Jeff's 1998 Ski Nautique Restoration

[Skidave]

Ha, It looks like a jet-boat now that its stripped down!. How long will they have it?

Pull the engine cover off, add a blower, some big carbs and even bigger exhaust pipes (chrome obviously ) and you're all set. May need a small piece of plastic to block the wind for the driver.

[NautiqueJeff]

I knew it looked like something. That's it!

Not sure. He says he can turn it around pretty quickly.

We haven't decided about the floor yet. He's working up an estimate to pull the carpet, sand the floor to remove the glue, and spray the gel. I hope he comes back with a reasonable price. I would love to put SeaDek in there!

[enzo thecat]

Ha, It looks like a jet-boat now that its stripped down!. How long will they have it?

[NautiqueJeff]

Off to gelcoat! Can't wait to see the results.

[MaineDR]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UctklwPlok you might be able to do something like this with a little resin and fleece to reinforce it in that area and then paint the area or whole dash. I was considering painting part of my dash with plastidip, so if I didn't like it later I could just rip it off. I hate painting parts like that permanently.

[ffmedic74]

http://www.danmillerati.com
http://www.urethanesupply.com/Repair-Cracked-Dashboard/

[enzo thecat]

Wow, you aren't messing around. This is going to be fun following this.

[NautiqueJeff]

Anyone got any suggestions for repairing this? The dash was like this when I bought the boat.

[NautiqueJeff]

Well, I didn't get it over to gelcoat yesterday as I had hoped. I decided to go ahead and disassemble more today and tomorrow, so it'll be pretty much bare bones when I take it over there on Monday. I pulled the windshield, front vent covers, and dash today. Interior and rubrail are coming out tomorrow. Not much more to it!

[enzo thecat]

Thanks for the explanation. Someone will have some wicked talent to get the color match precise.

[Quinner]

That is something that would be cool to see someone do, a floor like the Paragon had.. More maintenance I know, but very cool..

Actually it is no more maintenance then carpet, maybe even easier, a damp towel picks up sand dust, in the Spring a good scrubbing and then some oil.

Jeff that gel sure looks like it is going to need some heavy grit, bet he will need to go down to 400 at the color.

[shag]

That is something that would be cool to see someone do, a floor like the Paragon had.. More maintenance I know, but very cool..

[NautiqueJeff]

Not sure yet. I will let you know hopefully tomorrow.

I would say that if the gouges are down to the fiberglass, it should be repaired as soon as reasonably possible. The one deep, long gouge on mine is definitely down to the glass. I ran it like that a few times this fall, and who knows how long the PO ran it like that. I would be concerned that it could cause additional gelcoat to pull loose if left that way too long, and it can't be good for the fiberglass either.

[MaineDR]

How much is all that costing you roughly for the gelcoat repairs? I have something similar with a handful of pretty long hairline cracks and two nice gouges in the bottom from where the boat hit something in the water. Any risk to not repairing little things like that?

[NautiqueJeff]

You grind out the cracks with a Dremel (or similar), clean with acetone, and fill with gelcoat, then sand them flush with the existing gelcoat, then polish and wax. It is a fairly simple process, except that it is still only about 55 degrees here during the day, which is not warm enough for the gel to cure properly. Also, there are many to be done on this boat, and I would rather have a pro handle this one since there are so many. Also, with this boat being eighteen years old, the gelcoat colors will have to be mixed by hand, and I am not experienced enough to get the colors exactly right.