Rick Carroll
New Member
What up guys, new to the forum here. Last summer I bought a single engine 96 sportster from my buddy for $2700. He had traded a nice 4 wheeler for it. Just after he sold me this boat he bought a 2010 speedster 215hp supercharged. They are both great boats. We ran them around the lake all last summer.
The 96 was not running when he bought it, but he was a mechanic at Acura in the past (he flips anything he can with an engine). He completely rebuilt the engine and the jet. We had many little projects to do on it to get it running the way we wanted, I think it had sat awhile before he got it. There were lots of little stupid parts to replace as most of you guys who take on these resto projects know. He had stripped some of the factory decals off and reupholstered it himself with vinyl sheets he had bought. He went with an orange/black color scheme. It looked pretty good but I wanted to go another route and the black gets hot as hell.
So far I have about $500 in it maybe a little less. I bought new upholstery from zz-autogroup and it is outstanding looking in the box. All stitched to size, has tabs for stapling, etc. Considering I bought it last summer in the middle of the summer I did not do much aesthetic work to it, as we just wanted to get it running nicely. We were successful.
I am a pretty big guy at 205 lbs and all my buddies are the same size or bigger. We do a lot of tubing and wakeboarding and such. This boat will definitely do the trick, but I think it has the original impeller. I have some cavitation and planing problems with 3 big guys in the boat or one big wakeboarder and others in the boat. I am getting ready to order a new solas impeller so I'm sure that will make a night and day difference based on what my buddy says, and everything I have been reading.
So far I have a pretty good list of things I want to get. The rub rails were teal originally and he painted them with black plastic paint. Obviously the first time we even touched the dock it came off. This is such a pain the ass to pay for considering it is just aesthetic and no function but I want it for my hearts content and for resale purposes someday. I found an insert for $100 but the whole kit is pricey. This is the best deal I could find for the whole rub-rail kit: http://ww.sailsmarine.com/ItemDetai...Kit_-_Black_w/Black_Insert_-_50'#.VItNzmTF_UZ
Haven't bought it yet but I plan to within the next two weeks.
Do they even have colored rails anywhere? I searched and searched and the taco metals kit I know only comes in black. I honestly would prefer white, I think it would look badass on this boat because it's so slick and low profile looking already. The black rails kinda break it up but they aren't terrible, better than teal. Red would be cool too.
I'm not in a huge rush on this stuff cause here in Kansas City we have cold for a while still. Fortunately my pops has a heated 3 car garage and only 1 car so I keep it over at his house. It will get down around 0 here on occasion.
This is my list of things to buy/get done in the off season.
PURCHASE LIST:
new impeller
new rub rail kit
automatic bilge pump
speedster hood with mirrors
red plastic spray paint
MOD LIST:
reupholster seats
install auto bilge
paint hood, oh shit handles, steering wheel, red
finish putting in hydro turf (he had bought a sheet, cut it himself, and only put it down in a few places)
get gas gauge in new hood workin
and on and on and on
I grew up on the lake, my grandpa had a boat and he passed when I was about 12 and my family did not go back much, but my friend's families were huge lake people so I was always so thankful to be invited on their trips. Having this boat is great. I always wanted to own one when I was growing up. The lake is the best place ever.
Anyways enough with the mushy stuff. Fortunately my buddy had put these badass 6.5 inch pioneers in along with a 2 channel amp before he sold it to me. These things ROCK. No need for a sub at all as much bass as they put out. High's sound real good too. It had a CD player though which sucked cause it would skip all the time. I found a head unit from walmart for $25. This thing has all the options, aux, sd slot, mp3 capability, etc. I only use the sd slot. I have a 32 GB SD in there full of music and just run it on shuffle.
I'm throwin' some pictures up of the process so far. It has been a lot of fun. Been awhile since I've had a project. By the way, I am from KC and I am die hard so the theme of the boat is going to be Chiefs haha. Already named her warpaint after the horse that runs around the field here during pregame. All the upholstery is red and white with yellow inserts in the seat bottoms in the back. Got a bunch of chiefs decals to put on it, going to have big arrowheads on the sides of the hull where the 'sportster' decal is currently.
I'm thankful for the forum, I've learned a ton in just a short amount of time. You guys are awesome.
The 96 was not running when he bought it, but he was a mechanic at Acura in the past (he flips anything he can with an engine). He completely rebuilt the engine and the jet. We had many little projects to do on it to get it running the way we wanted, I think it had sat awhile before he got it. There were lots of little stupid parts to replace as most of you guys who take on these resto projects know. He had stripped some of the factory decals off and reupholstered it himself with vinyl sheets he had bought. He went with an orange/black color scheme. It looked pretty good but I wanted to go another route and the black gets hot as hell.
So far I have about $500 in it maybe a little less. I bought new upholstery from zz-autogroup and it is outstanding looking in the box. All stitched to size, has tabs for stapling, etc. Considering I bought it last summer in the middle of the summer I did not do much aesthetic work to it, as we just wanted to get it running nicely. We were successful.
I am a pretty big guy at 205 lbs and all my buddies are the same size or bigger. We do a lot of tubing and wakeboarding and such. This boat will definitely do the trick, but I think it has the original impeller. I have some cavitation and planing problems with 3 big guys in the boat or one big wakeboarder and others in the boat. I am getting ready to order a new solas impeller so I'm sure that will make a night and day difference based on what my buddy says, and everything I have been reading.
So far I have a pretty good list of things I want to get. The rub rails were teal originally and he painted them with black plastic paint. Obviously the first time we even touched the dock it came off. This is such a pain the ass to pay for considering it is just aesthetic and no function but I want it for my hearts content and for resale purposes someday. I found an insert for $100 but the whole kit is pricey. This is the best deal I could find for the whole rub-rail kit: http://ww.sailsmarine.com/ItemDetai...Kit_-_Black_w/Black_Insert_-_50'#.VItNzmTF_UZ
Haven't bought it yet but I plan to within the next two weeks.
Do they even have colored rails anywhere? I searched and searched and the taco metals kit I know only comes in black. I honestly would prefer white, I think it would look badass on this boat because it's so slick and low profile looking already. The black rails kinda break it up but they aren't terrible, better than teal. Red would be cool too.
I'm not in a huge rush on this stuff cause here in Kansas City we have cold for a while still. Fortunately my pops has a heated 3 car garage and only 1 car so I keep it over at his house. It will get down around 0 here on occasion.
This is my list of things to buy/get done in the off season.
PURCHASE LIST:
new impeller
new rub rail kit
automatic bilge pump
speedster hood with mirrors
red plastic spray paint
MOD LIST:
reupholster seats
install auto bilge
paint hood, oh shit handles, steering wheel, red
finish putting in hydro turf (he had bought a sheet, cut it himself, and only put it down in a few places)
get gas gauge in new hood workin
and on and on and on
I grew up on the lake, my grandpa had a boat and he passed when I was about 12 and my family did not go back much, but my friend's families were huge lake people so I was always so thankful to be invited on their trips. Having this boat is great. I always wanted to own one when I was growing up. The lake is the best place ever.
Anyways enough with the mushy stuff. Fortunately my buddy had put these badass 6.5 inch pioneers in along with a 2 channel amp before he sold it to me. These things ROCK. No need for a sub at all as much bass as they put out. High's sound real good too. It had a CD player though which sucked cause it would skip all the time. I found a head unit from walmart for $25. This thing has all the options, aux, sd slot, mp3 capability, etc. I only use the sd slot. I have a 32 GB SD in there full of music and just run it on shuffle.
I'm throwin' some pictures up of the process so far. It has been a lot of fun. Been awhile since I've had a project. By the way, I am from KC and I am die hard so the theme of the boat is going to be Chiefs haha. Already named her warpaint after the horse that runs around the field here during pregame. All the upholstery is red and white with yellow inserts in the seat bottoms in the back. Got a bunch of chiefs decals to put on it, going to have big arrowheads on the sides of the hull where the 'sportster' decal is currently.
I'm thankful for the forum, I've learned a ton in just a short amount of time. You guys are awesome.