Ski Supreme vs American Skier (non CC)

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

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 don�t know much about the American Skier.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Here is Dads,can't remember what model year it was

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.

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 .

I believe the 85+ boats had that