73 Skier Restoration

Keegan,
Congrats again. After seeing the boat in person at Reid's in September, it was obvious you put a lot of quality effort into the rebuild. It's an awesome boat and I admire your skills and dedication to putting it back together the right way. Hope to see it again at White Lake

It was a year ago yesterday that I began my Skier restoration thread. My buddy ,the PO, used this site a lot and turned me on to it before I bought the boat from him. I used the site searching for a CC to buy and it just worked out that I bought the Skier from him in early October. She ran great as usual but had obvious cosmetic issues that I thought I would take care of over the winter. I winterized Thanksgiving weekend and began poking around in December. In January I pulled seats, carpet, and removable floor. The stringers appeared to be rotten but felt solid due to the fact that they were frozen! Once they thawed they were stringer pudding.

What a journey, and I could not have done it without you guys. The Correct Craft Fan community is like no other. I look forward to warmer weather, meeting new friends, and my first full season as a CC owner.

Keeganino wrote: I started the topic plastic windshield and got so much help and I am sure that I will have the shiniest windshield on the block, but I am now the proud owner of a project boat. How bout these floors? Cry Cry Cry! A couple of hours work yesterday revealed what I did not want to see. The main stringers seem ok but based on everything I have read on here, there is no way they are dry. But I am still in denial... they are fine right? Not sure what to do since I do not have a garage or shop to work in. Should I start grinding out what I know is wet and rotten? The secondary starboard stringer was actually frozen yesterday when I was pulling chunks of it out. Is there such thing as a stringer repair job or is it all or nothing on the floor? Is there something I can do to get by a couple more seasons till I can get a shop to do it right or will that ruin the boat completely? It's all fun and games till your floors a rotted out!

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Chris I thought about painting the scoops. Still have not ruled it out.

Alan thanks for the tip on putting the manis back on. I have been thinking about how I am going to do that by myself. That sucker is heavy and to hold the gasket in place...   Problem solved!

Lookin good man!

I agree with the above....all red scoops would be sick

Donald80SN wrote: Keegan, Marty had some old end caps for sale a few months ago. Be purchased three sets and only needed one. I am not sure if they will work for your application or not. Donald

The ones Marty has are the old ones with vent windows,but you know Marty,if anyone can find them ,it will be him!

Keegan,

Marty had some old end caps for sale a few months ago. Be purchased three sets and only needed one. I am not sure if they will work for your application or not.

Donald

Keegan, it looks like your missing the end caps of your windshield,like the ones Adam has.I am too but mine are different. Here is how I have planned on how to stop the lower gasket from creeping away from edge-



I placed the mounting screw right thru the rubber and when I get the ends I will trim the seal around them.Maybe you can do something similar.

Here's a picture of Marshall's,which has the same ends that I need, and the gasket is doing the samething

MartyMabe wrote: OK, Keegan. Take a pic of the 'red' stripe vents and let everyone decide whether or not to do the rear scoops That front vent looks awesome, like I said, especially with the 'red' pipping on the seats I say go for it!

Paint the front and rear scoops red, it would look great with your color scheme...

David
After wrestling the manifolds off today there is no way I want to do that again any time soon, so I will definitely get new gaskets! I tweeked my neck wrangling those bastards off the hoses.

It's funny I got the tube to pull my nephews around on and it only got used once. My stepson was over it and started kneeboarding by the end of the season. Have a wakeboard on the way for him right now for Christmas thanks to Mike S and CCF.com. You can bet we will start riding early this year. End of February is when it gets tempting round here usually.

Reid's windshield is a replacement and Mike is right- Awesome boat! The HM engine is tops! Not trying to replace anything other than maybe the fasteners. I love the curved windshield. To me that is the aesthetic feature that sets it apart from the newer rides. Reminds me of the Jetsons.   Marty talked me into putting a red stripe on my hood scoop. At first I was hesitant but it has grown on me and I am going to keep it.

I would still like to see a picture of the end fasteners on an original windshield. Adam what's on yours? I can live with what I've got but would rather do it once, and do it right.

Thanks as always for the help guys!

adamt wrote: storm34 wrote: I think he should do a bow stripe! Not sure what years they did them, I think reid's got a few with them. Reid's 72 skier, I like the look, not to sure on the "original factor" though...

The windshield isnt original, but I bet the bow stripe is. Its shown as an option in the '73 brochure, Ive seen '72's with them as well. I dont like them as much with the round plexi windshields, but thats just me.

Well, I was about to say that if the gaskets didn't leak and come off in one piece, blah blah blah, but those manifolds are no fun to remove and install. Bite the bullet and do it right the first time, so you won't have to chase down an annoying ticking noise and do it all again while you should be teaching those kids to ski so you can sell that tube to someone with a Mastercraft. My "lightly used" gaskets went in the trash can after contemplating the same scenario.... including trying to get my kids out of the tube and into some skis! Man, is it spring yet?

Those are pop rivets. You typically drill them out using a bit sized the same size as the outer diameter of the rivet shank. I usually start small and drill increasing size until I get the one the drills out the whole thing.

The rivet gun looks like this;

pop rivet gun

pop rivets;

pop rivets

The gun pulls the head of the thing that looks like a finishing nail through the shank mushrooming it on the backside of your workpiece holding everything together. When it's mushroomed as much as it can, the nail part of the rivet will pop off, hence the name.

Oh it's fun drilling them out because they usually start spinning with the drill.

As winter approaches I have several projects in mind that I never got around to because I was ready to ride. The first one is to fix up my windshield. I wanted to clean underneath it and also buff the dash while it is out of the way. It was also vibrating and needed to be tightened up. I have some questions I hope you guys can help with.

First we have the end fasteners. These do not look original to me. The first clue is that the L bracket is stainless, but the lag that screws into the deck is not. Secondly notice the notch that appears to be hand cut into the rubber gasket at the bottom. WHat should this look like?
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_images/post_button_image.gif

Second look here of the bracket. Are the eye hooks available anywhere? Mine are pretty rusted below deck.


This is the big obstacle, and I need advise here. We were nearly run completely run over by a pontoon boat 3 years ago on the 4th at Badin Lake during the fireworks. The skylon bow strap literally saved our lives, but this occurred along with some gel damage. Is it repairable? I am most worried about the rivets that hold the glasstic to the frame.


A closer look at the cutout in the gasket and one of the rivets. The rivets do not go through the front of the frame. Any ideas?

Scott - If you go to Orlando, check out the CC factory. It is a great tour. You probably will meet Ralph too - he is cool.

I say we need more Cow bell! I mean red stripe!