauge for $60. A .99 cent sticker took care of the yellow. Ill have newer pictures as the as i the remainder of the parts come in.

[Miljack]

Keep up the good work! If you're going to put graphics back on it, have a look at the '99 Super Air graphics, very "retro" but look cool on these boats.

Like the black pc, what level of sheen did you go with?

[orzech]

progress is being made...

[s_kelley2000]

Looks really good!

[orzech]

Just about finally finished. Need to fasten the front bow cushion, and top off the transmission oil and she is all set for the water. Fresh air exhaust is still in the works but i am very happy with how everything turned out so far. Got few changes to make come next winter, but for now she is ready for another summer of fun. As soon as she goes in the water, trailer is the next thing to be refinished.

[dmbump]

Your boat looks great. I'm doing the same to my 95 sport and I'm just starting on it. I want to powder coat all of the polished parts as well, how did you remove the front back rest and front grab rails. thanks for your input.

[s_kelley2000]

Did you change out the drivers seat or is just wrapped differently? Either way it looks good. I like what you did with the light bar under the platform and the downturned exhaust.

Did your sub box replace the driver's kick panel or did you incorporate the subs into the existing kick panel? I want to move my sub to that location but I am not sure of the best way to attack it.

[orzech]

Thanks for the compliments...

The front bow back rests are a pain in the *** to remove. There are 2 wood screws that run inbetween the seems of the splits and go straight through the cushion into the fiberglass. You just need to spread apart the cushions and run your screwdriver down the seam until you feel the head of the screws. And then there are 4 more screws (2 on each side) that run from underneath the dash/glove box and go through the fiberglass and into the back rests of the cushions. As for the grab rails, some long extensions and swivel sockets do the trick very nicely.

The driverseat was completely removed. I wanted something with a bolster seat to see over the dash so i fabricated some new mounts and got her in there nicely. Such a great upgrade. The seat is wider and more comfortable the the original. Was a tight squeeze to be able to have the ski locker hatch clear and get full motion of the throttle. I am very pleased with how that turned out. The sub box is a complete replacement of the kick panel. It is a 3/4" sheet with 2 individual fiberglass enclosures on the back side of it. I went this route so i could run the factory dash wiring in the center of the 2 enclosures and get it to mount as far back as possible creating the most foot room.

I still need to finish up the FAE, that was a spare silicone 4 ply reinforced coupler i had laying around from my car (turbo piping). You can see the rest of the exhaust welded up on the trailer, i just have to to figure out the bracing system for it. Rough plan is to run heim joints on threaded rod so i can twist/adjust the exhaust exactly where I want it so it wont effect the wave/wake.

Ill get some pics up soon of all the lighting. Everything turned out great. I have RGB run all inside and in the vents that match the underwater LED's.

My favorite improvement of the winter is the flush mounted interior speakers, when i dropped the panels off to get recover i gave him a speaker grill and had him modify the original holes to fit the polk speakers. No more speaker grills in the back is a great thing.

[tusker]

I am looking to buy a boat this year. what are the super sport like to ski behind? what about surfing? also any really known issues with the mid-late 90's super sports? I am considering a new sport 200 but when I look at the price of a older super sport I am thinking this may be a better way to go as they cost about 2/3 or less. I have two young kids that wil be getting into water sports

[s_kelley2000]

My favorite improvement of the winter is the flush mounted interior speakers, when i dropped the panels off to get recover i gave him a speaker grill and had him modify the original holes to fit the polk speakers. No more speaker grills in the back is a great thing.

Oh wow I totally missed the flush mounted speaker grills at first. My side panels are the last things I need to get recovered and I was planning to have my guy add the original mesh back and get rid of the aftermarket grills because it is not fun when those dig into your back. I think I like your idea better and will probably go with that. Awesome modifications!

[orzech]

I have one last big mod to do to the boat next winter and then the whole theme of the boat will be complete.

As far as the wake goes i cant comment on the ski wake but I guess its not the greatest. As far as surfing and wakeboarding I have a blast on it. http://vimeo.com/50347721 video from last summer. Going from a d-drive to a v-drive I will never go back again. Soo much more enjoyable on the v-drive as far as space/comfort goes. Boat is pushing 1100 hours and still running strong. I have heard nothing but good things about the gt-40 motor.

[wake_fun]

Looks good!

[orzech]

need to get some more shots at night but here is a quick one.

[Fluid63]

Great work, looks a treat.

[Super_sport]

Love the blue color model, especially after wet sand... I have the 95 and its awesome... have it now for 2 seasons and wish I had it a lot longer.. added some ballast and plumbing. Stereo with sub under driver kick. I want to relocate the ski pylon from the floor to the back behind the seats so we can use the seating when skiing. we dont have a tower yet. Ive seen a retractable pylon mod from techyon that looks cool, but rather get a tower. I have been told that the hull from 1995 to 2006 is practically the same, and it was one of the best hulls designs for wakeboarding. Nice resto..