1987 Baja inboard ski boat resto-mod

[djrowe007]

What up guys, I am a 4 year marine technician by trade and a life time boater. I just bought this boat a few years ago and I pick at it here and there but it is my first try at refurbishing a boat. I bought this boat with the intention to go through it 100% to learn and have fun. Just turned 30 so hopefully this will be the final career choice for myself and I enjoy it every minute. Certified officially a Mercury and Mercruiser tech adds to my balance of mechanical and cosmetic repair abilities. I keep buying new tools to do the job myself for my home use and have access to almost anything I need with some limitations...
​
​I plan to re-spray gel on this boat as well as do the entire stringer, floor layup, dashboard, re-wiring, engine sandblasting and painting, and add some special touches like maybe a water ballast system for when I feel like wakeboarding. I even bought a sewing machine from sailrite so I can do all the vinyl work on the interior.

​This boat was a ROT box from the beginning and I knew it. People have gotten better deals on here I see (free) but for 1,000 dollars, a good engine, boat to fart around on why not. I can't lose on this project because I will enjoy it for a while after I am done and then maybe sell it.

​I bought rolls of different fiberglass (1708 and csm) so I will have extra when I am done to practice building a canoe. I want to eventually make myself a carbon fiber canoe that my uncle paid $1,900 for.

​Anyway here are the photos, let me know what you think. If you have ever seen a 1987 Baja ski boat before let me know because I can't find ANY information about this thing anywhere. They must have given up on the ski boat industry pretty quickly (obviously).

​Dan

 

[djrowe007]

No Title

 

[djrowe007]

No Title

 

[djrowe007]

No Title

 

[djrowe007]

No Title

 

[bajaunderground]

I like them Baja's the ski boats were somewhat of a rarity? The gel coat looks to be in great shape?! But I cannot see what you see? Overall, $1,000.00 ain't too bad for an inboard? You've got a great start already, although your dog is not impressed!!

Cheers!

 

[Timr71]

I've never seen a Baja inboard. Looking good so far.

 

[djrowe007]

I like them Baja's the ski boats were somewhat of a rarity? The gel coat looks to be in great shape?! But I cannot see what you see? Overall, $1,000.00 ain't too bad for an inboard? You've got a great start already, although your dog is not impressed!!

Cheers!

​The gel coat you actually see is paint. I believe in one of the photos I uploaded it shows the transom in the back half sanded. You can clearly see the original lines next to the painted lines and they don't match up. The baja was a 3 tone color too, Orange on top, yellow stripe and a white bottom. I want to get ahold of Baja and find some info on this boat to see how many they actually produced. I don't think there were many because I can't find maybe more than one other boat on google images haha. Regardless I wanted to re-spray the boat with gelcoat for practice even if it didn't need it and the paint job was actually pretty decent. 100 Percent job on this restore I don't want to go through all this work and take a few shortcuts.

 

[Timr71]

So, is this model called the Ski Sport? If yes, then this boat was US AWSA approved for towing waterski tournaments. It was only approved for the 1987 model year. I wonder what the slalom wake is like.

 

[djrowe007]

So, is this model called the Ski Sport? If yes, then this boat was US AWSA approved for towing waterski tournaments. It was only approved for the 1987 model year. I wonder what the slalom wake is like.

​I wish I knew there was a way to identify what model it was. I have to call Baja and get some more info.

​I just sent an email through Baja's website. I have a feeling it will go to a local Baja dealer and I'll get a busy sales guy that wont have time to look. We are slow up here now from all the rain we had this summer so maybe I'll get lucky.

 

[djrowe007]

Just did some searching under 1987 Baja Ski Sport and I saw 3-4 different boats with different colors. Thanks for the info Timr71! A guy tried to sell his for 9,000 in 2015 looks like with a bunch of interior work done from the floor up.

 

[bajaunderground]

A few years back, before Baja changed hands and then bankrupt, Baja used to have an online catalog of all their old model/years etc...I downloaded my 1982 BR186 brochure...post the boat up on checkmateboats.com. I bet the checkmate purist will know the history. Both manufactures are from the same area of Ohio, as a matter of fact, Baja's first hull molds were shared or old checkmate hulls molds (splashes)...there's some animosity between the two companies..or at least there was. In the 90's Baja went to cheaper manufacturing techniques (compared the Checkmates old Bajas) and got all fat and bloated, but sold many more boats than Checkmate. This is all based off my fuzzy memory...

Can't wait to see her all dolled up!

Cheers,
Brett

 

[djrowe007]

Thanks I will check that.

 

[djrowe007]

I will be updating this post after years of very slow work! I am starting to paint the bilge and exterior walls. Fiberglass is mostly all finished at least for the floor and stringers.

 

[djrowe007]

As you can see, I have done a lot, but not a lot for 6 years. haha. I put fairing compound on the floor, it was outside and got rained on for 5 months before I shrink wrapped the boat and stained a little bit (the brownish floor). I will sand it good again and put one more layer of fairing compound on floor. Then I will spray (maybe roll) white gelcoat with some soft sand non skid flooring material. I don't want to spray because It's in a garage with a lot of stuff I don't want to get overspray on right now but I would prefer it. For a non skid flooring though I think rolling will be just fine though. P.S. I think I lost a motor mount.

 

[Timr71]

Cool! Thanks for the update. Please keep updating the thread.