Hell yeah wildman, ski, board, tube, crack the whip you name it. Both seats can turn and face the back, check out page 7.

I can honestly report that GE 100 % silicone (the window tub and door exterior stuff) when swiped on a hullside, covered with bondo covered with marinetex primed painted, primed and painted again remains flexible and has excellent adhesion properties.


that's right sports fans ge 100% silicone. I knew there was 3 spots that had been repaired, and when the hull was gutted there was nothing to indicate on the inside the damage came thru or leaked. With a spotlight on the outside you could see it was gouges.

the repairs looked like some 14 year old kid was trying to cover up what he did before his parents came home.


patince paid off, paint strpper and razor blades got the hullsides from the blue stripe and down back to gelcoat.

it also removed the red bondo on the right side and the brown bondo on the left side, so a little grinding in just those areas and some tore up mat it'll be back in business.

the repairs and paint were done over brown scummy water stains.


except for what looks like using the boat to ram the trailer, 42 years of neglect, abuse and the work/maintenance completed by Big Jimbo down at uncle jim bob's airboat tours gator rasellin and marine repairs the hull is cleaning up nice.

i'd rather it wore 42 year old gelcoat than that paint job.


i have also come to conclusion that either colonel steve austin with his bionic strenght and speed or samarui night fever taped off the lettering down the hullsides because the razor marks in the gelcoat are almost as bad as the gouges from whatever they hit.

swear to god if the lettering was removed the thing would look like it lost a knife fight.

I wonder if the thought was lay down the silicone to cushion future impacts? Glass Dave should look into this.......

Thanks for all the pictures and the build thread you have some serious determination and patience!

Man I wish I had your patients and fiberglass skills. Have a buddies old Barracuda that I would love to redo as a tribute one day. We brought it back to life once and taught all our kids to ski with it. Then medical issues left it parked in field for 20yrs now.

Nice Work !!

Thank you, but my glass skills are amatuer hour.

I am looking for an excuse to drive back (rather than fly) to cleveland this summer, so ;
what color barricuda ?
running gear wise, how intact is it ? could care less about interior/ stringers gauges and so on
how bad is the trailer ?
how close to free is your buddy willing to let it go for ? I won't charge him to get it out !

Or do you or anyone know where a 16-18 donzi is v drive preferred, not the 50,000 dollar one in n.h. that has grass trees and a pond in it.

***** edit in; not n.h. it was glenn galls ny and the price was 90,000.00 i kid you not, *****
*****page 157 craigslist gold, and i`m still in for 500 bucks if anyone knows the guy *****

Doesn't have to be vdrive, doesn't need engine or drive, its really the year color and deck that makes or breaks it for me.


how do you not want a barricuda and a mustang in your driveway?

there is something like 7 layers on the port and 9 on the starb. The pieces get progressively smaller after the first 3 layers to build back up the deep part of the repair .
Both sides look to be built up enough to grind the countour back in.
going out on a limb and guessing even chopped strand mat bubble rolled out real good might, maybe, possibly have 1/2 the structural integrity as swiped silicone covered with bondo, but that silicone really grabbed on and remained flexible.

Yep that's her, but in Blue with White deck. Heck I'll grab ya a pic when drive by next time. We broke the rudder off, fab'd something up outa stainless, but still needed some work when she was parked. Been so long don't rem what it was.. Only that she's 318 Chrysler powered.

My buddy Greg passed away two years back and thee boat is at a friends house who was gonna try and get it going again for him. I ask that dude about it few months ago, and he said all mine if I want to tackle it. We both kinda just want to see it brought back to life again, Such a beautiful old design, and Greg would be happy just knowing someone took time to restore it rather than scrap it.

Grab several pics, lets see how intact she is. The running gear (shaft strut rudder) is all available new.

Had i researched, would have held off for a barricuda, mustang, wildcat, they're out there, but i didn't know they existed.


I wouldn't hesitate to do another, this nautique i'd sell for what i got in it once it's completed and in the water so i could roll right into another project. All the glass work is done, just down to the touch up gel and rigging, might be back on the trailer this weekend.

all of the landing pads? mounting pads? whatever for the bow eye, tracking fins, water intake, strut, rudder and swim platform are cleaned up drilled and ready, all thru holes were wood is involved have been resin soaked and are ready. All hardware is cleaned and ready to re install.


i have to partially retract and amend an earlier post where i stated the boat was never washed, ever !

It was washed to the bunks, everything below/ inside the bunks were never washed, ever !

mary kate on & off didn't touch, zero results on the brown water stains, the only water stains that were removed was from the paint remover around all the mounting pads for the underwater hardware.


i put 1000 grit on the grinder held it flat on the hull bottom and went to town, the brown water stains came off the hi side of the print thru.
That is not blistering, that's woven roving.
the hull bottom looks like a checker board or frosted miny wheats.

Hi
What an impressive work ...
And what courage when we see the first photos.

It's a real reconstruction of high quality

Congratulations