88 Prostar - Resto - Slight Twist on the Classic (Pics)

[Luv2Ski]

Wanted to share the results of my project boat thus far.

Purchased in late November in pretty sad shape. The previous owner had bought her new and I am sure loved it back in the 80s when he was an avid slalom skier; however, over the years his family grew, a MariStar joined the fleet and this MasterCraft sat at the dock and aged (his wife hated this boat - too "wet"). Bummer for him, great for me.

Picked it up on Craigs list and got to work. At purchase the transmission reverse gear was blown and the front seal leaked about a quart every half hour. He had six quarts of oil in the storage compartments and simply added oil each outing. There was oil everywhere! When I would step out of the boat, I left oily foot prints in my garage. The sun had really taken its toll as well, vinyl shot, carpet shot, gelcoat heavy faded with plenty of chips. Engine ran, but far from well.

I appreciate all the folks who go for the bone stock restoration. I wanted to modernize the look a bit and re-designed the vinyl using some newer styles (like the carbon fiber texture and French seams). I also designed the graphics with the same goal in mind. Pretty happy with the results, but would love to hear opinions from fellow enthusiasts.


In summary:

• Rebuilt transmission
• New prop shaft bearings and stuffing
• Hours of cleaning
• Hours and hours of gelcoat repair and buffing
• TONS of sanding and refinishing to swim platform (thank you belt sander)
• New graphics
• New distributor, plugs, oil sending unit, solenoid, coil
• Rebuilt carburetor
• Rebuild speedometers, added new pitots
• New carpet
• New vinyl and foam
• New bunk carpet
• Powerdcoated black trim pieces, swim step supports, and pylon
• New rubrail
• Reinforced instrument cluster (glass on back)
• New ventilation and heater ducting
• Painted steering wheel
• Painted trailer frame
• Added a wench and bow roller (hated the bar)
• lots other small misc fixes

Finished all this up almost four months ago but was too busy using up spare time skiing to sit down and post pics. It has been a blast and we are looking forward to having this boat in the family for years.


Items I hope to get done this fall:

• Install stereo (have components already)
• Clean underside (has some growth on it)
• Polish trailer fenders (hard to get motivated on this one)
• Install shower
• Install power ports (can’t believe it does not have any)

As many have said... thanks to all those who post on this amazing resource. The many searches I did here saved me countless hours finding solutions to problems. This is an amazing resource.

One thing I really regret is the lack of "in process" pictures I took... pretty dumb of me to take so few, but I was too focused on getting her in the water (Limited time with a wife and young kid deserving the bulk of my attention)

[Luv2Ski]

[Luv2Ski]

And here is the results, exterior pics first.... thanks again to all those who helped

[Luv2Ski]

and finally the interior pictures

[jconover]

sexy bote :-)

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Wow, really nice job. I like the way you made that boat yours.

[spicergregg@yahoo.com]

WOW... Nice job.
What did you do to bring back the swim platform so well?
Thanks

[H20skeefreek]

Very nice work, you should be proud. A+++ on the whole thing.

[Luv2Ski]

Originally Posted by spicergregg@yahoo.com

WOW... Nice job.
What did you do to bring back the swim platform so well?
Thanks

Teak is amazing wood, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the teak turned out. That picture is capturing the teak about three months after I did the work, so it was even a bit better initially.

I first tried mixing up a solution that I have used for years when restoring a log house (1 gallon bleach, 4 gallon water, 4 oz TSP). Sprayed that one, power washed it off. Although it brought the color back, the grain was very lifted (from age not power washing). So, out came the belt sander and the 80 grit followed up with 120.

I removed a lot of material. Probably about 3/16". I actually sanded enough that most of the groves were gone from the surface. Once I had the wood smooth, I used a router to put the groves back. Then finished it with some 220 on the random orbital.

The only disappointment is that I took enough material for some of the stainless nails to start coming through. A dab of black paint on them makes em look like part of the wood grain rather than a shiny metallic dot.

From there, just two coats of teak oil. Little 220 between coats. Did not do any of the high-grit sanding between coats as some others do, I don't like how slippery that can get when you get crazy with the paper.

Overall, probably only have about 2 hours invested in the platform itself. Power tools rock.

[TimfromLowell]

Who did the interior?