"New" ’85 Nautique, some questions

Hello all. First off great forum, and great boats! I just moved up from an outboard '89 Bayliner to a '85 SN2001, and WOOOW, what a difference. I'm so happy with the boat, I can't even begin to explain. It looks great, runs great, and got a HELL of a deal on it for only $4000. But I just have a few questions that I'm sure people that have had these boats a lot longer than I have can answer. First question is that when I engage the transmission in reverse, everything is fine, and there is no slipping at all, since I look at the shaft and it accelerates along with the engine. But it doesn't manuever well at all in reverse. Of course I know boats aren't meant to be driven in reverse, but my Bayliner could be steered a little better and accelerated a little better in reverse. Is it normal to not be able to steer in reverse? And when I accelerate in reverse it gets to a certain speed, and even if I accelerate more, boat still reverses at the same speed. Is this also normal?
Okay long first question. Now for the second one. I want to put an extended pylon and to do so need to remove stock ski ring on top. The pins can't be punched out at all, I've tried WD40 overnights and punching pins and tons of sweating, but to no avail. I don't want to destroy the stock ski ring, so is it possible to just drill through the existing holes with a drill bit just a slight bit larger than what the hole already is and then unscrew the ring off? Or would this not work?

Thanks bkhallpass. That makes sense about the prop not moving, hence the less mobility. Should have thought of that. Glad to know then that nothing's wrong with my boat. :) As for the pylon, yeah, I've searched a bit, and didn't find any info on people drilling into the holes. I just basically wanted to know if there was something on the ski ring in the threaded area that I can't see that might possibly get ruined if I drilled a little into it and then wouldn't be able to unscrew it out. Anyways, I'll be trying that tonight and I'll see how it goes.

I'm sure your setup works great Jon. But, I think that most guys are dealing with storing the boats in an 8 foot garage opening, and so it might be kind of cumbersome to deal with a fixed high pole. Add on some boardracks, and it would be more of a chore. It's pretty nice just to be able to slip the high pole off for storage.

BKH

I hear you Jon. In the end most answers are dictated by money and time.

Most of the commercial high poles break in half, which makes it a little easier. Still, it is pretty much a PITA, either way.

You'll love a tower. Really gets things out of the way in the boat. I'll be interested to see what you make, and if you're able to craft one that will fold down for your seven foot garage.

BKH

Jon,

Don't know your skills or what you do for a living. But, unless you have some pretty good skills, and some sophisticated machining, tools, that sounds kinda hard to me.

For fabrication, it seems to me it would be easier to build a rigid cage, with a 4 pin setup at the base. Just remove the pins, and pull the hole cage when garaging, and pull only the front two pins when swinging away. ICBW. Just seems that putting the swivel mid cage might be the hard part.

Do think its great to make it look like an FCT. There was another guy on here at the beginning of the summer who did so. Looked pretty good. I think his name was John, and I remember for sure he was from Kansas. He posted a lot of pics. Maybe you could do a search.

BKH

I drilled the holes out and had no problems. I had quite a bit of WD40 on it from when I tried to punch pins out, so the ring was pretty easy to take out. Maybe it would have come out easy anyways, who knows. As for getting the boat for only 4 G's, yeah man...I can't believe I got such a deal. He originally wanted 5000, but when he took me out for the test drive, it overheated and also blew a hole on a rubber exhaust pipe. and we had to row back to shore. I offered him 1000 less and he took it, saying he'd probably have to spend like 700 at a mechanic. It only took me $75 in parts and 20 minutes to fix and get it running great. :) The trailer that comes with it is a nice 3 year old tandem trailer. And the boat has a closed cooling system too. And the gelcoat looks great. Interior is above average too. Only thing I'd change is the instruments, as they all work great, but seem a little faded. Is it possible to just remove the outer glass from instruments and restore the instruments? It'd be cool to keep it stock looking. I'll post pics soon.

All manuvering can be accomplished with intermittant stabs of gear.

If the rear isn't going in the direction you desire, 'kick' it with a stab of forward gear (no throttle) with the rudder at full lock. Hold the gear until speed is 0. Then wait as the rearend sways in the direction you kicked it... Going to reverse too quickly will negate the drift and manuverability.
Then reverse at idle. Any throttle, the torque will overcome the rudder's effectiveness. the rudder become mildly effective when reversing if you have some momentum, but you have to take it out of gear and let it drift; its not a total solution, hence the 0-speed kick.

The biggest problem people have is leaving it in gear and overreacting with the controls. Little 1/2 turn steering inputs with kicks of gear enhance manuverability if you give the boat time to react between inputs. The boat steers better when speeds are kept low, else you have to overcome the boats desire to flow straight through the water. It also keeps idle speeds low so any mishap has little consequence. Leaving it in gear can punch the dock though the hull. "The boat is smarter then you are" is good advice for new drivers.

If you got a bunch of lardasses fat sacks in the back, manuverability is compromised because the boat pivots around the center and the added mass at the ends needs significantly more diligence and patience to appear like you know what your doing.
good luck!

Now that I read my post over and after I've read other people's problems with top end, 43 MPH at 3000 RPM seems a little strange. Either my Airguide Speedo is off, or my Teleflex Tach is off. I know these tachs tend to have settings for 4,6,8 cylinder engines, could it be on the wrong one? Or does my speedo just need tuning.

I bet you're doing more than 3000 rpms. Hey 43 is fast enough, unless you're barefooting and have very small feet, it's a tugboat, not a speed boat. What pitch is your prop? Do you live in SC? Nice boat, I can't believe you got it for $4000, what a deal. Whoever owned it took excellent care of it. I don't think you would have any trouble getting rid of the boat or your wife.

Guy walks into a bar and says to his buddie " I got a boat for my wife, second guy says GOOD TRADE"

Just Kidding, they both look great. Best of luck

Chav; Boy do you have great taste. And you did ok on the boat, too. I know just what you mean about using it still. I am in Lake Wales (about 45 min west of you) and my '80 is still being used. Guys like us and BKH have it made. Great boats, great weather and good lookin' ski partners. Your top speed, 43, isn't to bad depending on your prop. RPM's on the tach may not be right. Get a friend with a handheld GPS to clock ya. Send me a e-mail if ya wanna get together for a ski or a cold one. We'll make all those Northern guys jealous.....john