I bought this boat new in 1987 from Louie Raven in Austin, Texas who owned Boat Town. The boats had sat on his showroom floor for almost two years. The economy was slow at that time and boat sales were slow. It was there with a Silver Nautique. I chose the regular Nautique as I thought the silver would look dated sooner. I paid 17500 with a magnum trailer. I wish I would have bought it with a Correct Craft trailer, but he wanted more for the Correct Craft trailer. I was 27 years old and single and was in real estate and construction at the time and doing well. Now I am 57 and still have the boat. I am married and my kids are 16 and 18.
I skied a ton as a youth and was a two event skier, slalom and jump, not much into trick skiing. Best pass was 4 at 32 off and 125 feet off a 5 foot jump at 32 mph.
I had the stringers done the first time by Andrew Farias who lived in New Braunfels and had worked at Glastron Boat Manufacturing. He lived across the highway from the manufacturing facility. That was about 1999. The boat ran rough and Andrew didn't really know how to align the motor and shaft and it the boat wobbled. I took it to Mr Barlow on Lake McQueeney and he aligned it and it ran like a top. He was an old guy then and famous for his capabilities with aligning inboards. When Andrew Farias finished the boat stringers my boats was heavier and the wake very large . By that time I mostly liked to jump wakes with old master craft jumpers I cut off to 63 inches. I also had some Kidder jumpers I also cut off to the same. Used to also barefoot off the platform. We would take those little jumpers off a regular jump and two smaller jumps we made. One had a 55 gallon barrel and was about six feet long and super steep and it would launch you straight up and was good for a bunch of bad falls and headers. We used to do helicopters off the big jump.
We have a wakeater now and quit using the Nautique for years and I let people borrow it all the time. It went downhill from there and in 2015 I decided to have it redone again as deck was soft. I took it to CenTex Marine in Leander near Lake Travis. Guys name is Bill Heiner and
he had my Nautique for 3 years before he finished stringers and partial gel coat and some regular paint for deck and general refurbishment. Just got it back and in the water Labor Day weekend 2018.
It runs rough, missing, the screw for he distributor cap on one side are stripped. Heiner was supposed to get it running well and paint the engine, but he didn't do that. So now it is with a boat mechanic by the name of Richard Pickett her in San Antonio. Upholstery okay as I have had it redone many times over the years and when I get it back I am going to have it reupholstered again. I bought a new dash plate from the guy on the forum and need the warning stickers. I also have all new push button switches now. The others all broke and were replaced with toggles which looked bad and performed poorly. I want a new steering wheel, but only if original. Need the strip that covers screws on windshield. I also need a new observer seat base and the hardware for the back rest so it will lift up. The rear seat base is not perfect, but works. These are the molded plastic bases. He replaced the carpet and at the side walls he covered the joint with wooden cove mould and it looks bad. I had purchase the actual rubber pieces for this, but he didn't use them. My goal is to get it back to original as much as possible. I bought a second trailer for it so he could repaint and rebunker the magnum trailer. Really want a Correct Craft trailer for it and will get one eventually. The extra trailer I bought is a hybrid redo. Couldn't find a Correct Craft trailer nearby at the time.