New member here, just bought first American Skier- 88 Advance

[RamRod]

Shyskier thanks! In fact I just rebuilt the carb today. Need to get the fuel tank, fuel lines. Water hoses and exhaust hoses replaced then I can start it up

[backfoot100]

Welcome. Sorry for delayed response. Been very busy.

You should take some time with one of your favorite beverages and start reading posts here. You'll be amazed how much you find out and you'll soon become pretty much an expert.
Agree that there is a reason that marine specific parts are made other than just to charge you considerably more than an equivalent automotive part. They're designed to prevent your boat from going boom in case you get an engine compartment full of gas fumes. Ive heard the argument that you just run the blower longer before you start it. You can run the blower for an hour before you start it and it won't do you a bit of good if you spring a leak and start pouring gas into the bilge after its running. That's just an explosion waiting to happen.
Carbs, distributors, alternators, fuel pumps and starters are designed specifically for marine environments. Don't cheap out and use automotive parts in their place.

[RamRod]

Thank you for the advice backfoot100. I do plan on using all marine grade equipment. I’m really dying to get this thing running on the hose and then eventually I’m the water.

What are your guys thoughts on testing the boat in salt water? I live right next to a marina with a nice and calm harbor. Same old story just flush the engine after wards and give the whole boat a good wash or with these type of boats is in not recommended?

[backfoot100]

Run it in salt as long as you don't have aluminum exhaust manifolds or risers. Salt water and aluminum don't play nice together. Normally a salt engine has a closed cooling system to keep the engine salt free but I know a lot who do it. The biggest problem is that the exhaust manifolds and risers only last about 3-5 years in a salt environment. If you don't keep an eye on that, the manifolds/risers will start to leak into the head and then you have real issues.

[RamRod]

I plan on running the gps speedometer from the store here. Going to remove the air guides off the transom which are broken anyway. Going to seal the holes up where the air guides went. What do you guys recommend I put into those holes to seal it up? Boatlife, 5200, Marine Tex?

[backfoot100]

Either 5200 or 4200. 5200 is more permanent. Normally I would recommend 4200 for anything that may possibly need to be removed at a later date. In this case 5200 makes more sense.

[RamRod]

Awesome thank you.

I’ve been meaning to ask, how does my 88 Advance ride in the water? Say just cruising around with the family. I have two kids ages 9 and 3 and my wife. The boat will be on lake havasu Arizona mostly. How smooth is the ride and how does it handle? The two previous boats I’ve been on were a 2007 4 cylinder bayliner 17 foot bow rider and the other is a brand new 22 foot pontoon boat with 90 horse mercury 4 stroke outboard. I’m hoping the boat feels nice and stable, is fairly fast, and handles well. How does it do in the chop? I don’t see a lot of reviews for boats like mine as far as general driving experience. I know for it’s time it was a very expensive boat so I assume it blows the bayliner away in all categories besides gas mileage...thoughts?

[backfoot100]

This boat was designed for a specific purpose...to give the best possible ski experience to the guy hanging on behind you. That also means that the driver has to be constantly aware of his surroundiings so the skier can just concentrate on the job at hand.
What that means from a driver perspective is that the bow doesn't raise to obstruct view when you hit it. In fact nothing gets obstructed from a drivers perspective to keep every thing around you in check from a safety standpoint. The seat is the most comfortable you'll ever sit in. The gauges are always easily readable. The throttle/shift position and operation is smooth as silk which is why the tranny is named Velvetdrive.
From a performance perspective this thing is a Ferrari on water. Holeshot is like nothing else youve experienced and it turns like its on rails. Top speed should be someplace around 45 MPH.

The down side is riding in chop sux. Period. The flat bottom hull gives an amazing ski wake but in anything above 6" chop its a ball beater. I ain't gonna sugar coat it.
Because the rudder is seperate from the prop it also isn't very responsive in low speed manuevering.....aka docking. The physics of the prop going in reverse makes it back up in one direction only. In your case it'll back up to the right. While it can be daunting at first, it really is very easy to adjust to it with a little experience. As such, I now find these boats much easier to maneuver around a dock than a outboard or I/O. Mostly because of the shifting. Bumping a little bit back and forth from neutral to forward or reverse makes the docking experience much easier to appreciate.

[RamRod]

Wow really 6” of chop and it’s unbearable? I’ve been in semi bee boats, even owned a 69 avenger and it wasnt bad in 6”. Oh well I will make it work! I got it started up a few days ago on the bucket. Rebuilt the carb before the start. It fired right up. As it was sucking more water and the longer it stayed running, it was having a harder time staying running and would die. Adjusted the idle speed screw on the carb which helped it but also made the rpm on startup a little high. Need to tinker with it some more. I’ve started at the transom and am kinda working my way to the front of the boat. Sealing the air guide holes on the transom as of right now. Then I will move to the fuel tank. Do the sending units usually go bad in the original tanks? I have the tank out of the boat. It does have some old gas in it and I would like to drain. Next after that is new exhaust hoses from the pipes to transom, new blower and ducting and fuel line. Reinstall tank then take it to the ocean for a water and leak down test

[shyskier]

I would not call 6" unbearable but it is rough, you will not run at speed with much more than that. Beware of the wake barges, they will put a wave over windshield.
Have not had a problem with fuel sender, tank replaced a few years ago & still have old sender.

[PaulM]

If you still have the Holley electric choke, the engine requires at least 10 minutes warmup, before you can set your idle and mixture screws with any accuracy.  My 88 Advance has the original fuel level sender unit and it works fine, as do all of the original gauges.  The boat does not handle chop well as verified by other responders.  The ski wakes are very good for a boat of this vintage.  One has to spend a whole lot more money to get a slightly better wake. 

[our88advance]

the marine carbs have spring compensated floats to deal with life on the wavement not the pavement