74 tournament skier wood rot

Absolutely gorgeous restoration. Wow! Nice personal touches. I love the custom ydrodyne polished metal signs. Those are trick! You might wanna look into having your mirror bracket raised up. When I had mine it was low like yours, then when Bob bought it he had it replaced with a new higher stainless one. Contact him for the info. on where to get that done. Look into getting your pylon professionally polished also. When I did mine it went from being dinged up, and drearly looking to looking like a mirror. I think they used some pretty good aluminum in those pylons back then. Keep up the awesome work!!!!!!

Greg

 

Thanks Greg,
I figured I would get some attention with the "HYDRODYNE" polished stainless logo's. I had planed on polishing the ski pylon my self, but I wanted to get the boat all back together, then I can pick away at small things later. The rubrail is the last thing to do. I thought of buying a new one from Wefco, but I live in Canada and buy the time I do the dollar conversion, taxes and shipping it would cost $500-$600 Canadian. I will likely buy a new one in the future, but for now the restored original will be fine. I can't belive how good of shape it's in, 35 years old and it's still as soft as new. The only thing wrong with it, is it's a little beat up and some kind of fungus has gotten to it from sitting outside. It will look just fine and I'll save some cash. As for the mirror, my dad made the brackets for it 30 years ago and has pulled many skiers with it's help, so I'll have to see how well it works for me, plus the spotter does most of the work anyway.

Thanks again for all the encuragement from everone.

 

Try out your mirror location but I agree with dyne greg in that you will want to get it up a bit higher. I have attached a brachet setup that I put togather for a 73 tournament skier boat that I used to co-own. (picture attached).

I have mine on the windshield with no obstructions, see attached. Try "Mothers" polish on your pylon. It is a bit deceiving at first (yo think that you've made a mistake with the oxidation) but beautiful results in the end.

Cheers!

Kevin-

 

Here is the new "taller" mirror bracket Dynegreg is talking about. It was fabricated out of stainless steel by Duane Snow of Janesville Wisc. After Duane built I spend many hours buffing it up to the mirror like finish. Unlike aluminum, it requires no maintenance. Hit it with some Windex and it looks like the day it was polished. With this mount, I no longer have to bend over to see the skier.

Bob

 

Duane did a nice job making that bracket. Bob I drove by your house Sat. I was in the area because my lady gets her hair done about a mile from your house. I did not see your truck, so I figured you were not home.

 

Greg,

We were down in Ottawa at the yacht club buffing on the new boat. They were hoised into the water a week ago Friday. I was able to do the sides while it was propped up on stands on shore, but waited until it was in the water to do the deck. Worked for hours and only got less than half done. "The Joys of Boating ".........

Bob

 

Finally finished!!!
First test flight since resto

 

Wow did that turn out awesome! Probably nicest i/o 18' I have seen yet. Good work. Someone earlier mentioned using Mother's to shine up some metal pieces. Mother's is too abrasive. The professional bike polishers only use a metal polish called Wizards. It won't scratch your nice pieces. I know the stuff isn't cheap, but it is well worth it.

Greg :good:

 

Thanks Greg,

Yeah the only thing that needs to be polished is the ski pilon. I have some less abrasive polishes that I will try that have worked very well on other aluminium parts.

I have only one problem with the boat. If I try to go faster than 30mph it starts to bounce very vilolently. The outdrive is trimed all the way down. Some how with the ad on's, I have added significantly more weight to the stern. I first noticed this when I didn't have alot of tong weight, which I corrected by moving the axle on the trailer back. Now I have to correct the bounce in the boat. The only opptions I see are put cement blocks in the front :lol: or add trim tabs.

 

Noooooo, don't use cement blocks. You don't want that bangin around. Use either tubes of sand, or bags of lead shot. Both are just as heavy as the cement, but more user friendly. This is what all the show teams use on their 20' on their twin and triple rigs.

Greg