What's Happening at Silver Cove Marine?

[dwg]

I bought my 1996 Sport from Ron, The Correct Craft ad in the WaterSki magazine had my name in it. He supplied the boats for Sea World in Auora, which is where I fell in love with the Ski Nautique. I had to compromise for a Sport because of the young family. Now I feel like Banana George. I bought the boat for 30k, I am selling it to my son for whatever he can get for his Rinker. I think that will be 4K..

[NautiqueJeff]

Our client's 1992 Ski Nautique has its new SKI NAUTIQUE lettering on now, and its freshly powder coated windshield is back on as well. Just a few more things to finish up on this one.

[NautiqueJeff]

Our client's 2000 Super Air Nautique Python boat got some additional maintenance items completed. It got a brand new steering cable installed, along with new exhaust riser gaskets and fresh paint on the risers as well. The new carpet is finally here, and will be going in next week.

[SilentSeven]

Love to see a few pictures of what a carpet job entails.....

[NautiqueJeff]

Click the link in that post and you'll see the floor prep. We'll post more as we start installing the carpet.

[srock]

It's great that you guys have been able to make a business of renewing and keeping these boats on the water. Look at that shine...love seeing the posts.

[NautiqueJeff]

PYTHON POWER: the gurgle is real...

[NautiqueJeff]

New carpet is going in our client's 2000 Python Super Air.

[NautiqueJeff]

The new rub rail was installed on our client's 1992 Ski Nautique, along with the remaining graphics that the owner asked for.

He opted for no pinstripes, for a nice clean look.

This boat went home with its owner today, and he seems very happy.

[TechBeer]

Amazing work Jeff. I do like the idea of a Bitchin Rides like reality show or YouTube channel. If you need an electronics guy give me a holler... :-)

[NautiqueJeff]

Well, this was a first! A client brought in a boat for some gelcoat work, and while it was here, they asked us to replace the bilge pump hose because the previous owner had installed a GARDEN HOSE between the pump and the outlet. Sure enough, they had, and it was completely kinked to the point that it never would have allowed water to pass. We, of course, replaced it with proper bilge pump hose, secured with proper hose clamps and the proper fitting to mount to the bilge pump.

[NautiqueJeff]

We're kind of celebrating here at SCM today. A problem that took WAY too long to solve is finally almost fixed. We had a 2005 Excalibur that had an FCC that kept emptying itself if you pushed the boat over about 30 MPH. The boat would then stumble and almost stall unless you pulled back to idle speed. The low pressure pump could not keep up with the fuel demand of the high pressure pump inside the FCC. We tried everything to fix it -- new low pressure fuel pump (3 times!), new fuel lines, new anti-siphon valve, checked the fuel tank vent, checked the hard line going to the FCC for restrictions, checked the fuel pump relays, new high pressure fuel pump (just in case), new FCC filter, pulled fuel tank and cleaned it (twice!), etc. Nothing fixed our issue.

We had replaced the fuel pickup in the tank when we first got the boat, so assumed it was good since it was new.

Today, we ran the boat on a test tank with its own pickup, and it ran great! Same fuel lines, pump, etc. The only thing different is the tank, the pickup, and the lack of an anti-siphon valve.

We'll be replacing the fuel pickup and anti-siphon valve in the main tank again, and fully expect it to run like it is in the video here where we were running with the test tank. We assume our existing "new" pickup in the main tank has an air leak somewhere, either a very small crack that only shows itself under extreme demand, or possibly a leak at the fitting built into the top of the tube. Either way, it is going into the trash!

FYI, I have done a ton of research on fuel pickups and anti-siphon valves this week. Did you know that there are two versions of anti-siphon valves that will fit our boats? One is made for engines UNDER 200 HP, and one is made for engines OVER 200 HP. We're running the right one (stamped 15), but I ordered another "15" just in case the one I have is bad. That, along with a new fuel pickup, had BETTER fix our issue!

[bturner]

I've been troubleshooting an electrical issue on my 70 Mach1 that's been driving me nuts for a year. Like you I just realized after hours of troubleshooting that the new part I put in was defective. In my case one of the power connectors had an open between the molded connector and the wire lead going to the switch. This is the type of thing I saw while taking lab exams during IBM hardware training classes. They would intentionally inject these types of difficult to diagnose components then watch you sweat/squirm as you poured over pages of electrical schematics, logic diagrams and physical test points. The tests were designed to make you demonstrate your PD/PSI (Problem Determination/Problem Source Identification) skills. No matter how well you did in other aspects of the class, if you didn't pass the labs you failed. Apparently all those PITA tests are paying off for me all these years later....

The current quality of replacement parts we're seeing is just horrible. The worst of it is that these defective parts many times don't manifest themselves as an easy to diagnose problem that worn out parts will and appear to be fine on the surface. It'll be interesting to see exactly what you find as the definitive source of the issue.