!!Got me a New Boat!! Kinda...

All right party people of RDP. I'm back in the saddle again!!

I've acquired our old family ski boat. My family bought the Ski Supreme brand new in 1985. It spent its life at our house in Havasu. This was the boat I learned to ski behind, drive, take sloooooow passes by Copper Canyon with my dad behind the wheel, and the thing I remember the most was spending 5000+ hours playing in it in the garage with my brother! To say "Good Vibrations" has some sentimental value would be an understatement.

So fast forward to today. The poor old girl has been bounced around and neglected for the last 5 years or so. It's just been sitting uncovered being neglected. I've been trying to get her for years, and finally things lined up.

The good thing is that before she just went and sat my dad had rebuild the motor, and replaced the stringers and transom. When I got her home I squirted some WD40 down the cylinders, hooked the fuel pump up to a fresh gas can, and she fired right up! I've changed all the fluids, rebuild the raw water pump, and will rebuild the carb. She's going to be getting brand new interior, a good wet sanding, and reaallly good detail. Hopefully soon she'll be blasting around Carlsbad lagoon with an occasional trip to the river very soon[emoji106]

Impellers aren't supposed to look like this. I can only hope no one tried to run her like this!!!

Congratulations!!! Definitely a cool boat and even cooler since it comes with all the memories!! Thank you for sharing and I look forward to the rejuvenation process!!

Henry

Congrats.

Put those impeller pieces on the bench and put ALL of the pieces together...ALL, as in, keep digging until you can put the old impeller together on the bench.

If not, parts and pieces may still be in the engine block and/or oil coolers blocking the pathway of cooling water.

Back flush the entire system and collect the pieces.

I've lost an impeller on my Sanger DXII. Luckily there is a screen before the oil cooler and it all ended up there. Easy clean out fortunately.

Congrats on keeping the boat in the family. :thumbup:

My buddy had a boat just like that. He put a big block in it. Good times in that thing.

CampbellCarl said:

Put those impeller pieces on the bench and put ALL of the pieces together...ALL, as in, keep digging until you can put the old impeller together on the bench.

If not, parts and pieces may still be in the engine block and/or oil coolers blocking the pathway of cooling water.

Back flush the entire system and collect the pieces.

Click to expand...

Good idea Carl. It's got a closed cooling system so hopefully it won't be to bad to track down the disintegrated parts.

Very cool! Congrats :thumbsup

Question for you guys with closed cooling boats.

I rebuild the carb, ended up putting a new raw water pump on, back flushed the cooling system, changed all the fluids, and took her out for a little shake down. She actually ran pretty damn good! But my water temp was up in the 160?-180? area. When the temp got up there I backed out of her and let it cool down. I've never had a closed cooling system boat. I checked and it's got no thermostat. Should the temps be in line with autos? The 351w motors in cars/trucks run in the 180?-195? area. Is this what I should be looking for? Or is that high in boat application. If it is I guess the next step would be taking the heat exchanger to a radiator shop for service?

CampbellCarl said:

Put those impeller pieces on the bench and put ALL of the pieces together...ALL, as in, keep digging until you can put the old impeller together on the bench.

If not, parts and pieces may still be in the engine block and/or oil coolers blocking the pathway of cooling water.

Back flush the entire system and collect the pieces.

Click to expand...

X2

Kylemenz1 said:

Question for you guys with closed cooling boats.

I rebuild the carb, ended up putting a new raw water pump on, back flushed the cooling system, changed all the fluids, and took her out for a little shake down. She actually ran pretty damn good! But my water temp was up in the 160?-180? area. When the temp got up there I backed out of her and let it cool down. I've never had a closed cooling system boat. I checked and it's got no thermostat. Should the temps be in line with autos? The 351w motors in cars/trucks run in the 180?-195? area. Is this what I should be looking for? Or is that high in boat application. If it is I guess the next step would be taking the heat exchanger to a radiator shop for service?

Click to expand...

180 to 195 is fine. If you start getting up to 210+ start to worry.

Congrats on the boat!:thumbsup

Jed-O said:

180 to 195 is fine. If you start getting up to 210+ start to worry.

Congrats on the boat!:thumbsup

Click to expand...

Copy that! Thanks. My blown Carrara 257 never got above 150?, but it was an open cooling system.

You sure no T-stat? What's that 6"X6"X4" aluminum box (that you need to clean and polish...) that the 2+" hose from the engine mounted water pump contain?

Sure looks like a T-stat could reside in there...190* in a non T-stat engine seems high...I'da thought 140-150*

dread Pirate said:

I've lost an impeller on my Sanger DXII. Luckily there is a screen before the oil cooler and it all ended up there. Easy clean out fortunately.

Congrats on keeping the boat in the family. :thumbup:

Click to expand...

Screen in front of the oil cooler, l think l will do the same:thumbup:

Nice project boat, good luck with it :thumbup:

CampbellCarl said:

You sure no T-stat? What's that 6"X6"X4" aluminum box (that you need to clean and polish...) that the 2+" hose from the engine mounted water pump contain?

Sure looks like a T-stat could reside in there...190* in a non T-stat engine seems high...I'da thought 140-150*

Click to expand...

I pulled that off and checked where the thermostat would go...there was none. I did not pull the aluminum box apart.

Kylemenz1 said:

I pulled that off and checked where the thermostat would go...there was none. I did not pull the aluminum box apart.

Click to expand...

Does it readily come apart? I mean, can you see an obvious parting line and screws/bolts clamping the two halves together?

Temp doesn't seem bad for a heat exchanger set up. But like Carl said, I would bet you money there's a stat in there. Did you check the stock Ford location/ neck?

Cool, love those old school ski boats. Buddy in Parker just picked up an 82 ski supreme. I have close cooling on my ski boat and runs at 175, 180 max after running it hard, check your thermostat. Or blockage, remove the hose from the water pick-up into the transmission cooler, there is a screen there that can collect junk. Good luck!

CampbellCarl said:

Does it readily come apart? I mean, can you see an obvious parting line and screws/bolts clamping the two halves together?

Click to expand...

It has 4 allen head stainless bolts holding it together, and looks like it splits right in half.

coolchange said:

Temp doesn't seem bad for a heat exchanger set up. But like Carl said, I would bet you money there's a stat in there. Did you check the stock Ford location/ neck?

Click to expand...

I did check the stock Ford location. The aluminum thingy bolts up to the block where the stock location would be for a thermostat. It looks like if there was a thermostat it would be located there. I'm thinking that the thermostat was left out last time it was apart.

cofooter said:

Cool, love those old school ski boats. Buddy in Parker just picked up an 82 ski supreme. I have close cooling on my ski boat and runs at 175, 180 max after running it hard, check your thermostat. Or blockage, remove the hose from the water pick-up into the transmission cooler, there is a screen there that can collect junk. Good luck!

Click to expand...

This boat is set up with a sea strainer. Plumbing goes water pickup- sea strainer- transmission cooler- raw water pump- heat exchanger- exhaust- and out the pipes I did back flush the system and found it to be free flowing with no weird rats nest flying out anywhere.

This boat is set up with a sea strainer. Plumbing goes water pickup- sea strainer- transmission cooler- raw water pump- heat exchanger- exhaust- and out the pipes I did back flush the system and found it to be free flowing with no weird rats nest flying out anywhere.[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I mis-read that you were overheating, seem like you are in a good range. If you do find a thermostat is should be a 143d like this one, although many boats were set up w/o. http://www.skidim.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RP026002E

Congrats Kyle. Glad to see you will be back on the water this season. :thumbup:

Tamalewagon said:

Congrats Kyle. Glad to see you will be back on the water this season. :thumbup:

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Thanks Boss!! She'll be spending many weekend on the Carlsbad Lagoon. If you ever want to bring the family up for a little cruz or ski let me know.

So took her out to Oceanside harbor this afternoon for a kite harbor cruise. She's running great! Rebuilt carb is idling smooth, and running crisp.

It's kinda nice, no really nice to be able to go for little harbor cruises. [emoji106]

very nice! looks like a fun project.
I need to get out to Oceanside Harbor. never been on the water there......

Sparky73 said:

very nice! looks like a fun project.
I need to get out to Oceanside Harbor. never been on the water there......

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Thanks man. It's going to be fun restoring her. Now that I know she's mechanically sound I'll start on getting her looking good.

When she warned up she ran right at 185f. From what I've researched that's just about a perfect temp for the closed cooling system with a 351w.

Whats its all about right there!

Look for the 1987 Bronco pulling the 1985 Ski Supreme to the Carlsbad Lagoon this weekend.

Bringing it back old school

Kylemenz1 said:

View attachment 408681
View attachment 408682

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That's a real nice setup you have there, congratulations.:thumbup:
Old Skool boats rule

Life is better with a boat. F