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Thank you to all of the PN members who have shared pictures and stories about your boats and builds, Jeff for the website, and Core_rider for passing me in 2003 in the sharpest wakeboard boat I have ever seen.
Finally got a Nautique. First off, I know most of you probably hate the color, I totally understand. Moving on, back in 2003 I crossed paths on the water with Core_rider and his 210, and ever since then I have wanted a 2003 210. That same year, another 210 TE came to our lake, this one was orange crush and white with the matching top deck. They used the boat very little, so I rarely ever saw it on the water, but when I did see it I really loved the color. In February of this year, my neighbor, who knows I wakeboard, mentioned his Father-in-law was about to sell an ''old ski boat with a fishing tower or something on it, and oh yeah, the boat is orange'' and that he wanted '' mid $20's or mid $30's, he wasn't sure". I asked what brand and when he said a ski nautique I figured I might have stumbled on to something. Knowing I needed to brush up on my Nautique knowledge, I first created a PN profile. A few locals had mentioned back in the day that they thought it was a big block boat, which it is not. So, if you notice the Python210 name, its actually NOTaPython210.... I didn't know about the hump on the engine cover until I read about it on this site.
This is how it looked when I first saw it.
As soon as I knew the boat was what it was, I was going to buy it regardless of if it was in the 20's or 30's, to my surprise, he priced it at $23K with no trailer. I bought it on the spot. Called up a buddy with an available Xstar trailer and picked it up that day.
The boat had 402 hours at the time, and service records for every year since new. Everything was operational, and other than a good cleaning the only thing it really needed was rear hatch skins.
Most people would have been fine with the condition of the graphics and pin striping, but I wanted it perfect. So I removed all of the pin striping and the large AIR logo's and went to work. The boat had been waxed annually and the only thing that will need wet sanding is the stern below the platform, everything else shined up nicely with a standard cut and buff.
From there, I added:
New AIR graphics and pinstriping
New air graphics on tower
Replaced all stereo components
And then:
New black cover from Angola canvas
Tinted windows (5%)
2007 dual axle Ramlin trailer (this randolmly popped up for sale in my own little town)
Stainless cup holders
Sea Dek (Best money I have spent so far)
I have ordered the rear hatch skins from C and S, and after 5 months, I am still waiting for those to be completed.
I plan to do the wakemakers upgrade this offseason, but coming from a 190 it's a huge upgrade as it is, and the factory ballast still functions well enough for what we use it for, at least for now.
I got the platform SeaDek kit from Nautique parts, and the rest came direct from SeaDek. I will say that working directly with them was much easier that I could have ever thought. Since I wasn't doing the floor, I just made templates for what I wanted and had Sea Dek custom make it. $210 for everything (not the platform kit) is a bargain IMO, I even had some avalable space on my sheet leftover and I had them cut it for the top of the trailer fenders. I do realize that most of you would have done it a little bit differently, as I went more on the minimal side I think. For you real boat aficionado's, I am aware that I am breaking all rules of yachting/boating with the direction of the horizontal teak on the platform.....
And a huge thanks to Marty for making the dash plaque, not installed here but it looks great. This must be why my 3 year old believes it is actually her boat.
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