My Skater has arrived in Cali for restoration

[at100plus]

The new owner received my Skater and began a complete restoration in order to perfect an already nice Skater. He will be painting the whole boat, gel on the bottom, new interior and some new rigging stuff, like a 5" gps speedo in place of the old Gaffrig liquid speedo. I believe he is having an Optimax 250 built for the boat as crank induction is not allowed on Lake Tahoe.

[at100plus]

2

[at100plus]

3

He began by removing the interior.

[at100plus]

Windshield removed, holes from teak steps and pitot tube being filled as indicated by arrow.

[at100plus]

Is that a Cobra I see in that nice garage?

[at100plus]

Nice I/O powered Superboat in the Garage too! Glad my boat is in good hands now. He'll do all the things I wish I could have done to it.

[GelcoatJoe]

this is the hull ya sold, to relace it wit a hydrostream? dont sound like a smart move to me....but long as ya happy

[CRMERC]

If i am ever At a low point and the dark clouds are over my head please dont try and cheer me up.

[81hydrostream]

Mike those pic must hurt a little to look at but if you look at this way now you will be able to reach that 100 + MPH goal that you could not reach with your skater.

[at100plus]

The Skater was close enough to 100, but there are several things to look at here:

First and foremost - Skater = $15,000 boat and trailer.

Hydrostream = 1/3 that cost

Baby coming in the summer.

Skater 97.9 MPH great in rough water, poor acceleration, and terrible turning.

Virage - 100+ versatile ski boat, turns on a dime, will accelerate like an STV with my PM 300, has a little lay down cabin more interior rm/storage, and don't need such a big tow vehicle.

The Skater was a bad ass boat, I'm not knocking it at all, I loved that boat, but believe me, this was a smart move.

[Scream And Fly]

I'm going to miss that boat... Some good memories there.

But the Virage is really awesome too - I think Mike made the right move - family comes first, and I think his future boat goals will be worth this move.

Greg

[blkmtrfan]

Originally posted by Scream And Fly
I think Mike made the right move - family comes first,
Greg

Agreed, I personally had practical boats for about ten years before I got something fun again (still have a family cruiser too) Boating with the kids is an awsome thing and I would reccomend it to anyone

[beer30]

IN JULY, MIKE WILL HAVE A SON AND WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH HIM EVERYTHING HE KNOWS ABOUT BOATS AND THE WATER. I KNOW
I ALWAYS HAVE ALOT FUN TALKING TO MY SON (HE'S FOURTEEN) ABOUT IT. HE LOVES FAST BOAT LIKE I DO. SO YOU ARE DEAD RIGHT blkmtrfan, FAMILY IS #1. ALSO THE TWO BOAT THING IS
THE WAY TO GO. A FAMILY BOAT AND A FUN(FAST) BOAT.

[David]

A lot of kids have spent time in that Virage. Its a great kid boat. My brother's kids were even on TV in the boat at one of the Muskoka Poker runs.

David (except for a bit of snow, a former owner of Mike's Virage)