Our client, Marc, brought in his family's classic 1984 Ski Nautique 2001 Competition Ski Boat for a complete factory restoration. He came all the way from Utah! This Ski Nautique carries with it very special memories and LandCraft took great care in every aspect of the refit process. We have restored the exterior with gelcoat that is custom color-matched in-house to original factory colors. The interior upholstery has been returned to the original factory colors and pattern, the original motor has been overhauled and restored, and the boat trailer has been upgraded. There was structural work performed on the interior, and structural and cosmetic repairs completed nearly across the entire boat from the inside out. This 39 year old beauty of a boat has been restored to last another lifetime.

Follow the journey of our restoration through some of the photos we captured along the way. The colors of this boat just cannot be captured in pictures... it's one of the most stunning boats we've ever seen, and it's certainly one-of-a-kind. Marc, we look forward to hearing about the memories you continue to make for many years to come with your 1984 Ski Nautique that's been made new again.

Eric and his family brought in a one-of-a-kind custom-built boat, a 1993 Spirit XLT, for a complete refit and custom fabrication work. The Spirit is an incredibly special family boat that has a lot of sentimental value and memories, especially memories with Dad and Grandpa. This boat is often brought to the Gulf coast, regularly used for fishing, and Eric loves the size and function of this boat over what's available on the market today. He said that new 21' boats could fit inside of his 1993 Spirit XLT! There is nothing new on the market that comes close to what Eric has in this boat, so he asked that we make his boat like brand new again... with a catch... he wanted the entire boat reconstructed in composite. That's right... ZERO WOOD in this boat. LandCraft® delivered a custom fabricated, rebuilt and restored custom boat, that's 100% composite core, in showroom condition.

The photos start with the careful removal of the original ornamentation, removal of the top cap and the flooring system. The Spirit had interior hull structural hull damage that needed to be repaired before the reconstruction process could begin. Sections of the top cap received extra composite reinforcement, composite bulkheads and stringers were built and installed, a 1 3/4 inch composite transom was built and installed, and the original center console was reinforced and then raised 8 inches to better accommodate the client's use of the console and better accommodate his height with the newly added lean post seat (with room underneath for a cooler!). The custom raised console section was constructed in composite and followed the original body lines of the shapely console. Battery trays, a custom storage compartment, and storage space for miscellaneous boating equipment was built into the interior of the console. The original aluminum hatches were reconstructed in composite and fiberglass wrapped. Plumbing and wiring routes were installed throughout the length of the boat, making electronics installation much cleaner, easier, and highly organized. The boat drains any water taken on while under way or fishing, the console has a two-way valve for filling two livewells. The bottom hull required fiberglass structural repairs, hull shaping and blueprinting for better performance. Underwater lighting was installed. A new gas tank was installed, flotation foam installed, and then composite decking installed, fiberglass laminated and resin coated to a textured finish. A custom gas fill extension was fabricated and added to the console, a needed add-on for the new configuration of the plumbing and wiring. A seat platform was custom seated into the top cap and reinforced for a seamless look on the top deck and to also remove a tripping hazard! The top cap received gelcoat, then the bottom of the boat received complete gelcoat in both metalflake and a custom white gelcoat finish before putting the boat back together. Once together, the rub rail with red rope insert was installed and then Spirit decals were re-created, printed and installed. New stainless railings were installed along with the hatches, seat bases, lean post seat and LED lighting around the deck and console. The boat received an engine overhaul and repainted cowl cover with decals reinstalled. The client had electronic panels made with a slew of switches and custom lighting for the console dash. A new throttle, hydraulic steering and red steering wheel were also installed. Instead of restoring the original trailer, a new dual-axle trailer was built to give the client peace of mind while traveling with his boat across the country.

Our client’s 1993 Spirit is like brand new, but it is also much stronger and will not have any future problems with rot since it is now 100% composite! Eric has reported since using the newly rebuilt boat that there is no more shuddering; it is a solid boat that handles so much better than it used to! He and his family are absolutely loving the boat and getting so much use out of it… exactly what boats are made for! The team at LandCraft® wishes this great family so many more amazing memories on their extra special 1993 Spirit XLT. It’s a boat Eric’s children can now enjoy with Dad and Grandpa!

Some Extra Information about Spirit Boats

Spirit Boats is a division of Baker Enterprises out of Maynardsville Tennessee and is a custom built boat by an independent boat builder. Very little information exists about this builder, but from our research it seems that very few Spirit XLT boats were built or exist today, making this Spirit XLT truly one-of-a-kind. Nothing on the market looks like this boat, and it gets a lot of attention. Now that it has been rebuilt and restored, we look forward to Eric and his family enjoying it for generations to come.

Mike, Rebecca and their lovely family from Iowa brought in an extremely rare 1978 Cruisers/MirroCraft Rally 174 Bowrider for a complete refit. The Rally is a very special family heirloom that comes with many great memories. They asked that we restore their boat to original factory condition, and we delivered a custom restored vintage boat in showroom condition.

The photos start with the careful removal of the original ornamentation and show upper hull refinishing work before the top cap was lifted to remove the entire rotted wood floor. The Rally was sandwich core balsa constructed which required that sections of the damaged core be replaced as needed to restore a proper hull core. From there, bulkheads were replaced, a new gas tank installed, the transom was re-cored, flotation foam and a new floor also installed. The boat originally had dark blue berber carpeting which we replaced with an upgraded and more durable marine carpeting. The outer hull bottom required fiberglass and gelcoat repair, the original snaps for canvas were removed and holes patched, then we refurbished the original gelcoat and spot-repaired where needed. The windshield was refinished in the original brown color and the instrument panel was updated, refurbished and upgraded. The original steering wheel, hand rails, compass binnacle cover, horn, and cleats were all restored to original condition. The original combo bow light came in with melted plastic lenses and missing hardware—LandCraft® custom fabricated new lenses and retrofitted a new base to the original housing. New teak hatches were custom built for the rear storage compartments, giving the boat even more vintage appeal. New teak trim was custom fitted and installed around the consoles, and brightwork done to any remnants of original teak. Numerous original upholstery pieces were rotted, so the framing was rebuilt and wrapped in marine vinyl that was custom dyed to match the original upholstery. The extra padding of panels required a lot of finesse in the installation process, and you can see much of the interior is upholstered in the custom dyed, imprinted, pleated and button-tucked marine vinyl. The boat has been completely re-wired and also has new rubrail, a new bilge pump, new outboard engine, and more storage space with a custom rear hatch installed over the bilge compartment. The original decals were custom designed and reproduced for this boat, striping re-done to factory specs, a new custom canvas mooring cover and bimini top installed, and a new trailer custom built and painted to match the original.

Our Client's 1978 Rally is virtually brand new with original, iconic ornamentation from trim to upholstery with a new motor and trailer to boot. It's an eye catching, vintage boat that puts a new boat in it's class to shame. The team at LandCraft® wishes this great family so many more amazing memories on their extra special 1978 Rally.

Some Extra Information about the Cruisers/MirroCraft Rally 174 Bowrider

MirroCraft was originally owned by Mirro Aluminum Co. of Manitowoc Wisconsin. In 1971 Cruisers, Inc. was sold to Mirro Aluminum Company and Rally was a line of smaller runabouts made by Cruisers. This is where the "Mirro Marine Division" came from in the logo as seen in the Rally on our website. In 1980 the fiberglass product line of Mirro Marine Division (Cruisers) was sold to T.J. Bogard (the former Predisent of Mirro Marine Division) and T.A. Lisle (formerly of Eaton Corporation). Today, MirroCraft and Cruisers are each still producing watercraft, with Cruisers producing fiberglass boats and MirroCraft producing aluminum boats!

The Beckley Foundation and the Charles Tillman Cornerstone Foundation joined forces in 2018 to raise funds together for sick children and cancer research. To raise awareness, their concept was to build a homemade rowboat and row across Lake Michigan in a joint charitable effort known as Row4Kids. They set out to design and build a two-man rowboat, a design that was turned into CNC cut wood panels that were then assembled, like a puzzle piece by piece, by Jake Beckley, former Chicago Bears cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman, and family & friend volunteers. Wood panels were assembled using the stitch-and-glue technique which is where panels are sewn together by drilling small holes along the edges of adjoining panels and then using short lengths of copper wire as the stitches. After the boat build was stitched together, resin was then used to "glue" the panels, and finally a thin layer of fiberglass was applied. Keith from LandCraft spent a day with the Row4Kids team and brought materials and marine trade experience in the resin "gluing" stage.

In 2018 LandCraft committed to assisting this cause for a second time, not knowing what we were going to be given to refinish or do in 2019. It was a bigger endeavor than we anticipated. Once Jake and Charles got as far as they could in the build process, the homemade charity rowboat was brought to LandCraft to complete the boat build. We couldn't just slap gelcoat on the boat that we received. It wouldn't look right, but it also required a lot of work to complete the build and bring it to a safe, usable condition. The boat's foundation had to be addressed before any refinishing stages. You'll see photos of the front of the boat and a panel that were both unattached which required fabrication and finesse to attach and bond to the structure. We had to properly laminate in the riggers for the oars to give the rowers a sturdier foundation to row. The thin wood used for the build had low spots everywhere that had to be faired out to a smooth finish. The lines of the joined panels left uneven body lines around the boat that had to be worked and straightened. The bodyline-heavy bow section needed extensive labor time to straighten and bring to shape, and that required 41 years of craftsman experience to do. A keel was constructed and added to the hull to help the rowers keep a steady course. The floor decking had no proper insulation or strength, so we cut into the floor and filled it with foam to add strength and help prevent rowers from falling through. And finally, we refinished the rowboat in gelcoat. The re-purposed trailer we were provided to put the boat on was not setup for a rowboat, especially not one in the delicate condition of this boat. Over 32 additional hours were required to fabricate the trailer to properly support the lightweight custom rowboat. The rowboat looks exactly how we envisioned it to look, and it took over 300 hours of professional work to get it to look that way. We think we got it looking like the photo concept and ready to be wrapped and looking nice for a 250k corporate sponsor! The rowers can now safely get across Lake Michigan in proper conditions for a rowboat and commit to their cause.

A big shout out goes to LandCraft's awesome team who spent countless hours on the build. Thanks Keith, Joe & Mike! LandCraft is proud to present our work, which has been provided as a donation to ensure that this group could commit to their cause and row this year. LandCraft donated 100%, and it's a huge effort we undertook for kids that need help. Our work is nothing compared to the daily battles that kids facing cancer have. We hope you'll donate too.

Throughout the summer, Keith from LandCraft continued to play an instrumental role in the row event planning process and actively participated as chase/medical boat captain with his boat for the row that took place on September 1, 2019. Follow the journey on social media and follow the news coverage!

Some Extra Information about Row4Kids

Childhood cancer research gets very little federal funding. The Charles Tillman Cornerstone Foundation provides assistance to critically ill children and their families. Since 2005, Charles Tillman's charitable efforts have impacted the lives of thousands of critically and chronically ill children and their families. The Beckley Foundation raises funds for childhood cancer research, which goes to a team of LOCAL researchers at Rush University Medical Center who are working to finding a cure for rare childhood cancers, including neuroblastoma.