Hi All
My Name is Rob McDonald from Sydney Australia and this is my 1968 Ski Nautique.
The Pictures are from my maiden voyage & before the restoration.
I have spent the last 5 years worth of weekends restoring her.
What was performed in the Restoration:
Hull was completely stripped.
New stringers
New buoyancy foam
New floor
I fiber glassed every piece of wood prior to Glassing them into the boat.
Bottom and sides of the Hull where sanded back and faired. Painted using a Two Pack aliphatic linear polyurethane Marine Paint.
I stripped the gelcoat from the top of the Hull as it was so badly crazed from the sun. It was fibre glassed and faired then painted using the same Marine Paint. ( The Paint was an absolute pain in the arse to spray, highly toxic. The result was worth it.)
Motor
Rebuild on a Chrysler 383 V8
The original motor ran in salt water all its life so it had extensive corrosion through out the water jackets of the head and the block.
I purchased a block, heads and did the rebuild.
I also converted the Motor so it runs a Heat Exchanger, we ski in allot of salt water down hear so I did not want run salt water through the motor again.
Seats
I purchased two fibreglass seat shells, Split one and widened it. I made the back seat shell and then had all the seats upholstered.
Steering
I replaced the cable steering with a Hydraulic steering set up.
Trailer
I had a custom trailer made by a trailer company in Australia that specialises in skiboat trailers.
If you want steal some idea’s on Ski boat trailers go to www.easytow.com.au