1973 Skier Project

Picked the boat up today! Just in time for the weekend!

Everything is done except the speedo is still about 8MPH slow. This boat has the old tracking fin type speedo and may be hard to fix or replace. The shop water tested the boat but did not have a GPS so I will check the top speed tomorrow on the lake. He said the speedo indicated 36mph and it was running about 8mph slow so with the original prop now back on the boat it sounds like she is running 44mph.

I would like to touch up the tan stripe on the stern. Looks to be paint over the gel coat. Any ideas?

Here are some new photos...

She's purty for sure and looks so much better than looking like she is dangling from a parachute the previous owner called a bimini.

The original boot stripe would have been painted on over the gel. That stripe does not appear to be the one that would have originally come on the boat- it more closely resembles the one used in the mid-late 70's. The 71-73 version is a bit cleaner- if youre going to bother touching it up, Id put the correct shaped one back on. Or, just remove it entirely, as some Skiers did not have them (like mine).

Proper stripe:



Glad to hear its running better! 42-44mph is still on the slow side (mine is good for 45-46mph and is about the slowest one Ive come across... 46-49 is more typical), so I would still go through the engine to make sure its tuned up properly.

TRBenj wrote: The original boot stripe would have been painted on over the gel.

Tim,
I sure with boot stripes that varied in width ot leaned towards being graphics, it is paint, however my 70 Cuda as well as 2 others I know of up north had vinyl boot stripes! Probably the first time CC stuck something on a boat other than paint!

TRBenj wrote: 8122pbrainard wrote: TRBenj wrote: The original boot stripe would have been painted on over the gel. Tim, I sure with boot stripes that varied in width ot leaned towards being graphics, it is paint, however my 70 Cuda as well as 2 others I know of up north had vinyl boot stripes! Probably the first time CC stuck something on a boat other than paint! Youre correct that the pre-1971 boot stripes (or are these technically waterline stripes?) are straight and could very well be vinyl... I dont have any boats with one so I couldnt tell you for sure. I do know that the 71+ boot stripes are paint (which is what we're discussing here)

Tim,
You stated "boot stripe"!

"The boot stripe is a narrow stripe of paint that separates the topside of a boat from the bottom."

Looking good! Every time I have a day off it rains, and this weekend looks to be no exception. Still have not been to the lake this year.

Bruce, that stripe is a 74-75 version. 1973 was the last year for the colored hulls and decks- starting in '74, they were all white and the only colors were on the stripe and interior. So the OP's boat is most likely a '73, as he states (or older).

I do agree that the OP's boat has a stripe that was meant to look like a slightly newer version... but its still not quite "correct".

do you still have teak deck?