Ski Supreme vs American Skier (non CC) |
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phickman
Groupie Joined: August-19-2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 85 |
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Posted: March-29-2009 at 12:58am |
My friend is hoping to get into an inboard of his own this summer. Over the past few years I have turned him on classic inboard ski boats. I have been around and owned 2001's and older MCs. I am not an expert but I know what boats to walk away from from these manufacturers
He is drawn toward the older Ski Supremes and American Skiers (non CC). Both are great looking boats, traditional designs that us purists love. I just don't know much about them to help him. Drive trains are what we are all used to being around him. Longevity of design, fit and finish, stringer problems, availability of parts are what I would like pass along wisdom to him about these boats. I want him to enjoy his first inboard and not buy a nice and shiny nightmare. What are the things to watch out for on the old Ski Supremes and Non CC American Skiers? Thanks in advance |
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Paul Hickman
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GottaSki
Grand Poobah Joined: April-21-2005 Location: NE CT Status: Offline Points: 3333 |
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Both, like others of the vintage are prone to stringer and floor rot.
Like you suspect, powertrains are similar across all breeds. A few supreme hulls can chine lock under some conditions and that makes the steering inoperable till you slow down. Some blame it on the 'G' mold but that is not my experience. Supremes were not foam-filled until '86, so the earlier models stay lighter and have a great slalom wake. '86 they went composite floor/stringer but had bad rooster tail, corrected somewhat in '87 If you are a shortline slalomer the supreme's side spray in bothersome against the wind at 28' off and closer, but the wake is sweet. Neither boat is as dry or stable in rougher conditions as the similar year nautique. Rotten floors in a supreme are harder to fix because the deck has to come off to do it right. Biggest issue independent of brand is stringer rot. At least crank the engine mount lag bolts to do a gross check. |
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"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing."
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dwcar
Platinum Member Joined: February-11-2007 Location: Houston Texas Status: Offline Points: 1103 |
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We had a Ski Supreme when I was younger. It did not have the cradle that rest on the stringers that the engine sits on. I like that about the Nautiques.
The bow on the Ski Supremes sits very low. Makes it very easy to take water over the bow. It does throw a nice slalom wake. I dont know much about the American Skier. |
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83Ski
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bkhallpass
Grand Poobah Joined: March-29-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4723 |
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Of the two, I prefer the American Skier. Was a very highly rated ski boat in the early 80s.
I didn't know you have to pop the deck to replace stringers in the Supreme. I do know this was the case with 80s models Supras. Would not surprise me. We have a lot of older Supremes running around in this area. American Skier was built with very good materials, and was lighter than most of the ski boats of its time. I like the look of the boat better than the Supreme. BKH |
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Livin' the Dream
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Gary S
Grand Poobah Joined: November-30-2006 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 14096 |
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My Dad had a late 70's Ski Supreme. Hull seemed thinner than my friends 77 Ski Nautique,for sure thinner than my Mustang. Watch out for cracks across rear deck, even with rear seat back.
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6147 |
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Tom, how did you confirm the 87- was of composite stringer construction? I have heard things all across the boards from glass stringers to stainless steel core stringers that caused the delamination issues on some of the new Supremes.
My uncle is thinking of doing a full resto on his 88 Supreme this winter and I want to make sure it is solid structurally before we go any where on cosmetics. If it needs structure it'll get sold and replaced with something nicer but if the structure is ok it will end up restored and color changed etc. |
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GottaSki
Grand Poobah Joined: April-21-2005 Location: NE CT Status: Offline Points: 3333 |
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Oh, Only because I worked at a dealer then, so i saw each year's changes come through.
the composte boats began in 85, absolutely. So the 87/88 is firmly a composite boat I am not privy to the stringer's construction method, because I never got to see one torn apart. Sorry I don't have much to add on any failure modes The 85+ boats are a bit heavier, but also tend to soak their foam making them quite heavy and not a pleasure to ski behind, and most owners nowadays don't seem to care because they never saw the boat perform new. |
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"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing."
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Air206
Grand Poobah Joined: September-28-2008 Location: Roanoke, VA Status: Offline Points: 3000 |
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+1 Brother-in-law had an '87 and has an '89 American Skier(s).... great slalom boats of that time.... VERY California interior design. |
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6147 |
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Sweet Tom, I am going to take a look at it all anyways. He's owned it since about 1996 so it wasn't too old and has mostly either been covered or stored indoors since his ownership. Original owners didn't take too good of care of the GEL and rather than buy something different he would rather pay some respect to a boat that has performed dutifully for him for many years.
The interior wood is rotted on some of the bases and such but the thing runs great and still performs well (don't know if its wet and heavy or not). Anyways thank's for the info. The Magnum Skier my cousin bought this summer was of composite construction as well. Too bad CC didn't build all the 2001 boats composite. |
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bkhallpass
Grand Poobah Joined: March-29-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4723 |
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Ha, old thread come to life.
Re-reading, I guess I forgot to mention that the Supremes were also highly rated in that era. BKH |
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Livin' the Dream
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Hollywood
Moderator Group Joined: February-04-2004 Location: Twin Lakes, WI Status: Offline Points: 13510 |
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I don't have any seat or ski time with those Supremes but they do appeal to me. The American Skiers are awesome boats though, plenty of time there with Eddie and John's.
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Orlando76
Grand Poobah Joined: May-21-2013 Location: Mount Dora, FL Status: Offline Points: 3108 |
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I always thought of Ski Supreme as being a cheap knock off but thats because my lack of knowledge and unfamiliarity with them. I'd be curious to drive and ski one. I've done some research on them lately and evidently like mentioned the slalom wake is top notch. The floor design makes me wonder, pulling the deck just to repair the floor seems a bit excessive. This boat's been for sale in our area for a few months now and it always catches my eye, seems sharp and clean. I like it, but 2 wood stringer boats is enough for me. The price bounces between $4k-$4.5K. 1984 Supreme |
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Hollywood
Moderator Group Joined: February-04-2004 Location: Twin Lakes, WI Status: Offline Points: 13510 |
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The deck doesn't curl under like a traditional ski boat it goes down to the floor. You could do a stringer job without removing the deck, just cut the floor lip inside where the the deck meets the floor.
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velde99
Platinum Member Joined: November-04-2012 Location: Tampa Florida Status: Offline Points: 1108 |
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Todd
I learned to ski in 1982 with a ski supreme. Growing up on a lake in IL, there were about 10 ski Nautiques on the lake and that boat out performed them all. When I was old enough I bought a 1991 ski supreme in 1991. I had that boat for 10 Years and never put a penny into it other than routine maintance. These boats are really great. The bad thing is "supreme industries" has gone through a ton of owners. The 1991 I owned was made by wellcraft in Sarasota . They where sold a couple times since then- think they are currently made in CA. Guy who started ski supreme was a big wig with mastercraft and I think he worked for correct craft at a point. |
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DrCC
Grand Poobah Joined: April-12-2004 Location: at home Status: Offline Points: 2867 |
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American Skier.
You can find shiny nightmares with all of them as well as finding faded gel and full of leaves that will run problem free for years. |
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GottaSki
Grand Poobah Joined: April-21-2005 Location: NE CT Status: Offline Points: 3333 |
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Not exactly, becasue To do the floor right as delivered, the floor needs the layer of glass where it butts to the inside of the hull, else the floor will be suspended by the deck and will never feel solid underfoot. Taking the deck off isn't that big a deal. 3/16" drill bit and bucket to catch the shavings, score the silicon with a knife, and four friends and family to lift it off together. Its not that heavy, just needs to come up together.. No secondary stringers to make, just a couple carefully lengthed blocks to set the floor height, do some ugly glass, glue down rug, the deck covers all the interfaces. A few blisters with pop rivet gun, done. |
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"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing."
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6147 |
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I always thought they were cool looking boats. There has been quite a few noteworthy supremes on our lake over the years I remember.
There were a couple late 70s all black boats, a grey one, an absolutely beautiful robins egg blue one with matching trailer, a really cool 87 anniversary that had a 2 tone salmon and beige metallic hull color, my uncles teal and white 88, a yellow Ski Seville (this boat seemed to be a classed up version of a ski kind of a Dominique version of the Ski). If I remember correctly there was even a teal 91 ish with the dot design big SUPREME graphic on the side at one point. There is also currenly one of those early to mid 90s slant back open bow Supremes on the lake that kind of look like an attempt at a Maristar. I dig the classic Ski Boat shape and the low slung look with short freeboard. I also like how shallow the interior is with the short freeboard. That cool Anniversary Edition boat only had less than 200 original hours and was perfect. The guy bought it and proceeded to leave it on the lift for 3-4 years with no cover |
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8122pbrainard
Grand Poobah Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41040 |
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no blisters! |
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Gary S
Grand Poobah Joined: November-30-2006 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 14096 |
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Here is Dads,can't remember what model year it was
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rleinen79
Gold Member Joined: December-16-2004 Location: New Carlisle IN Status: Offline Points: 733 |
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I always liked the looks of those Supremes. There were several on the water where I grew up, but they were all dark brown with tan interiors. I've never seen one in person in a different color. I was always struck by how low they rode in the water compared to the Nautiques of the same era.
Rob |
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81nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: September-03-2005 Location: Big Rock, Il Status: Offline Points: 5767 |
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here is my buddies 81 next to my 82 Stars and Stripes. This was a long time ago check out the wood doubles for bomb outs and the step off, and the foam vest. I don't remember the Supreme ever getting much work though as long as the MC was running good. The Supreme pulled a lot of Kneeboarding, maybe the wake was peakier but really once we started kneeboarding in the afternoons that meant the beer was flowing so a lot of those details are a little foggy.
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SNobsessed
Grand Poobah Joined: October-21-2007 Location: IA Status: Offline Points: 7102 |
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I can see where CC found the bow deck shape for '87!
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Faceplant
Senior Member Joined: July-27-2013 Location: Otter Lake , Mi Status: Offline Points: 405 |
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Here is a couple of pictures of my 79 Ski Supreme . Both pictures were taken in October in Michigan. I had already taken the dock out of the water but WAY before I was done playing for the season .
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Orlando76
Grand Poobah Joined: May-21-2013 Location: Mount Dora, FL Status: Offline Points: 3108 |
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Did the Ski Supreme.... Say circa 1984, use a engine cradle-pylon type reinforcement set-up?
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GottaSki
Grand Poobah Joined: April-21-2005 Location: NE CT Status: Offline Points: 3333 |
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I believe the 85+ boats had that
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"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing."
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GlassSeeker
Grand Poobah Joined: November-26-2008 Location: Elk Grove, CA. Status: Offline Points: 2421 |
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Friend of mine had a brown/cream Barefoot Supreme bigblock ...it sucked so bad he then got a BFN. The Barefoot Supreme had same hull as Ski just added bigblock...wake sucked.
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