New project boat -1986 Ski Nautique

[Tim Hancock]

We had our whole family renting a house at Lake James in Indiana all last week. We had my restored Larson and my daughter/SIL had their GS24. I got bored one morning while waiting for all the grandkiddos to get moving for the day and went for a drive around a different nearby lake (Clear Lake). I noticed an old 1986 Ski Nautique 2001 for sale with a bad transmission. As a kid in the 70's I used to lust after the then new Ski Nautiques (dad had a lowly Glastron Tri-hull at the time).

I need another project like I need hole in my head but somehow convinced the wife that I had to have it. Next thing I know we are driving 1.5 hrs home in the Tundra to get some cash and my Cayenne as we would need to now tow 2 boats home on Saturday. I got the boat cheap from the 80 yr old widow of the original owner. My wife did a great job of pulling the boat home on Saturday (first time she ever pulled a boat...Lol). She is not happy that I have not finished her Mustang before launching into another project... go figure.

It will get decals stripped, gel coat buffed/touched up, new graphics, new carpet and vinyl and I will need to fix the velvet drive transmission (reverse does not work).
Already power-washed the engine/bilge. Going to pull the transmission this week. I put it in my pond and it starts/runs perfect. It has recent new carb, coil, distributor, starter and battery. Local marina always maintained/winterized/stored.

It never left the lake so original Correct Craft trailer is in very nice shape.

Gonna be a fun project.

[CurtEgerer]

Cool project Tim A good friend had a Barefoot Nautique (big block version) in 85-86. Drank a lot of beer in that boat. I was always amazed at its ability to do these flat high-speed U-turns!

[t6dpilot]

Very cool find Tim! You are a project animal. I skied behind a Nautique a bunch back in HS. Great boat. Looks in amazing condition.

[LWJ]

Fantastic. I have seen similar and had similar reactions. But, unlike you, I didn't act on my reactions. What a great project. Congrats!

[mgatepi]

Spent a lot of time in my younger years on Lake JAmes! Loved the beach area and Potawatomi Inn!
This will be a great project!!!
Enjoy!

[unclebilly]

What ratio is the velvet drive? There are a few in my dad’s back yard out of a 36’ Trojan that had 440s in it. There may be some out of a 40’ trolley craft there too.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

What ratio is the velvet drive? There are a few in my dad’s back yard out of a 36’ Trojan that had 440s in it. There may be some out of a 40’ trolley craft there too.

It is a 10-17-004 1:1 ratio

[onewhippedpuppy]

Very cool Tim, can’t wait to see you work your magic! Also, you still haven’t finished her Mustang?

[unclebilly]

There may be a 1:1 there. What your timing to get this fixed?

[juanbenae]

All the cool kids are doing it... Congrats!

How many hours on it? In my boat thread I posted this guy's site and you might find it as useful as I have. https://www.youtube.com/@rontanis1024

[KFC911]

^^^^ LOL ... I thought this was your thread

Tim... know anybody than can work on it for ya!

Aewsome

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

There may be a 1:1 there. What your timing to get this fixed?

I will likely have the trans removed and tore apart by this weekend. I will remove the front cover to get a look at the reverse clutch plates. Depending on what I find, I may be able to repair it myself with some new seals and or clutch plates. If instead it turns into a nightmare I will let you know.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

How many hours on it?

Not sure.... Only gauge missing is the hour meter. Doesn't matter to me. Engine is clean with many new accessories and runs like a top.

[Rot 911]

Those boats with mid-engines sure must be nice to work on! At least the engine part.

[HobieMarty]

Those boats always sounded awesome!!!

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[juanbenae]

Hey Tim, as a new owner of an 86 Nautique I am gulping up information on these boats and was wondering about how you determined the transmission was the issue with your new boat? I've just replaced my shaft packing and did a shaft alignment but was very intrigued by your analysis of the transmission issue. In doing so I looked over some additional videos from the YT page I linked earlier today and found this video on a harmonic dampener failure. Maybe not to the extent of this example with its catastrophic failure, but he does mention that a failure of the balancer can cause it to just spin when put into gear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fylwfmJgaXY

Not looking to diagnose your issue but would very much be interested in what you find and your current project. TIA.

[Arizona_928]

Quite jealous if you were able to purchase that bad boy for under 7 grand !!!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Quite jealous if you were able to purchase that bad boy for under 7 grand !!!

I ended up getting it for $1500.

[billybek]

This should be another great project to watch...
Nice score!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

Hey Tim, as a new owner of an 86 Nautique I am gulping up information on these boats and was wondering about how you determined the transmission was the issue with your new boat?

Boat goes into forward fine. When shifting to reverse it does nothing. Velvet drive transmissions have a couple of plugs at the rear. The larger plug is the forward and neutral test port. The smaller 1/8 pipe plug is the test port for reverse. After splicing in a tee fitting and valve into my raw water in line to allow running the boat off a hose for cooling, I temporarily installed a pressure gauge into the reverse test port. I then turned on my water and started the boat in my shop. When in neutral the test gauge reads zero and when shifted into reverse it read about 130 psi which is all correct for this transmission.

So this means that the reverse piston is getting fluid which then applies force to the reverse clutch plates. This means the issue is most likely broken drive cogs on the clutch or friction plates.

Tonight I will start the transmission removal process which should be fairly straight forward.

Anyways....
Ran out at lunch yesterday to Ace Hardware and picked up a PVC 1" - 1" barb 3/4" NPT tee, a brass water/hose ball valve, stainless hose clamps and a cap. Cut my raw water hose near the inlet and installed my parts. Then I made up a short garden hose with two female ends and hooked it all up.... Works perfect for running on the trailer and will make it easy to introduce anti freeze when winterizing.