1987 SUPRA SunSport.........First Run W/ PICTURES

so two weekends ago My dad and my two friends drove four hours and picked up this 1987 Supra. We got a great deal on it and we also got a couple fat sacs (no clue how much they weigh but we gladly took them). That day we ordered a black tower to match the trim on the window. I read the other post on the Supra and I knew that it would be a pretty good boat if there was that many people that used them for wakeboarding. We also ordered two more sacs for it and we have four black polk speaker cans; which is really exciting. It has NO stereo right now so we will have to get a head unit and stuff......

Here are the original pictures from the for sale ad online:

Here are the Pictures from Putting on the Tower:

Stretching Her Legs for the First time in two years........
hooking up the Black Pearl


Trying to get her started.... it was cold 48 degrees


Just about to take off

Thats a sweet boat.

Thats a scary trailer.

The first Set.......
My Brave friend tested the waters and the tower

I had 3 wetsuits on..... I know; I just hate cold water and there was still ICE on the southwest shore of the lake.

it was still cold.....

slashing it up.... but too cold to jump

the wake with three in the boat and no ballast

unless only towing that thing a few miles you need a better trailer.

I was going to comment on the trailer too I just realized you have no winch . . . . . That trailer is salvageable you just need to get a couple things for it to be safe for your new toy

I'm fairly certain that trailer would't pass an inspection. Be careful.

I know...... I really hate the trailer!!! I am scared driving it two miles. Do you guys know of a good place to get one?

(Message edited by BURBERRY03 on May 05, 2008)

Hey Montey, I found a trailer for a 21' inboard and it is rated for the right weight but it is only a single axle..... Do you think I could use it?

oh yea you should definitely be able to use it

by the way how old is the vinyl in your boat ?

its all the original ('87)decals and we started to take it off but it was cold and the heat gun wasnt doing much help. It is still a work in progress and we have some ideas for the new graphics

I also decided to do the same as you with the teak; I got it rino lined at the dealership I work at and it lookes awesome!!! Thanks for the Idea!!

rhino lined teak looks awesome and you never have to worry about sanding and oiling it again I like it

looks like you need a mirror.

hahaha..... good call, yeah is funny because in all the pictures we are not looking where we are going I just noticed that now that you said that!

(Message edited by BURBERRY03 on May 05, 2008)

another perfect example

Simon! That girl looks great!!!

Looks like we're on the same page, I drove about 4-5 hours also from MN, to WI to get our 87 SunSport! We test drove it, but the river was crowded and the water choppy from wind. But it drove, sounded and looked great!

Your wake looks great! You sure got a lot of sacs!

Where in MN are you? We should keep in touch with similar first inboards in the same state!

Thanks for posting these great pics!

Sunsports are the $h|t !!!

Is that the diywake tower. Get you the pro wakeboard racks and the mirror arm when you get a chance, it makes the tower look way better.

That's what I have on my 82 Ski Nautique 2001

The maiden voyage. Nice. tower looks good and solid.

i don't think the mirror is a necessity if you have a spotter, not in Tx anyway. just add it the list of things to work into the budget.

Looks like a successful trip!

Congrats on a successful first run and props on taking a ride behind your new prized possession in spite of the cold.

Hey..wheres the long waiting line at the ramp? jet

We dont have ramp lines here in the land of ten thousand wakes. Did you know MN has the most boat ownership of any state other than FL? And no ocean! Dang I wish we had an ocean. And some warm weather. Darn Florida how come they get to be so special.

I like your black mooring cover, Simon. Is that a travel cover too? My SunSport came with the open-bow snap on cover, but not the rear one. I don't need a mooring cover because I have a boat lift. I don't need a really expensive/nice travel cover because I don't plan on doing much traveling.

But if I could find the main portion of the snap-on cover for under $200 or so I would buy it. Just the part that snaps on the windshield and covers the boat back from there.

ON my previous boast, I just wanted to provide proof. FL is #1 in the overall number of boats. MN is fourth overall. But in per capita, we are #1, and FL #20. WI is #2 (as usual).

A much higher percentage of people in MN enjoy boating and boarding! Hmm I wonder if that means boarding per capita here is higher as well! MN could be the capital of wakeboarding....per capita. lol.

Oh, here's my link: http://phoenix.about.com/od/lakes/l/blboats.htm It's some ladys blog, but at the bottom of her post are USCG boating stats.

Simon Irish,
The black cover is nice. Did you buy or did that come with the boat? I love those old supras! I have an 86 Marauder but wish it was an open bow but i still love it.

I have to say posts like this get me more excited than the guy that just got the $50 - $75k MC,BU,or CC. There is something BIG to the idea that you got what you needed you did everything yourself and your out shredding having a great time with your friends. Congrats man have a freaking great summer. I am in Florida and hate the damn cold water in January so don't worry about the three wet suits.

WakeMikey, I saw your post and thats what made me want this boat.... so we drove four hours to Shakopee MN and picked her up for $5600 with a Stainless shorestation boat lift, cover (basically a dust cover), joystick, and 2 fatsacs. I am extremely jealous of your trailer!!!! I really dont trust the one she came with.

If you have not bought a tower yet I really like the DIY towers.

Montey I agree with you 100% on that! It sounds so sweet too! I will have to put some pics on the swim deck on here for you!!

Brandon, that tower is DIYwake and I is awesome! We were really happy with how it turned out. We have the speakers on their way but we are still looking for black racks..... know of any good deals?????

Nacho, the mirror is in to works but maybe a year or two down the road...... We will have plenty of spotters

Stephen, the first run was AWESOME I think we all just had a good time driving it!!!! I am excited for the rest of the summer.

Jet, We were the only ones out there...... there were people standing and watching in disbelief Water was about 40 degrees and 48 for outside temp.

Snippy, the cover came with the boat and looks good but cant be used for transportation and water still gets under it....... but i like the way it looks and it protects the interior from the sun.

Tampawake, this supra was about $5,600 and I love it! It runs and puts out a good wake and thats all I need right now!!! I agree with you about the people buying new boats.... there just is no personality with them...... ours is 20 years old and still going strong! We named her THE BLACK PEARL. I know she will bring alot of joy everyone this summer.

We are thinking about getting a wrap made for it and so we through it in paint and this is what we thought would look the best..... its nothing special but I thought it looked nice.
Now


Future

here is the 3 dollar question; now that you have "The Pearl", are you gonna keep the girlfriend with the X Star?

HAHAHAHAHAHA, that is the funniest thing ive heard today............ welllll, I'm gonna keep her around!!!! I am the only one that uses the X-star

and shes way cool about me wakeboarding too......

Dude! You got that boat for only $5600? Is everything okay with the floor, etc? How many hours did you say? I wonder why it would be marked so much lower than mine at $7500. Although I know that trailer is worth a bit more...

DUDE I drove 5 hours when there was the same boat in Shakopee a half hour from me?! Dang! LOL! Now that it's yours, could I ask how you found yours? I found mine on iboats.com

Simon was your interior redone? I only ask because I don't see the same accents along the seams of your seats. Mine are grey seats with red piping. Just wondering.

I think you have a WHOLE lot of other things to spend money on before you start worrying about a wrap.

I actually found the boat on Craigslist.org. It is all in perfect condition but the trailer is gonna have to be replaced if were are going to trailer is around and trailers are expensive. Yes, the guy that owned the boat before remodeled houses for a living and he re-did all the interior including the framing for the seats (used teak)

(Message edited by burberry03 on May 06, 2008)

opps and it has 720 hours on it.

yeah Clint, shes got alot of work ahead of her (trailer, racks, system,...) I was just bored at work and thinking about the possibilites.

SDUB that malibu is sick!

The Black Pearl; a budget boat that will outperform all other boats on the lake once all mods are done and completed.

Well not to scare you or anything but when I see the interior has been redone, I think what did they DO to it to make the interior need to be redone. Left in sun or rain or something that could adversly affect the stringers/floor.

If they are solid, way to get a great find!!!!!!!

I've talked to a lot of people with older boats that needed to replace a couple cushions or the whole rear seat from normal wear and tear and they just went ahead and replaced all the interior in the boat so it would match and look good so that could be the reason . . . .

I actually asked the previous owner, super nice guy in his late 50's, about the reason for replacing it and he said the he had some spare time after a surgery and between jobs and he just thought that she needed the update (20 years old and trends change)...... he did alot of wood work too. Everything looks great and is in great condition! Super happy with it.

You are the luckiest person I know!!!!

What lakes do you ride?
If you ever in the bemidji/walker area hit me up if you need a extra.


The boat looks good.

Ethan. We usually ride on Pelican Lake, Hoot or Long Lake near Fergus Falls. We have a trailer, probably getting a newer one, so might be trailering a little bit this summer. Hit us up if you are ever in the Fargo area. That's where we live at. If you are as stoked about this summer as we are, you should definitely tag along. How do you like the boat?

Hey Ethan, I have some friends of the family that live on Leach Lake in Walker and we trailered my parents boat there last year and maybe we will do that again this year. I dont know if you have heard of fishhook lake? but my family stayed there for a week last summer too..... its kindof in that same area.

Hey mikey we will probably be even with your lower hours and good trailer....... so basically same deal Just as lucky as us.

I have to admit, that boat is rockin' hard and your stoke is off the hook! There's nothing like scoring your first? ride and applying your personal touches. And I agree that new boats don't have the character of a classic ride.

Congrats on the Sunsport!!

I know I am so jacked about the boat. We pulled the yellow, orange, red and blue stripe this weekend and ran all the wires on the tower put the tower speakers on and ran all new speaker wire for the rest of the boat and now waiting for warm weather!!!!!

old decals gone and speakers installed

what kind of fading on the gel coat did you have around the stickers?

there was some, but the fact that it is a white gel coat really helped us out. It is really hard to see it sometimes but in the right light you can. We are going to polish it out this weekend. I just talked to a guy today that wraps race cars and he is going to shoot us a price.

I was pretty happy with the results after we pulled the decals. From about 30+ feet away you can't tell at all. Once we buff out the body it will be very worth it.

What did you use to get the old stickers off??

I heat gun, razor blade, and time. Recommend doing it in the sunlight.

So this weekend I let my two friends take out the boat and they really messed up the prop pretty bad and hopefully nothing else!!!! Where is a good place to find a good low end torque prop at a decent price?
Thanks

Sounds like two friends needs to cough up some money!

looks good!

Awww MAN that stinks! I hope they know this ain't no I/O prop that is cheaply fixed!

There are a few sites to find cheaper or used props. Here's prolly the best one I have found.... Let me know if this link doesn't work for you.

http://waterski.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=waterski&cdn=sports&tm=1687&gps=51_9_797_16 4&f=10&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.ski-it-again.com/

If its not stainless, and depending on how bad it is, a prop shop can heat a reshape your prop.

Also think about shaft alignment. Def want to check the clearances if you just replace the prop. check your strut too.

Ok, how do I know what to get? is it a left hand or right hand? I pretty much want something with power out of the hole and hardly any top end.

racks come in next week I think.

looks like you already got a couple racks.

Okay youa re right the intior is PRISTINE!!! Congrats!! Are you thinking of taking out the old pylon? Also have you gotten to try that surfer yet????! Still seeking wake details!

Yeh, surfing was great and we used no ballast just three people sitting on the back with their feet on the swim deck.

For wakeboarding we have not had the greatest conditions but with about 1100 lbs of ballast and 3-4 people we had a really nice wake.

probably LH. look at the engine side of the prop, stamped around the hub will be the size, pitch and rotation.

SWEET! JUST ORDERED THE ACME 541!!!!

wake pics ?

still waiting on the prop..... it wont be next weekend either..... going to PWT in the cities

Simon - I got mine to surf the other day for the first time. Lets compare! I used a 680lb sac in the rear ski locker and had three people all sitting on the port side grabrail of the with their feet on the floor. One person driving.

With the people all on one side the whole boat was tipped and the wake was great! At least waist high and super clean! It really helped to make a crisp clean wave to have the boat listing / leaning like that.

I would say it even helped more than the fat sac in the locker! In the near future I will try just the fat sac on the port side. Sometimes I don't have a lot of poeple in the boat, or even just a driver and rider, and it would be great to get a simple system all dialed inn. W

ouldn't it be great to have an awesome wake with only using one sac? Save gas money and motor wear.

One sac in the ski locker to wake if there are people in the boat, else one in the bow if you're alone. Then drain those and have just one along the port motorbox for surfing! If only it could be more out of the way.....

dude, love your passion, and great posts

WakeMikey, thats awesome! we had no sacs and just two 200lb guys sitting with their feet on the teak and it put out a decent wake for surf. It wasnt anything huge but it was surfable on both sides!!!!! We actually got it to have a little pipe action!!!!

epic1, thanks dude!!! I am super excited to finally have a boat I can ride whenever/ wherever I want. It makes wakeboarding way more stress free.

Question:

So we got a new prop in and now we are looking at getting it put on; we tried the other night to get it on but it wouldnt give..... anyone know how to get the prop off easily?

Get a prop puller. They are easy to use and maybe a rubber mallet to tap the back of the prop puller to loosen it up. When putting it back on don't forget to put in the rectangular wedge in the shaft where the prop slides in.

we took it in and got it done..... it was pissin me off It cost $50

Hope you got a good deal on the prop! Did Acme explain why we should use 3 blade and not 4? Should make slow speed driving a snap!