fruits of my labor... Our first boat!

(beleza) · (beleza) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-11-2010, 3:59 PM

Well me and my wife finally scraped together enough cash to buy our first boat. It's an 88 SN 2001 and we love it. Nautiques have always been in our family. Me and my brother used to own an older sport nautique together, but this one is all mine (and my wife's). After a few weeks of a lot of elbow grease we finally have her lookin good. Just got her back from getting serviced...

(beleza) · (beleza) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-11-2010, 4:02 PM

after shots...

(beleza) · (beleza) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-11-2010, 4:04 PM

interior and with tow rig

(bruizza) · (bruizza) **Join Date: May 2009** 05-11-2010, 4:12 PM

Wow it looks really good after all that elbow grease.

(wakeandsnow27) · (wakeandsnow27) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 05-11-2010, 4:19 PM

wow---looking very good. the trailer alone has come a long way...

(hatepain) · (hatepain) **Join Date: Aug 2006** 05-11-2010, 4:21 PM

Damn nice work! Love doing things like that where you get such immediate gratification. Congrats and have fun!!!

(skongolf) · (skongolf) **Join Date: Aug 2009** 05-11-2010, 4:28 PM

What did you use to get the olor back? Looks really good!!!

(rebelman10) · (rebelman10) **Join Date: Jun 2009** 05-11-2010, 4:52 PM

swagga baby swagga

(cjh1669) · (cjh1669) **Join Date: Apr 2005** 05-11-2010, 4:58 PM

Looks great

(mdaijogo) · (mdaijogo) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-11-2010, 4:59 PM

Nice transformation. The gelcoat looks fantastic.

m-

(benjaminp) · (benjaminp) **Join Date: Nov 2008** 05-11-2010, 5:16 PM

I thought for a minute the first pictures were post elbow grease. But the difference is night and day, awesome looking boat.

(baitkiller) · (baitkiller) **Join Date: Jan 2010** 05-11-2010, 5:23 PM

Pretty work, nice boat. Congrats!

(delmage171) · (delmage171) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 05-11-2010, 6:12 PM

WOW! unreal SN man! God I love these boats! Trailer looks mint too! Wish I had a tandem for my SN2001

(ldeisel42) · (ldeisel42) **Join Date: Nov 2009** 05-11-2010, 6:37 PM

wow...that looks great... congrats on the new boat...!!! What did you do to get it lookin so good?

(mike2001) · (mike2001) **Join Date: Feb 2008** 05-11-2010, 6:47 PM

Nice work on the boat and trailer!

(trevorg7) · (trevorg7) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 05-11-2010, 6:47 PM

Looks great, nice work.

T

(slipknot) · (slipknot) **Join Date: Aug 2001** 05-11-2010, 6:51 PM

nice boat! congratulations! I bet that thing throws a mean wake!

(bmartin) · (bmartin) **Join Date: Jan 2007** 05-11-2010, 7:27 PM

The best boat is the one that is paid for. Looks good.

(scott) · (scott) **Join Date: Feb 2010** 05-11-2010, 7:29 PM

Good Job! Looks 100% better!

(882001) · (882001) **Join Date: Nov 2003** 05-11-2010, 8:06 PM

i miss my 88

(priszkid) · (priszkid) **Join Date: Aug 2007** 05-11-2010, 8:37 PM

way to clean her up- it'll definitely be a good summer!!!

(lsukuntryboy) · (lsukuntryboy) **Join Date: Jul 2007** 05-11-2010, 8:37 PM

sweet ride. what did you do to get the color back on the trailer? im tryin to figure out what to do to my 89 mastercraft trailer.

(beleza) · (beleza) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-11-2010, 9:42 PM

Dang guys thanks for all the good words! It definitely took a bit of work, but wasn't too bad. Here was the resto process:

- Peeled off graphics with goo gone and razor blade (be careful doing this, I put a nice nick in the gelcoat that drives me nuts)
- Wet sanded entire boat with 1000 grit sand paper, then 2000 grit sand paper
- borrowed a buffer from a friend and polished it
- then applied a coat of wax

- Hit the trailer with a scotch pad
- Applied a couple coats of red rustleum spray paint (not the perfect solution, but actually turned out pretty good)
- changed out old white rims and bias ply tires for aluminum rims and radials
- new jack

- sanded swim platform and hit with 3-4 coats of teak oil
- repainted platform brackets

- When we first got the boat we talked about redoing the interior cuz it looked pretty hammered... We decided to bust out the exquisite vinyl cleaner to see what it could do and it worked wonders. Besides a couple nicks, the interior looks great.
- I also took off the teak wood side rails and replaced them with some grip pads.

I bought it from a guy that said he didn't have it serviced in like eight years so I was a little concerned how everything would check out. Turns out everything is in good condition. The only thing that needed replaced was the impeller and a few o-rings. I just bought a pair a fly high v-drive sacs to throw in it so hopefully that will beef up the wake a bit.

(themxercr85) · (themxercr85) **Join Date: Jul 2007** 05-11-2010, 11:20 PM

Looks pretty bad ass to me dude

(bstphen24) · (bstphen24) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 05-11-2010, 11:53 PM

Looks great, nice work on both projects! I just finished an '89 and can't wait to get out and load it down.

(konaking) · (konaking) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 05-12-2010, 5:19 AM

Stellar performance and the best thing is you own it not the bank

(jonblarc7) · (jonblarc7) **Join Date: Jul 2006** 05-12-2010, 5:44 AM

Looks great!!!!!!!!

(Walt) · (Walt) **Join Date: Jan 2003** 05-12-2010, 5:49 AM

Nice looking boat. Congrats !

(liquiddiet) · (liquiddiet) **Join Date: Feb 2009** 05-12-2010, 6:01 AM

Looks great, good work!

(chris4x4gill2) · (chris4x4gill2) **Join Date: Sep 2009** 05-12-2010, 7:00 AM

Great work! I've got an 89 that was in similair condition when I bought it. I was able to save the decals, but you have me beat with the wetsand! Evidently I didnt use as much elbow grease as you did!

(stang_killa_ss)

kick ass! i had an 82. with 800-900 lbs the wake is pretty insane. driver has to really pay attention not to swamp the boat though.
amazing "resto" guys!

(scotthons) · (scotthons) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-12-2010, 8:40 AM

Looks great! Now go have some fun on it!

(liquidmx) · (liquidmx) **Join Date: Jun 2005** 05-12-2010, 9:29 AM

That is awesome dude! The boat looks great and there is nothing better than the satisfaction of doing it yourself...your way. Congrats!

(l_b) · (l_b) **Join Date: Aug 2009** 05-12-2010, 9:44 AM

Congrats on the boat. Looks great.

(PictureMeRollin)

that looks amazing.. it must be a great feeling knowing that you did it yourself!

(tripsw) · (tripsw) **Join Date: May 2006** 05-12-2010, 6:02 PM

Congratulations! Looks great. Everytime I see before and after wetsand pics I want to do the same to our '85. Actually, I think I'll head on and start ordering some stuff (anyone coming to Costa Rica sometime soon who can bring some goodies?!

Have you discovered www.the2001.com yet?

(fill_er_up) · (fill_er_up) **Join Date: May 2006** 05-12-2010, 6:10 PM

Looks great. The work really paid off.

(downfortheride)

Great work! I bet you get so many looks and comments at the lake or on the road!

(beleza) · (beleza) **Join Date: Mar 2010** 05-12-2010, 9:56 PM

Yeah boy! Took her out this morning for the first time and it was great! I mostly just took it out to see how it ran and work on getting my wife comfortable driving it. After about a half hour of cruising and teaching the wife I couldn't stand looking at the glass any longer so I had her give me a quick pull. It was my first ride of the season so I mostly just carved around, but she did great pulling me. The boat actually holds speed really well which helped.

(1niceharley) · (1niceharley) **Join Date: Feb 2010** 05-13-2010, 10:35 AM

Very Nice. Cleaned up really well! Great job.

(ajholt7) · (ajholt7) **Join Date: Apr 2009** 05-14-2010, 12:54 AM

That thing looks sweet!

(gotwake133) · (gotwake133) **Join Date: May 2010** 05-14-2010, 8:34 AM

looks awesome! love the tower

(lovin_the_wake)

Sweet 1st boat hella stoked for ya

(wakemikey) · (wakemikey) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 05-14-2010, 2:14 PM

Glad to see everything worked out well for you sofar! Hope you have a great summer and document everything with pics and vids. Would love to see how the Exquisite turned out. I got my first inboard two years ago, an 87 Supra SunSport. Good times!!!