Stolle pressured me into posting this. One of these days we're going to have a drag race to the duck blind between the JSJB and their new airboat, but until then it will just be good fireside conversation. Finished this boat during last duck season, but there are a few tweaks I need to do before November gets here. Here's the history up to now.
Why in the world would a person build such a thing? Good darn question. Mostly because it is something I've always wanted to build. First I purchased a 1964 Texas Maid and 1996 Seadoo XP 800. That was the easy part.
Before I started this project I'd done a fair amount of work on fiberglass boats, but this was my first major project with an aluminum boat and only project with a jet ski.
Here she is. 1964 Texas Maid
15 feet long and in pretty good condition. Trailer didn't fit, but the original trailer was falling apart. I chose this boat because I wanted a semi-v, this hull seems good, and the price was right.
To power this project I picked up a 1996 Seadoo XP 800. I wanted the 787 motor that seadoo built and this ski had it. Wasn't running when I bought it, but could turn it over by hand. Thought all it needed was a carb job. Bought it and brought it home.
Outside is rough, but I don't need much of it. Thought I was getting an engine that needed just a little work sure the carbs would need some work, maybe a top end rebuild. Seadoo sat in my garage over a week, and when I went out to pull the engine it was locked up. Hmmmmm...
Mag Piston looked ok, but saw signs that water had gotten into it.
PTO Piston had pretty good carbon build up on it.
Head has some pitting on the Mag Cylinder side. Not sure if you can see it from this picture, but looked like a ring might have come apart earlier in its life. Piston didn't show any signs of wear, and both rings were intact. Cleaned up the nicks with some 80 grit and ran it like it was.
Engine out of the ski. From there it got a little worse. Pulled the jugs off and found a good deal of water in the case, and a fair amount of rust on the crankshaft (forgot to snap a picture). I think when I turned the ski over by hand before I bought it that I dislodged a larger piece of rust and that caused it to lock up. Live and Learn. In this case I got to learn a lot more about this particular engine than I bargained for. Such is life.
You can see the rust wasn't terrible, but the bearings were gritty. I decided to order a new crankshaft since I was in this deep. Also got a new set of rings, pistons, and gaskets.
While I was waiting for parts to show up, it was time to start gutting the interior of the boat and see what I had. I forgot to take a before picture, but trust me it was rough.
Here's a view from the bow. Nice semi-v. I hoped this would work to soften the ride and direct clean water heading towards the pump by not trapping air.
Here's a view from the stern. Nice and flat.
Two layers of plywood. Looks like at some point in time they added a layer of 3/8" regular plywood over the 1/2 marine plywood. Anybody care to venture a guess which one was harder to pull out? Somebody had cut the closed bow out of this boat before I bought it. Made it easier for me to chop her up further for my project.
Why in the world would a person build such a thing? Good darn question. Mostly because it is something I've always wanted to build. First I purchased a 1964 Texas Maid and 1996 Seadoo XP 800. That was the easy part.
Before I started this project I'd done a fair amount of work on fiberglass boats, but this was my first major project with an aluminum boat and only project with a jet ski.
Here she is. 1964 Texas Maid
15 feet long and in pretty good condition. Trailer didn't fit, but the original trailer was falling apart. I chose this boat because I wanted a semi-v, this hull seems good, and the price was right.
To power this project I picked up a 1996 Seadoo XP 800. I wanted the 787 motor that seadoo built and this ski had it. Wasn't running when I bought it, but could turn it over by hand. Thought all it needed was a carb job. Bought it and brought it home.
Outside is rough, but I don't need much of it. Thought I was getting an engine that needed just a little work sure the carbs would need some work, maybe a top end rebuild. Seadoo sat in my garage over a week, and when I went out to pull the engine it was locked up. Hmmmmm...
Mag Piston looked ok, but saw signs that water had gotten into it.
PTO Piston had pretty good carbon build up on it.
Head has some pitting on the Mag Cylinder side. Not sure if you can see it from this picture, but looked like a ring might have come apart earlier in its life. Piston didn't show any signs of wear, and both rings were intact. Cleaned up the nicks with some 80 grit and ran it like it was.
Engine out of the ski. From there it got a little worse. Pulled the jugs off and found a good deal of water in the case, and a fair amount of rust on the crankshaft (forgot to snap a picture). I think when I turned the ski over by hand before I bought it that I dislodged a larger piece of rust and that caused it to lock up. Live and Learn. In this case I got to learn a lot more about this particular engine than I bargained for. Such is life.
You can see the rust wasn't terrible, but the bearings were gritty. I decided to order a new crankshaft since I was in this deep. Also got a new set of rings, pistons, and gaskets.
While I was waiting for parts to show up, it was time to start gutting the interior of the boat and see what I had. I forgot to take a before picture, but trust me it was rough.
Here's a view from the bow. Nice semi-v. I hoped this would work to soften the ride and direct clean water heading towards the pump by not trapping air.
Here's a view from the stern. Nice and flat.
Two layers of plywood. Looks like at some point in time they added a layer of 3/8" regular plywood over the 1/2 marine plywood. Anybody care to venture a guess which one was harder to pull out? Somebody had cut the closed bow out of this boat before I bought it. Made it easier for me to chop her up further for my project.
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