2002 Air Nautique 196
- Jeff Carroll
- Jun 5, 2025
- 1 min read
This isn't really a restoration, but this is a fairly unusual boat. The owner of this 2002 Air Nautique 196 (basically a Ski Nautique Open Bow with a tower and Air graphics) contacted us because his propeller shaft had snapped and dropped his propeller into the lake. We'll install a new shaft and prop, along with a new dripless packing gland.
Here's the starting point.
New shaft is in, new prop is on, and water test is complete. This beautiful vessel headed home with its owner, just in time for the weekend!
New shaft is going in. Hoping to wrap this one up today!
Sometimes the simple repairs end up surprising you with the required steps... This one has proven to be a pain. The rudder had to be dropped in order to get the old shaft out and the new shaft in. In order to access the rudder, we had to remove the rear seat, which was blocked in by the side upholstered panels. They all had to come out. Then the gas tank was STILL blocking the rudder, so we had to remove the fill hose and the tank clamps, and of course the tank was FULL, so it weighed a TON. When we tried to remove the rudder, there wasn't enough clearance between the rudder and the trailer to remo…