1993 Ski Centurion Restoration

[Timr71]

Last week we were able to finish up our list. We got the prop shaft in and aligned. Buttoned everything up and dropped it in the water for a test.

I drove while my cousin tested out the ski pylon:

We pulled it out of the water for the final bits of work.

The sun sets at the lake:

back in the water the next day...this time with the bimini top installed

The final touch was adding the new manufacturer's graphics. (She's ready to go back home to my marina in Alabama.)

The punch list is never really complete...but it's darn close now. We're ready to play for the summer!

 

[Timr71]

Before:

After:

 

[Tnstratofam]

Stunning! You all did a fabulous job on her. She looks better than new.

I really like the flip up seat backs that drop down between the bow and the cockpit. The dash turned out great too.

Actually the whole boat did!:encouragement:

 

[Timr71]

I think it's OK to update my own thread...so here goes:

Upgrade - two days ago, I replaced the prop [a 13 x 13 cast OJ] with an ACME 541. I had done my research and even talked with ACME directly and everyone said that for tournament ski boats of this era, this is the prop to go with.

Yesterday morning (early on the 4th of July) my cousin and I went out to get in some glass water slalom sets. And, I can say that the verdict on the prop is it's a definite upgrade. It pulls strong and hard out of the hole. My cousin generates a lot of drag coming out of the water on one ski and my boat handled it with power to spare now. On the top end, I'm still seeing 42 MPH on the GPS.

I put 2 hrs on the boat yesterday towing my kids and nephews on skis, wakeboards, kneeboards, etc. and I'm tickled with how it drives.

Next upgrade: the back two cleats tend to grab my ski ropes as they slide across the back of the boat. I bought two really nice stainless pop up cleats...maybe I'll get them in today.

Also: Happy 4th (a day late) to everyone. Mine was spent at the lake with this very boat. We had 44 people here, there was tons of food, lots of lake fun, and 13 of us went via boat to watch the fireworks. We live in a great country!

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

Beautiful boat! What lake?

 

[Timr71]

My home lake is Lake Martin. We're in Northeast Tenn at the moment though on Cherokee lake.

 

[AlabamaNewbie]

I've only been down there once a long time ago. Until I get our first boat finished, we are (and have been) stuck with renting boats, so we usually just go to Guntersville Lake. I look forward to going to others though - when I finish this thing in 10 years or so.....

 

[TRH299]

You did a hell of a job on that boat! Love the custom seating.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Nice work, really nice boat.

 

[Timr71]

So, I made a little upgrade that made a huge difference in my boat. Stock it came with regular perko cleats on the back of the deck. They reside in an indention in the deck surface. The problem is when you're working with a ski rope from the ski pylon and circle back around to pick up a downed rider, the rope slides across the back of the boat and gets hung on the cleats...all the time. So, the goal was to replace them with pop up cleats to create a smoother surface. After towing kids on everything from wakeboards and kneeboards to tubes for 6.5 hrs last weekend I can attest that the pop up cleats are fantastic. I really like the ones that I picked out. They're a solid / beefy unit. I did have to make larger holes for them to go in, but the install looks great. See pics attached.

 

[Timr71]

Did a minor little upgrade this weekend. I'm sure you guys know that Great Lakes Skipper just buys up parts from anywhere they can get them, and therefore you never know what might pop up in their inventory. Well, they have a bunch of these shift nobs and I think they are from a Centurion Enzo, but I thought it was kind of a nice piece of bling so I order one. Just got it install on my shifter. The wife was like, "meh?" But I like it. Also, here's a pic of my son back at the marina. We spend so much time on here talking about how to rebuild the boats, that sometime we don't get to celebrate what it's like to use them. We were at the lake all day Sunday. And that can be tiring. I'm glad I expanded the seat so he has room to take a nap if needed.

 

[hvymtl939]

Looks amazing! And I'm sure you came out wayyyyyyyyyyyyy on top, considering what new tow boats go for. My buddy just picked up a mid range Malibu, and it was dang near 6 figures.

 

[Timr71]

Looks amazing! And I'm sure you came out wayyyyyyyyyyyyy on top, considering what new tow boats go for. My buddy just picked up a mid range Malibu, and it was dang near 6 figures.

The prices are beyond ridiculous. Thankfully, my boat is all mechanical, no EFI so no computers to deal with. And, I was telling one of my friends who came to the lake with us this weekend that when I got estimates for redoing my interior, I had one estimate that was $7,700! I thought, that's as much as I have in the whole boat. With my cousin's help, we wen to a guy who had done interiors in his garage. Formerly, he built couches for Berkline. He came over to look at the boat, and I showed him what I wanted done, and he said if you buy all the vinyl, i'll do it for $900. I told him I'd give him $1000.

is my interior perfect...or even factory great? No. But I care a whole lot less if my kids spill something on my $1K interior than if I had 7 grand tied up in it. It's comfy and it looks good enough for sure. And Cleo was great to work with.

 

[hvymtl939]

The prices are beyond ridiculous. Thankfully, my boat is all mechanical, no EFI so no computers to deal with. And, I was telling one of my friends who came to the lake with us this weekend that when I got estimates for redoing my interior, I had one estimate that was $7,700! I thought, that's as much as I have in the whole boat. With my cousin's help, we wen to a guy who had done interiors in his garage. Formerly, he built couches for Berkline. He came over to look at the boat, and I showed him what I wanted done, and he said if you buy all the vinyl, i'll do it for $900. I told him I'd give him $1000.

is my interior perfect...or even factory great? No. But I care a whole lot less if my kids spill something on my $1K interior than if I had 7 grand tied up in it. It's comfy and it looks good enough for sure. And Cleo was great to work with.

Pictures versus real life are one thing, but from your pictures, it sure as hell wasn't worth 8x as much. That interior is fantastic. Seriously amazing work.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I agree, looks great. I’ll be looking to tackle some of my own vinyl over the winter.

 

[sopwithcamel74]

Really, really great restoration.

If you get the chance to come up to northern AL, check out Wheeler, Wilson, and Pickwick lakes if you get the chance. We've got some world-class fishing up this way, and the boating community ain't too shabby during the summer.

 

[Timr71]

Really, really great restoration.

If you get the chance to come up to northern AL, check out Wheeler, Wilson, and Pickwick lakes if you get the chance. We've got some world-class fishing up this way, and the boating community ain't too shabby during the summer.

My wife is from Huntsville, and her family had a place on Wheeler when she was a kid. We've talked about trailering the boat up there to cruise around just for old times sake. May make it up there sometime soon. We'll see.

 

[Timr71]

I figure I'll update my own thread. Made to the lake this past weekend. Spent the afternoon skiing with a couple of my buddies and then brought the boat back home on its trailer so I can do some work/modifications.

My list of things includes:
1. New pitot tube piping for the left side speedo
2. New cargo netting on both sides for better storage control
3. Windshield fairing / material (I think I found the right stuff)
4. set up Fly-hi plyon with wake board rack. This is going to require a trip to an upholstery guy because I need a hole in my bimini top for it to pass through. I'm doing this more for the storage than because I want the high tow point. I just need to get wakeboards out of the floor. On a typical day, you can't walk in the boat because of baords / skis / knee boards and tubes. My kids like to do it all!
5. I have some carpet that didn't get glued back properly from the last fiberglass repair. (Did I update this thread when I got a hull puncture two summers ago? Well the quick story is...boat was left at the marina overnight in the courtesy dock, and a log jammed underneath the dock and it punched a hole about the size of a quarter in the hull. Thankfully it didn't sink, and insurance paid the repair. The guy who did it was highly sought after and therefore I had to wait, but it's better than new. Chewed up 6 weeks of my summer though.)

Anyway, Saturday, we cleaned up the trailer before heading to the lake. I hope to get the trailer painted black later this summer. We'll see.

Here's some pics.

 

[ACon977]

Looks great! we have a tower on ours but the Bimini fits underneath, may be worth looking into so that you can raise and lower the bimini even with the tower up.

 

[Timr71]

Update to my own thread. The boat is sitting in my driveway but going back to the marina today. I had it home here for a few weeks and towed it back up to Tennessee this past weekend.

My cousin hosts a local youth group from a church every August at his house and my family has been helping out with this even that past 4 years. I think we had nearly 60 kids there plus adults. As a result, we pulled a lot of tubes. Many of these kids haven't been to the lake before. We had 3 tournament ski boats, plus a bayliner, and a Sea Doo out on the water.

Back to my list:
1. Windshield fairing installed
2. Cargo nets for storage installed (forgot to get pics of this, but will do later today)
3. Pitot tube issue for left speedometer was not the issue, it's the gauge itself
4. Carpet glued back correctly
5. fixed my mirror
6. finished installing my captain's cup holder - now it securely holds my 30oz yeti.


Mirror situation: I had purchased a CIPA extreme for my boat. The problem is that my windshield doesn't run parallel to the transom in front of the driver, it's at an angle. Therefore the mirror was cocked at an angle too with very little adjustable. I could have easily purchased another mirror with a different kind of mounting hardware. Instead I purchased a ball based Ram Mount and grafted it onto my mirror. Now I have pull adjustability.

Forgot to mention - I had a trailer tire blow out about 45 miles north of my house, on my way going up to Tenessee. Thankfully, my daughter was able to bring me some tools and got to me before AAA did. There was just enough time for her to run my wheel to a tire store for an 8PM replacement. I was back on the road by 9pm and arrived at my parents house for a quick sleep just before 2am Eastern time. The good side is that it's easier to tow the boat on deserted interstates than it is in daytime traffic. I made the return trip with no issues.