89 Supra Saltair Project

Ok so I decided to make my newest project public and post pics of what im doing on here I hope you guys chime in with some tips and tricks maybe places to get cheap parts and hopefully help me out with bringing this beast back to life and maybe making her even better then what she was originally designed to do.
What I have to work with is an 89 Supra Saltair competition ski boat here are some pics and I hope to have more of her out on the lake tomorrow

IMO you should ditch the step. Just did a lot of work on my Supra, so if you need advice I can help. Good luck!

I will be watching! 87 SunSport here.

Good Project

Yeah the swim step is gone all the interior in the back is out for now. I have plans on redoing the swim platform out of teak I hate that aluminum. For now I have all the oil changed a new battery and everything starting and running like it should I think so I’m off to the lake to see how bad she takes on water if everything is ok I will put some sacks in it to see what kind of wake I can get out of her. Pics and the end result coming tonight when I get back from the lake.

If you redo the back seat remember to make room for a sac! Put another in the rear ski locker. I used Fly High locker sacs, you should go bigger.

The swim platform is aluminum??? The whole thing? Woah.

If your needing parts for your boat call Jim Jackson at viper customs his number is 865-388-4096 he has more older supra parts than anyone I have ever seen and makes some of the best looking custom parts,my boat is there right now being completly redone. He worked for skiers choice for several years and is now in the old supra plant give him my name (jason) and you should get a little discount.

Soften the edges on the platform and Line-X it. Finally something you can coat that the teak lovers won't freak out about. I might try lining mine but I'm afraid of the teak lovers on this board. Shoot I'll probabaly take crap for thinking about it.

that boat will be sweet when your done.

Very nice choice for a project boat you'll be pleased when you're done with her. Definitely keep us updated with pics

Ok its been a long day but it was well worth it only had one blow out on the way to the lake. Once I got there the neutral safety switch gave out and the boat would not start. That got taken care of fairly quick but while me or Dave ware messing with that the shifter linkage got moved and the boat would not go forward just reverse which I found about 10 feet before I hit the dock thank god for the sturdy aluminum swim deck. Once we got that taken care off it was pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of the day except the weird vibration coming from the prop or the shaft that will be one more thing on my to do list now. Once I was satisfied with the way she was running we pumped up the sacs and I got my board out I left my board shorts in the truck so I just went in my work jeans.
500# in the nose 200# port rear 200# starboard rear one of those huge white Costco coolers in the back full of water and two somewhat skinny guys made out for a very nice wake. I would have to say very similar to my buddies SAN running about 1500# to 2000#. I can also tell just by the way they ware pulling me out that 454 in there could not even feel the weight so there is plenty more room for additional ballast.

Ok of the lake and back to my buddy house the tower had to get done today for some reason I don’t know what got in to us but im glad its done with.

Don't drink and install towers

It only took as about 3 hrs from start to finish granted every thing almost fit and we only had to cut a few of our bolts to make them work properly what do you guys think?



And about all the scuff and sharpie marks those all come out I was just in a hurry to take the pics before it got dark

Next time try the surf wave.

OK ok post the tower on right now.

What kind of tower is that, it looks great. I looked at one of these years back. It was a steal, but I couldn't move on it at the time. I would like to have one for a surf machine.

The surf wake looked really good bud I forgot to take pics of it and I did not have my surfboard with me at the time

its a mc tower I think from an x45

You will definately want to reprop that boat if it hasnt been already. Same boat with around 2000 pounds and the 454 could not get on plane with stock prop. With that boat, the hard part is getting a steep wake farther back. We have tried every combination imaginable and if you want to ride 75 ft back at like 23, the wake is rampy. great for into the flats though. And the double ups were always good


I know it looks photoshopped but its not. The pic got messed up when it was compressed

Looks good

wakeboarding in jeans, you may have started a new fad.

"
I might try lining mine but I'm afraid of the teak lovers on this board.
"


GET HIM !!!!

I’m pretty sure that the swim deck on my boat was teak at one time and my goal is to have the boat look as original as I can get it to look so I’m keeping an eye out for someone with a cheap teak deck that either wants to trade me or sell me there’s plus I love the way teak looks and its not that hard to maintain it. It is about 30$ of teak oil per year if you buy it from West Marine I’m pretty sure I can find it for half that per gallon on ebay or something and it takes about 5 min to put on with a sprayer two or tree times per year.

Man I have been trying to start a fad with wakeboarding in cut of jeans for like a year and no one picks up on it and the first time I do it in regular jeans it’s probably going to take off like wild fire.




By the way I call them my super air naughtyques they give me the speed and maneuverability of a cheetah out three can’t wait for it to warm up enough so I don’t have to wear the stupid wet suit any more

I've got an 87 here.... you've got work to do!

Surf Wake is AWESOME on this boat with a LOT of weight in the back.... I've never had much success getting a great wakeboard wake, but I haven't focused too much time on it.

Good luck!

bosworth where's the pics? Surf pix please?

You're going to have to wait a couple of months. Snow storm is rolling in as we speak. I weight mine with 2200lbs port and behind the doghouse. Everyone who's ever been on it has been really impressed with the surf wake.

Never had any success adding more weight to the front for either wakeboard or surf wakes. I've also never played with the wakeplate which I'm sure could make a big difference in things. Overall... good boat... good wakes... but.... CHECK THE WOOD FOR ANY ROTTING!

500 in the playpen and 500 on each side of the engine is a good starting point. if you put any in the rear locker, put twice as much in the bow...i never really had much luck using that locker for weight. i've got an 87 also.

What size prop are you guys running with the 454?

"so I don’t have to wear the stupid wet suit any more"

Please don't post those pics when you do! I hope I speak for every male on this board!

I am diggin' the boat though! I really like the lines...That sucker looks like it would plow through some rough water!

Sounds like you guys each weight your Salts differently.

In my SunSport I've heard people doing different things too. Personally I say 50/50 or 40front/60rear for older Supras.

The reason is that the extra-deep vee in the nose:
-Bow weight makes the wake table much higher and the wake much bigger rampier. Too much in the bow and it is no good.
-Rear weight makes the wake much steeper and the pop much more abrupt. Rear-heavy weighting works well, but it can be bigger with a more balanced load imo.

87SunSport

Totally different animal than the SunSport imo. What is logical on every boat we have ever dealt with and the formulas that work for every other boat just dont work from our experiences. The surf wake is awesome though. When we could get the wake big it was at like 55 feet. When we would add weight to the front, speed up, or adjust the plate, the wake would just get so rampy it would pretty much dissappear. The pic I posted is an 89 saltaire (fiberglass swim platform btw and 8 its original)with probably 6-8 people well placed in the boat and a few440lb fly high sacs. Probably 1200 lbs or so of ballast. At one point we had a fly high triangle sac full up front plus 440 up there, two 440s in the back a couple 150s in the middle and the boat wouldnt get on plane at all. Moved the trim plate all the way down and it still wouldnt do it. It would be awesome if someone figured something out.

i agree ^, sunsports are alot easier to load up.

i've got an acme 541...13x12 i think. you can pull a pretty good load. 1500 lbs and 6 people wasn't too bad. it's been reworked a couple of times and lost some of the bite though.

i put the wakeplate all the way down when i got it, never tried anywhere else.

i like your tower, the boat almost looks a bit small but it looks real stout.

Guys sorry for posting SunSport info on the Saltaire thread.

But about the wake plate...down all the way is about the worst place to have it. It completely ruins your wake. All the way up is the standard position. Putting it about 10% down makes the wake/wave steeper, this is the ideal position. About 20-25% down is the maximum recommended in the manual and is the best position for cruising only.

Again, once you get past 10% down the wave is absolutly a ton smaller. This is how you make the slalom wake. It should be all the way up or 10% down is best.

Mine is hydrolic so I run it in all positions.

I have got a 86 Saltare I am rebuilding. You will love the boat. I have got the wake to be dailed in, it is as big as anything I have seen.

Hey inverts good to see you again! Lets see them wake pics!

you're right mikey...i meant plate is all the way up

Oh I shoulda guessed :P Have you tried it 10% down? Try it it makes the wakes cleaner, steeper and puts a nice peak on 'em.

Alex were you able to hide any of those sacs under the seats? Give it a try.

Did you say the tower was from a MC X45?? Interesting. It looke like it used to have swivel board racks there on the tower. Cool!

Yes the tower is from a MC x45 and it did have the swivel board racks witch I am looking for but for $350 for the tower it was a no brainier.

No there is no seats in the back I pulled everything out so I can work on it once I get everything figured out mechanically I will start working on the interior. I’m planning to reinforce the ski locker in the back so I can put a sack in it and I’m planning to build the base for the back seat all one piece like a bench seat so I can fill that up to. My goal is to have all my ballast under the seats and out of site I don’t want to have to be jumping over bags having them roll around plus I want to make everything automated so I just flip a switch and if fills up

Very nice Alex. The boat looks great. That is a steal for that tower.

sale-nqejp-1100279789@craigslist.org
He has one more for sale I think they are warranty towers from mc that he replaced the broken parts on

Alex did you just get lucky and your Salt was the right width?? I know that can be difficult. Dang with that cheap of a tower get a swivel board rack!

Good idea about the rear bench seat, heck you could almost make a wrap around rear bench seat almost like a vdrive in that big boat lol! That's what I did in my SunSport too, rebuilt the rear seat to hold a 370lb sac. Another in the rear ski locker.

What about up front? Some people like the bow sac but it is so huge and takes up your WHOLE open bow. The Supras have such a large open bow I decided to get two v-drive sacs 400lbs ea. Then the sacs tuck into the corners of the open bow and you still have a lot of space under the cushins!

Yeah I got a bit lucky on the tower. We had to squeeze it in about 1’’ in the back and it fit perfectly and for the front I had to remove the mounting brackets you can see them in the pics that the tower is hanging off the crane and just bolt directly in to the tower from underneath it was a pain in the ass and I still have sharpie all over the place from marking everything up. But everything bolted down and perfectly and is laying flat and snug. And like someone said earlier I think the tower is a bit big for the boat and maybe sitting about 6” to 10” further back than I think it should but for $ 350 I am willing to overlook that plus anything else that is remotely close to that price lets say about double has the stupid swivel joints that fit any boat that which I know is practical but at the same time I think it looks very silly.

Ok I have a question my prop is bent and I am getting a very bad vibration I can pick up a brand new OJ 3 blade 13x13 for $150 or a brand new steel something I cant remember the name 4 blade 13x13 for like $200 what are you guys running in your boats do you think that pop will work. Im also thinking I might just pick up the OJ since it is so cheap and use it as a spear if it does not work out for me when the boat is loaded down stock prop on that boat is 14x13

the tower on my boat was originally made for a maristar but it didn't fit right, windshield wouldn't open all of the way. got it installed for $600.

acme recommended a 13x12 when i talked to them a few years ago. you're looking at around $100 to re-work your prop...i'd take the new oj for $150 and go from there.

Ok got the prop figured out can you guys chime in on some kind of speed control system I have heard of perfect pass what else is out there that might work with this boat what are you guys running as far as a speed control on the older boats

PerfectPass is the way to go, but I don't know of many people that have spent the money to upgrade an older boat.

I think the tower looks great but is a hair further back than I would have put it.

Are you sure it's your prop? Might be a bent propshaft or worn bearings or a number of other things. I'd have the prop checked as a starting point and go from there. One things for sure... don't run it with any vibration back there or you're just going to cause more problems.

man that boat looks sick with that tower, nice job.

Perfect Pass and Zero Off are the two brands. They are pretty similar. There is a cheap option called PP Cruise $700, but it is not as good as PP Wakeboard Pro which is the gold standard $1300 new.

If you are handy you can try ski-it-again.com. People sell the components and you can install yourself for about $6-700.

Nice looking boat I have an 86 saltare. Check out my thread on how I installed 2k lbs internal ballast.

Hey Jason very nice that thread gave me a lot of ideas.

I have another question for you guys what is the material they use on the newer boats seat bottoms it looks like some kind of plastic fiber board what is that called and where can I get some?

Ok one step forward ten back just ended up splitting the boat to replace the floor and and install the built in ballast system check out the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU2kQ-JodfI

Alex, are you in Phoenix? That looked like Saguaro in one pic and Roosevelt in another.

Yes I am and the is Barttlet in all of them

Alex -- Sorry to hear about another Supra with cancer. At this point it's probably worth noting that (in my opinion) all the Supras from the mid 80s have cancer and are rotted to hell.

Welcome to the club... plenty of people over at the supra bbs that have tackled this. Looks like you've got a handle on it after that video. In hindsight I wish I had split my cap instead of avoiding that step like the plague.

Actually splitting only took me about 1 hr to take out all the screw and drill the rivets out and and about 20 min to rig it up and lift it out of the way. Now that i have it open its not that bad maybe one or two spots that are a bit rotted but the main reason I split it is cuz I can and I wanted to see what under there and make sure its in good shape I want to fiber glass a new deck on it and then I want to use some kind of bedliner material for the whole inside of the boat. We go out about two times a week maybe 3 year round and especially in the winter I know that boat will not be drying out verry well so I want to spend a bit more time and $$ now but know that I have a solid ride that I wont have to worry about getting water in

i think you'll prob find the stringers rotted every 3 or 4' where the factory notched them for cross-supports. you've made the right decision though if you're going to keep it.

this is an 87 saltare

I just bought a 84 Supra Rider. I had the same wake plate on the back of mine. I asked several people about the plate. Most said to lower it as far down as I could. Some said to lift it as far as I could. Tried both neither made the difference I was looking for because the plate doesn't move much at all. One person said to take it off completely. I was going to remove the plate and put the screws back with silicone but somewhere along the way someone used rivets to hold it on. I took a cut off wheel and cut it about 1/2 inch from the transom and the wake is outstanding now. So if it is still there cut it off you will not be disappointed.

The you tube video of this project was great-- that Supra is going to be nice when it's all said & done! Let us know if we can help you get that thing ready to go!

Jeff Brandon
Surfside Marine Service
150 S. Dobson
Mesa, AZ 85202
480-969-5006}