Air Tique

Brant,
I suggest using a rubber expanding core plug where it's hard to get to. Then start the engine and hopefully you'll find there's no internal damage.

Hey Brant, congrats on the purchase!   Sounds like the boat will give you some projects, but some great times in the future. It may be a lot of work getting her there, but trust me it will be worth it.
First, you may want to check the original specs on your Air before you dive into that 422 ... I was thinking the V-drives had 1 1/8" shafts??   Also, pitch and diameter you will require are going to vary depending on your intended use, actual running weight and also the actual HP & torque of the engine you plan to drop in there. But perhaps some of the DD folks or the prop guys can chime in with a few recommendations for you. HP - in my opinion - isn't something that you should necessarily limit. And no, 400+ hp would not be too much, IMO     

gt40KS wrote: First, you may want to check the original specs on your Air before you dive into that 422 ... I was thinking the V-drives had 1 1/8" shafts??    IMO

You should check the specs on a 99 Air Tique Joe.

It's a 17 1/2 ft SN 176 with different trim .

gt40KS wrote: LOL, well there you go Ken. As I said I don't know much about "Air"   ...   I guess in this case it was nothing at all    So if it's just a 176   SKI Nautique, why do they designate it AIR?? To me that denotes a wake series....

It had a taller pole and some of that clever marketing mumbo jumbo and you could get some air with it.

I see that now Pete.... Big change at the time I guess.
But it occurs to me that no one ever explained to Brant how to post pics.

Brant, easiest is to leave the photos on your computer and load them directly to the site. You have to use the "post reply" button at the TOP of the page. at the top of the dialogue screen there are several buttons. One of them towards the right has a blueish "up" arrow. This is the image upload button. Push it and follow the directions. Pretty simple. Unless you are trying to post from a cell phone - the site doesn't react too well to those. And also Mac products I think?? Not sure about that, but definitely not from phones. You can also load from a 3rd party site, but you have to use the "insert image" button for that, the one just to the left of the upload button.

Got some work done tonight. Got a couple new core plugs put in place. They aren’t great, but good enough to run in the garage. After that and putting new plugs in the exhaust risers I ran it on the hose for about 20 minutes. Checked the oil and it was clean so maybe the block isn’t cracked.

Anyone know the correct size for the riser drain bolts? I got some 3/4 brass pipe plugs. They went in a few turns, but didn’t feel great. It might just be corrosion thought. Thoughts on that.

The heater was leaking for a few minutes, but it seems good now. The dash is trashed so if anyone is parting out a boat let me know.

Here is a better image of it sitting in the garage. I know it is messy, but that just got pushed back

Does this packing look normal to everyone? I have never seen it like this, but this is also my first time seeing it in person.

Here are some manifold bolts that are going to be a bear to get out. I saw another thread on here where someone had the same issue, so i will do what they did.

And some picture of some contributing factors as to why it was so cheap.


The good thing is the hour meter say ~422 hours. If that is to be believed this thing should have some life left in it.

Here are a couple more pictures. I was thinking that it looked like roam got wrapped around it, but it does look rapped neatly so i wasnt sure. Definitely looks out of place though from pictures i have seen before.

The giant letters will be coming off tomorrow. If all goes well i may try to drop it into the lake and see how it runs.

Berber carpeting? Possibly what once lined the drip tray...

KENO wrote: Whatever that stuff is, I'd get rid of it before heading out on the water. Looks like a big drip tray tucked under the transmission I wonder why that would be there? Good luck on the water test

I will start pulling/cutting that out tonight. Also need to take the big numbers off the front.

Im not sure why that drip tray is there, but it goes all the way under the motor. I dont think there would be a way of getting it out without pulling the motor. The boat did spend many years in England, so maybe it is a requirement there?

With those big numbers I assumed this was an overseas boat.

quinner wrote: Trailer was a dead giveaway it was European, Must have been a company paid transfer otherwise shipping would have cost nearly as much as the boat itself, lol

Yeah. I am now rocking a 50mm ball on my hitch. The trailer in general is poor quality. No safety chains, no lights, no title, no bow winch or transom straps, but it holds the boat

I checked with Carnac and he thinks it's just wrapped around the shaft in front of the packing gland and it's adjusting nuts and maybe just a repack without any need for shaft removal might be what's needed ..............maybe

Well Brant Carnac is probably correct, as usual. But I'd certainly heed his advice about repacking that gland

Sounds like your wiring issues were about as bad as mine --   Good luck!

After some work i got the boat to where i thought would be a good point to test it on water. I had it running good on the hose and everything looked good. FIlled the bilge with water to make sure there werent any big leaks and the shaft packing was decent.

Things went better than i thought, but worse than i hoped. The impeller was clearly shot and the motor got hot. There was enough pressure with the hose that the impeller wasnt doing any work. This is what i found when i pulled the impeller out of the water pump. I didnt think i would ever see one this bad, but here it is. Should have checked this before, but i gambled and lost.


When i was moving enough to force water through the system a decent leak showed itself and filled the bilge which made me nervous. The bilge pump got clogged up so it was barely keeping up.

It was still a good day out on the water.

Ordered some new water hose and an impeller.

I also need to change out the prop. It was HORRIBLE trying to get the cotter pin out, but after about an hour and a half i finally got it. I was glad to be doing that on dry land. Anyways, if anyone has a prop puller in the denver area i could borrow that would be awesome. Otherwise i will end up buying one, but trying to save the $100 for other things i will inevitably need.

Next time i take it out and there is less going on i will get some photos of it on the lake.