Needed another project… 95 XP

[DiGiornoXP]

Hi yall,

Just picked up this 95 XP for a nice winter project that I can easily wheel in and out of the garage, seller said low compression in mag cylinder. From what I’ve read, just replacing rings won’t accomplish much and it’ll need bored + oversized pistons.

So far I’ve taken off the jet pump and started to read thru the shop manual and some of the threads on here. The more I look at it, the more I think I should just do a complete overhaul and take everything out, clean up the deepwater horizon oil spill accident in the hull and flip it upside down and throw a fresh coat of gel coat on the hull. Been filling up a shopping cart on OSD, looking forward to learning all I can about these skis!


Ski and the tow rig (big turbo focus ST)


“new” wear ring + impeller


Questionable sealant application on the pump extension and the VTS boot

 

[burtshaver2021]

I really like the 95XP, before disassembling the engine leak test the outer crankshaft seals and also do a leak test for the rotary valve seals. If you have the engine out, not a bad idea to flip it over and buff out the lower hull but I would steer you away from re gel coating the entire lower hull, is it bad? If not, I would just wet sand it, patch any spots that have fiberglass showing and buff it. It will be hours upon hours upon hours to gel coating the entire lower hull. Curious, what the compression readings were?

 

[mikidymac]

I too am against the trouble of gelcoating, buff and polish.
The impeller probably can't be saved with that much grinder damage, wow someone was a hack.
The head has been off already indicated by the head bolt paint missing.
The aftermarket inline fuel filter could have been the cause of the engine damage.
Castrol SuperClean or Purple Power and a pressure washer will get the bilge spotless.

 

[DiGiornoXP]

Thanks guys! The hull is definitely very beat up - didn’t notice all of it when I checked it out…





My friend just got a new paint sprayer setup he wants to try out, and he offered to spray some fresh gel coat on the bottom of the hull. Not expecting show room quality, but for <$250 in gel coat/additives + a cheap harbor freight HVLP gun we can trash, some beer and pizza, and a weekend that doesn’t sound like a bad deal. I know pretty much 0 about body work, so maybe I’m underestimating how much work would go into it. Would probably spend at least an afternoon drilling out rivets lol.

Not much progress recently, drained the oil tank as it was leaking into the hull (I swear this thing holds more oil than my car) and removed the top bit of the exhaust. Also removed the driveshaft which literally just fell out of the PTO lol?

Regarding compression, seller said 70/140, but the way he said 140 made me think he was not exactly being 100% honest. Not even going to try and compression test it, just by turning the PTO by hand it feels absolutely awful.

 

[burtshaver2021]

he offered to spray some fresh gel coat on the bottom of the hull. Not expecting show room quality, but for <$250 in gel coat/additives + a cheap harbor freight HVLP gun we can trash, some beer and pizza, and a weekend that doesn’t sound like a bad deal

You won’t even be close to having that done in a weekend. Most of the work is sanding that new gel coat flat.
I doubt the seller was lying about compression if he said 70/140, if he was going lie why would he tell you these numbers.

 

[burtshaver2021]

Hull doesn’t look to terrible to me, except for the one spot on the keel and the one other spot, it looks like some wet sanding and cutting compound would make her pop again

 

[DiGiornoXP]

Glad to hear the chipped spots in the gel coat aren’t too concerning! Is feathering em out, patching with marinetex, and sanding smooth the best way to tackle it?

Won’t be able to do anything to hull until we get a few warm weather days next spring, so plenty of time to think and research. But not afraid of a little work - if I wanted something I could fill up with gas, slap on a fresh coat of wax and ride away I wouldn’t have bought a 30 year old 2 stroke lol