Ski Nautique 2001 Restomod

So my wife's father purchased this '89 Ski Nautique years ago for just $1500 and had plans to restore it. He dug into it and got the motor running nicely and then replaced the old wood stringers with some new fiberglassed stringers. That's about as far as he got before he put it up and never pulled it back out again. About a year ago, we all went in together and got him a 79 Mastercraft Stars and Stripes which was identical to his very first boat that he loved so much but couldn't ever find. The one we found was actually exactly 200#'s off of his original boats Hull ID/VIN! So once he got that boat, this Nautique took an even further back seat! Well he decided that some of the old boats around the farm needed to go and was going to sell this Nautique. I told him I would buy it from him, but he said if we just got it out of his shed, he would give it to us. So that became the birth of my new project! And a long/costly project this will be!! We pulled it out and took the old torn up tarp it was under off. A cat or two went scrambling out and God knows what else may have been living in there. We gave her a full rinse down trying to get all of the cat poop and urine smell out.....the smell however is going to take some more profound soap and scrubbing as well as some good ole sunny days to air out!! I originally planned to just restore this boat to its former glory, but then I remembered seeing the pics of N3's 88 Barefoot Nautique restomod and that quickly became my new obsession. Therefore, my plans now are to fully restore this boat to a NEW glory! We are shooting to make this boat a smaller version of my big G23! An old school look with some new school flare! But here is the beginning as I play to document this long journey!

PS.....if anybody has any good information or links to anything they may think would help me during this journey, please feel free to share!!! I already plan on utilizing ChristinesMarine.com and Nautiqueparts.com as well as the correctcraftfan.com and PlanetNautique.com forums for knowledge and parts!

Cool project.
Are you sure it's an '89?

MourningWood wrote: Cool project. Are you sure it's an '89?

Haha...We are trying to find the paperwork now! After doing some research, based on the grab handles I now believe it is an 86 or older. Wife's dad just seemed to recall it was an 89. We should know shortly in which I will update this thread!

Here are some pictures of N3's restomodded '88 which I am using as a model for my restomod. The interior will be a full one off custom fairly similar to what's shown here in this 88 (maybe not AS intricate as this though - funds will be the determining factor there)!! I plan on getting rid of all of the remaining wood that I can. Probably try to fiberglass the floor entirely for longevity. Again, I am fairly new to this and will be learning/experimenting with everything along the way!! But I'm a huge DIY'er and love learning new things!

rebel skier wrote: It is an 85 or 86 with that stripe, dash, and hood scoop.

Yeah I'm thinking 86 based on the colors of the stripe (dark blue with the lighter blue pinstriping).

Where can I read more about that Barefoot? Specifically those hinged seats.

I'll be watching Brian's build also since we are building almost the same boat.

Yeah I'm 90% positive it's an 86. Def not an 87 as I believe they changed the bow design in 87 (the difference can be seen between my boat and the 88 from N3 that I posted above). I didn't get a chance to check it yesterday as we had a terrible thunderstorm here yesterday eveing. I am still learning a lot about these older boats! I just turned 35 and figured this would be a perfect project for somebody my age to familiarize myself with the heritage of my G23's ancestors!! I also just got done reading the "Parting the Waters" book about the history of Correct Craft/Nautique!! Great read!

As for the hinged seats... I'm definitely looking into those as well as upgrading the captains chair to the style of the newest Nautiques like in my G23. I know this is going to be extremely costly but I don't want to cheap out. I'd rather take my time and do this the way I want. I'm really hoping my dealer can work with me on getting a lot of the parts for this build such as the hinges on those bench seat which I believe are the same hinges from the newer G boats as well with the pull out folding seats. I also have a little connection myself at Nautique as I know Steve Carlton (kind of) who is the chief engineer/designer of the G series boats. Maybe he can help hook me up as well. I gotta be careful though that I don't get carried away right off the bat and make myself broke trying to do all of it asap...I have a tendency to do this!

Also FYI, the new drivers seat is stupid expensive. The older model fits better in a smaller 2001 (that BFN has a much larger interior than your boat). I run the previous model seat in my boat with the flip up bolster (bolster us useless), but the seat is comfy and fits great,

Looks like a cool project in the making. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

phatsat67 wrote: Also FYI, the new drivers seat is stupid expensive. The older model fits better in a smaller 2001 (that BFN has a much larger interior than your boat). I run the previous model seat in my boat with the flip up bolster (bolster us useless), but the seat is comfy and fits great,

Yeah I was thinking that about the drivers seat. I knew it would be stupid expensive. Good thing is I still have the original seat bucket and mounting base and both are in good shape. I'll just have to construct a new seat bottom and re-upholster it all. I figured that's what I would be doing anyways to start just to save a little money.

Sounds like a great project. Post lots of pics of the tear-down and rebuild because we all (mostly) like to see the progress! I'm in the middle of a semi-mod/resto myself with a completion I estimate to be early to mid June. I love doing this type of stuff, and it has a plus of keeping my spare time full. Only down side is this one is now on a very accelerated schedule from what I had originally planned. My wife is already asking what I'll be doing afterward, what project I'm going to take up next

Good luck and have fun!!   

You do not fiberglass over treated wood.

JoeinNY wrote: There would have been no plywood on that floor to begin with – in the front part of the boat there would have been 1X boards under the seats but most of the boat was just fiberglass over foam.   I would remove the plywood in there for sure and see what is hiding under it. After that a boat that you are considering putting money into I wouldn't put any plywood into as a base – treated plywood doesn't take glass well unless it is super well dried out – like in the sun for months dried out. Untreated plywood needs to be super well sealed or it will be breached by water which will spread out along the layers and make for an unrepairable mess.   If you are going to smooth and paint the flooring there is no way I would even consider any wood as being the base.

Then what would you recommend laying down? Originally there were rotten pine planks over rotten stringers and soaked foam. That has all already been removed and replaced with new fiberglass stringers and foam and a new plywood deck that was then painted with a sealing type paint. I actually didn't mean treated plywood though, I meant BC plywood. Which is what I've seen installed in most floors before laying fiberglass. And I'm honestly asking what should be put down as a good base because this is my first project boat and I have no experience but can mostly figure anything out! I just want to make sure to put the right materials back down for a longer lasting base.

Or Coosa board

Better check that memory again... it wouldn’t have been ply from the (cc) factory.

Except that rear removable panel, of course.