First Ski Nautique
I bought my first Ski Nautique June 20, 2009. It is also my first powerboat, everything before has been wind power, human power or battery power.
First the Good, I got a great deal, only $2,200. She starts up on the first try, runs smooth, has plenty of power (the speedo said we were doing over 50 with 4 people onboard) and doesn’t seem to need any major work. The boat came with a maintenance log recording every issue, upgrade, repair and routine maintenance item from 1979 to 1997 and all the receipts. The boat was kept on a lake in Orlando so the trailer looks almost brand new. It also came with a Skylon, bimini, boat cover, anchor and original owner’s manual.
Now the Bad, it has 2150 hours on the meter but the meter doesn’t work so I don’t know how many hours are really on the boat. The maintenance records only go to 1997 so I don’t know what has been done to keep up the boat for the last ten years. I live by the Halifax River so the boat will be run mostly in salt water. The temperature gauge and nav lights don’t work (already fixed that). My local boat ramp is shallow, I have to back my trailer so far into the water to unload the boat both my front and back tires on the tow vehicle are in the water. The owner’s manual is pretty generic and doesn’t describe how to load or unload the boat (I learned that from this site), flushing procedures and other operations I would normally expect in an owner’s manual.
And the Ugly, all that time on the lake looks like it gave the hull a boat pox on the gel coat. Below is a picture of the gelcoat. It’s ugly but can I leave it like that and use the boat or do I have to get if fixed right away? It spends its off duty time on the trailer now and not in the water.