New to me ‘86 Skier

[Andrezleuro]

New to the forum, decided to get out of the jet boat thing so we decided to look for an older ski boat. ‘86 skier. She’s in ok shape but picked up as a project.... do a few things to it and make it a decent reliable boat. She’s banged up a little but has a Chevy 350 in it. She floats, and goes. I made some good money on the sale of my jet so I wouldn’t mind spending a little coin to get her back to par. Couldn’t pass it up for $4k Any suggestion as to what to look for that would be particular to an older ski boat ? 

[Nitrousbird]

Wood stringers.  Any rot at all in those (which it very typical of a project boat) is a ton of work to get right, and if you pay someone to do it you might as well sell the boat and buy something else because you will be underwater on that project alone.

Checked for soft spots in the floors.  Put a wrench to the engine mounts; if they are not 100% solid, it's all bad from there.

[jamespjackson95]

On 8/22/2020 at 1:48 AM, Andrezleuro said:

New to the forum, decided to get out of the jet boat thing so we decided to look for an older ski boat. ‘86 skier. She’s in ok shape but picked up as a project.... do a few things to it and make it a decent reliable boat. She’s banged up a little but has a Chevy 350 in it. She floats, and goes. I made some good money on the sale of my jet so I wouldn’t mind spending a little coin to get her back to par. Couldn’t pass it up for $4k Any suggestion as to what to look for that would be particular to an older ski boat ? 

I just picked up an 86 malibu skier myself... I am planning on adding some ballast and a wake tower this off season.  Do you have any pictures of your boat?  Looking for ideas. 

[Nitrousbird]

7 hours ago, jamespjackson95 said:

I just picked up an 86 malibu skier myself... I am planning on adding some ballast and a wake tower this off season.  Do you have any pictures of your boat?  Looking for ideas. 

Wouldn't you be better off doing a tower/ballast to your 1997 Sunsetter VLX Instead?