1993 S.N..what to look for?

Hey guys

I just picked up a 1993 Ski Nautique (1700 hours) today for a great price. Anyway, I have two days to have the boat looked over "professionally" as well as myself, before we consider the sale FINAL. I have owned other boats in the past..and know to look for soft spots in wood floors, loose nuts, bolts, hunks of gel coat chipped, etc etc. What ELSE would you say I should keep an eye out for on this boat, before I say it's officially MINE. What will the Marine shop look at when I take it to them for inspection? Do they do cylinder PSI measurements, and such?

I just want to be sure I am getting a dependable boat.

Thanks for any help

Dan

LOL...I certainly will post photos as soon as I can. The words "SKI Nautique" on either side are started to fade and peel a bit, and the rear of the boat has NO lettering at all. I'd like to replace the side wall lettering, and I'd like to put Correct Craft across the back. The rest of the boat just needs a good buff and polish of the gel coat..and the teak wood deck needs to be sanded a bit and oiled/sealed. Let me figure out how to post some pics.......

Also, is it true you can't pull a tube with this boat? Oh yeah. I am wanting to add a tower next spring as well. Can't wait!! :)

Congrats,looks like you got a nice ride and a great project. You might have to wet sand and polish if the buffing don't work. Unfortunately you can't pull a tube with that boat,it is after all a Ski Nautique not a Tube Nautique You can pull anything you want it's your boat but 99.9 % of the users here like to get their kids to learn a new skill rather than just baby sit them with a tube.

It is way more difficult to match the color of the gel than to actually repair it. Check with Spectrum for a color. You most likely have to tint it to match. link

For 1700 hours it looks pretty darn good. 1700 is a lot but I sold a Nautique with 1500 on it and I know it was still a great boat but at that amount of hours the maintenance it had would determine the value.
A glass hull and stringers means nothing rots out and the 351W is one of the best ski boat engines ever built, it likes to work in the RPM range these boats live in. At 1100 hours my 351 needed new heads but the engine with new heads ran like brand new again.
If you can do a compression check on the engine with it warm that would give you some idea of the health.   Put it on the water, ski it if possible and you will know a lot more.
I bought my current boat with only 100 hours on it and it was 19 years old and had to put about $2,000 in parts into it to get it back ship shape, so it is not the amount of hours on the boat it is the care it has had in its life.
Hope it works out for you.
Mark

Well this boat was maintained religiously. It was used as a ski and wakeboard boat at a summer boys camp, so it was used for skiing, hence the high hours on it..... but not abused and was maintained by a professional marine shop.

I do assume at some point down the road, hopefully years from now.... I am going to want to do a top end rebuild of the engine. What's an average price to get a top end done on one of these engines??

^^ Not a tow point.

Mooring.

Definitely a tow point on the slant backs - my sadly abandoned 95 had a warning sticker telling you how much you could safely pull IIRC

You can tow from that spool. Just don't tow from the "grab bar". I would not tow a slalom skier, but wakeboard or somebody learning on two skis would not be a problem.

The first thing I look for on a 1993 is the Pro-Tec. Yours has been replaced, so you are good to go there.

Congrats!

flyweed wrote: Excuse my "newby" ignorance but what is the "Pro-Tec" ???

ProTec was the original ignition system that was prone to failure. It involved separate coil packs and a "trigger assembly" that emulated a distributor.

Protec is the PCM ignition system that came with your boat. It has been replaced with an aftermarket distributor/coil/wires etc.. Also, I have towed basically everything from the rear tow point including other boats with no problems.

quinner wrote: Appears to not be a Pro-Boss, so if a standard 351 prob never had the protech??

Uh oh, back to school time!

Says HO on the shroud, so it may very well be a Pro Boss. Smaller shroud would indicate it never had Protec though... Might even be a 1:1 RH standard (no SP package). Non-Protec boats 91-94 are pretty few and far between- both 240hp and 285hp versions got it (pro boss wasn't an option until 92).

Dan,
The picture you posted shows a distributor so you have no Pro-Tech to worry about.

I'm up here in the northwoods permanently since last October so send me a PM or email anytime