Rehabbing a 2002 Wakesetter

[BusterSaunders]

35 minutes ago, Michigan boarder said:

Those are a thing of beauty.  When I got my ACME 425 brand new in box last year I just kept holding it, putting it down, picking it back up, flipping it over, spinning it around, picking it back up, etc.  Installed it, and by the end of the season it was that dingy grey color.

LOL yeah. 

12 hours ago, Bozboat said:

Wow, she is cleaning up nicely

new prop will be awesome, the acme over the original SS CVP is one of the best up grades in terms of performance 

I'm excited to feel the difference. The ACME rep said I should notice lots more torque on the low end and only 3mph loss. 

[BusterSaunders]

Started the boat up for the first time of the season. Runs great, but I noticed the oil pressure up and down. I have a thread in the Tech Area if you think you can help. Thanks

 

Edited March 29, 2017 by BusterSaunders

[BusterSaunders]

Ok good news, I think. Oil is clean/clear after the latest 30 min run. 

 

I picked up the tower and windshield parts from the powder coater today. They turned out great. I should get time this weekend to assemble some things. Woop!!

[UWSkier]

What happened to this thread? 

[racer808]

On 4/24/2017 at 1:41 PM, UWSkier said:

What happened to this thread? 

That'st what I was wondering so I went digging for the thread.  So what's the status?

[BusterSaunders]

Hey all, I'm still here. I got busy as soon as spring hit. I've been cleaning up and working on the new house (bought in Sept). I'm down in Disney now with the wife and kid. I hope to be back on the Wakesetter next week. Last thing I did was wet sand to 400 grit. More wetsanding and polishing next week then I'll throw the tower on. 

[UWSkier]

Boat rebuild threads are to BuCrew members what Romantic Comedies are to women.  You can't stop 3/4 of the way through!!! 

[BusterSaunders]

15 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Boat rebuild threads are to BuCrew members what Romantic Comedies are to women.  You can't stop 3/4 of the way through!!! 

Lol, I won't leave you guys hanging. 

[Steve B.]

If your oil pressure gauge is bouncing around, take the canon plug apart and spray contact cleaner in there. Common issue.

Steve B.

[BusterSaunders]

12 minutes ago, Steve B. said:

If your oil pressure gauge is bouncing around, take the canon plug apart and spray contact cleaner in there. Common issue.

Steve B.

10-4. I'll try that, Thanks

[CTSunsetter]

If I am correct, your boat is pretty rare. So, it’s basically a Sunsetter LX badged as a Wakesetter. What makes it rare is that it has a diamond hull which will make it a sweet slalom wake. Two things tell me it’s a diamond hull: 1. The chimes flatten out in the stern, the traditional Sunsetter hull didn’t do that. 2. The “V” shaped wedge which was specific to a diamond shaped hulls of that vintage. All that said, they only made that package for one year.

Smart getting rid of the CVP prop as they were known to self-destruct. Mine did on my ’98 Sunsetter. When I replaced it, I noticed the steering was a little more effort under load. No biggie though.

While you are at it, you might want to open up the HDS and proactively glass it if it’s never been done.

Also, the shaft packing is probably shot too. Maybe upgrade to a dripless now…

And please replace those awful hardware store mailbox registration decals!

Keep the pictures coming!

Edited May 5, 2017 by CTSunsetter

[racer808]

If your gauge is bouncing around it sounds like the sender unit.  Could be the cannon plug or could be a lose ground somewhere 

[BusterSaunders]

OK, back on the boat. Sorry to leave everyone hanging. As soon as summer hit I got super busy. I think I've mentioned before on here, I have a 16mo old daughter and a wife who's 7mo pregnant. There's only so much Dad to go around and the boat had to take a back seat for a bit. 

[BusterSaunders]

I have a hard deadline to get this boat splashed by the 4th of July. I’ll have to forego some of the niceties I wanted to have this year. I need to just get it back together.

 

I had the boat sanded to 400 grit on one side earlier so I started on the starboard side. I got the decals stripped and sanded her down. Just like the port side, the hull is stained a bit darker then where the decals were. You can still see where the decals were a little in the sun. Ahh well. I’ll try some hull cleaner again but I think it is what it is. I’m actually thinking about a black or carbon fiber vinyl wrap below the grey. Maybe next year.

 

Sanded 400, 600, 800 & 1000 then buffed with 3M heavy compound. It  looks good but I still have some sandpaper scratches. I’ll try and fix them later.

 

I reassembled to windshield today also. It’s starting to look like a boat again.

 

[vigwilson]

Love it man. I love when boats get saved! Great job so far! And congrats

[MadMan]

12 hours ago, BusterSaunders said:

Sanded 400, 600, 800 & 1000 then buffed with 3M heavy compound. It  looks good but I still have some sandpaper scratches. I’ll try and fix them later.

I feel your pain with those scratches leftover, it's hard to get rid of them all going through all those grit steps. But it's looking good.

[BusterSaunders]

I finished the windshield this weekend and put in most of the vinyl. I had a friend come to help with the tower install. The gauge cluster fixed the fuel reading issue too. Its getting closer... I'll get pics of the tower soon, its raining. It looks good re powder coated beside the shiny windshield. 

[BusterSaunders]

On 5/3/2017 at 9:40 PM, CTSunsetter said:

If I am correct, your boat is pretty rare. So, it’s basically a Sunsetter LX badged as a Wakesetter. What makes it rare is that it has a diamond hull which will make it a sweet slalom wake. Two things tell me it’s a diamond hull: 1. The chimes flatten out in the stern, the traditional Sunsetter hull didn’t do that. 2. The “V” shaped wedge which was specific to a diamond shaped hulls of that vintage. All that said, they only made that package for one year.

Smart getting rid of the CVP prop as they were known to self-destruct. Mine did on my ’98 Sunsetter. When I replaced it, I noticed the steering was a little more effort under load. No biggie though.

While you are at it, you might want to open up the HDS and proactively glass it if it’s never been done.

Also, the shaft packing is probably shot too. Maybe upgrade to a dripless now…

And please replace those awful hardware store mailbox registration decals!

Keep the pictures coming!

Interesting about the hull. I though I had a wake hull. Maybe you or someone else can tell from some pictures

Whats the HDS?

Good tip on the shaft packing.

New numbers ordered!

Edited May 21, 2017 by BusterSaunders

[UWSkier]

That's a wake hull.  Diamond hulls have that down-turned outer edge carried all the way back to the stern.

[CTSunsetter]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 4:55 PM, BusterSaunders said:

Whats the HDS?

It's the box where the prop shaft comes into the boat. If it does leak, there are a couple of ways to fix it, this is the best I've ever seen and it was done by a TMC crew member Hedgehogbob: http://www.everglass.org/shaftlog.htm Here is one of the many postings about HDS leaks:

My HDS was already leaking when I blew a blade off my CVP prop. The vibration from the CVP spinning with a missing blade broke the HDS open, but I didn't know that until the next time out with a new prop. When the first skier was done and dropped off, I pulled back the throttle and my feet got wet. That was a heart skipping moment for sure...

It's not something you can test for without putting the boat in the water. If it leaks, it might not leak until you are underway. What I would do is check for it the first time out, make sure your bilge pump works as you might need it and don't go too far from the boat launch.

[BusterSaunders]

Boy… we have some catching up to do. Like I said before, slamming the boat back together. I had a few more items I really needed to get done.

 

Nav lights. Check. All the terminals inside the lights and the years of butt splices has corroded. Terminals were cleaned and butt splices replaced with a waterproof variety.

 

Fix the “automatic sink the boat thing” AKA Perko Flush Kit. Check. The flush hookup was leaking a bit. I touched it and it broke right in two. Imagine the mess if that had happened on the water. The new version seems much better.

 

Drill and tap the tower brackets. Check

 

Replace the old prop. Check. I tried a 3 arm puller but after fighting for an hour I called Bakes and ordered a puller. It arrived today and I had the old prop off in 30 seconds. Lapped the new prop and installed.

Halfway through lapping. You can see where it needed a bit more for full contact.

This should pull better

Shiny

Legal!!!

Hooked up and ready to rock!

[BusterSaunders]

Music to my ears!

 

[ahopkins22LSV]

Very nice work. It's been fun following your progress. 

[BusterSaunders]

Test Day!! It was a success… mostly. It didn’t sink, that’s a plus. I took it down to Lake Gaston, NC to my dad’s place for “Sea Trials”. The engine ran strong. I still have the oil pressure fluctuation. It was good pressure just bouncing between 50 – 65. The engine temp fluctuated from 170 to 160. I think I have a sticky thermostat. The crank on trailer broke. The starboard side exhaust hose blew. That was exciting! It popped so hard the cup holder on the engine box flew out. We duck taped it and idled back to the ramp, found a new hose, repaired and went out again. After that things were smooth. I even got a pull on the wakeboard. A good day.

 

I’ve been waiting for this day.

 

 

 

 

[BusterSaunders]

The new Acme 1231 prop pulls great. I did have one issue with it. It wants to cavitate for a second it starting at full throttle. If i ease up to wide open taking about 3-5 sec to rev all the way up its fine. Not that i need a WOT hole shot, it pulled amazing at 1/2 throttle, but I didnt expect it to "spin out." I dont think I lost any top end speed. The boat hit 40 mph no problem. It was about 10mph per 1000 rpm. I'll call ACME Monday and see what the say about the cavitation. I'll also pull the prop tomorrow just to be sure I didnt shear a key.