'86 Sunsport Rebuild

[duckseatfree]

Soooo....my boat sank 2 years ago. Last spring I tuned up the engine, got everyting running, then ran out of $ haha. After a nice little bonus check (today) I now have enough to start the major rehaul that I've been wanting to do - Stringers! Since it's going to be nice, sunny and in the 70's tomorrow I figured it would be a great time to start the teardown process. I am HOPING to at least have the new stringers and floor in by the middle of May so I can at least put it in the water and enjoy.

I've never done anything like this so hopefully I can get some help along the way (I have a few rebuilds already bookmarked). I probably won't be able to put current pictures of the boat until tomorrow but I do have a picture of it when it did float :p (pre-tower install)

I do have one question to start it off tho. There is a crack from where the platform attached on the back (that and a failed pump are the reason the boat sank). To fix it I need to refiberglass that area and create a better support for it (like I did for my tower). Can I use the same fiberglass for the patch and the stringers?

The first day I had the boat in the water...such a great day!
11702

Thinking about maybe having a removable back bench to make room for the dogs. Any good ideas?
11703

[bens250ex]

i hope you have alot of free time and some help if you are going to try and have it finished by may, its possible to do but you are gonna have to bust your butt.

[duckseatfree]

I now have a lot more respect for all you guys that have done this rebuild before. I didn't realize how time consuming this is - and this is just the easy part!

So I'm making some progress (pics to come soon). I was able to remove the back bench, the front seats, all the panels, the tower and I'm starting to remove the rub rail and drilling out the rivets. I've done one side and still have the port side to go.

I'm still having trouble taking the gas tank out. The hose that connects the tank to the gas cap is on pretty tight and can't seem to get my hand in there to loosen it up. Is there a special trick to get it loose or should I just cut it? I spent a good hour working it loose but I couldn't get the darn thing to budge.

Once I get that I should be able to remove the top. I was thinking of getting a few friends (about 8 ppl) to come help me lift the cap off, would that work or do you guys think that would be too difficult?

[Salty87]

gas tank can be tricky. do you have a heat gun? that might help loosen it up. if i recall correctly, slide it down over the neck of the tank as much as possible to clear the deck fitting.

is the tank empty? you'll need to work it around to get it out. actually, just wait until the topcap is off.

as to lifting the topcap, unless your buds are super tall it probably won't work. getting the bottom of the playpen seats to clear the hull isn't easy. it's heavy too with the dash and windshield. watch out for people's fingers between the 2 halves...jam some 2x4 pieces in there once you start separating it. it's a wrestling match at first. lots of different ways to lift it...have a buddy with a crane or a boom? that looks like the easiest/quickest.

[duckseatfree]

would a fork lift work? I was thinking about engine removal too and I know I def. can't do that with a few buddies, haha. Would a fork lift clear the side of the boat? (As you can tell, I'm not familiar with forklifts...) I saw hertz had daily rentals starting at $180 - I'm guessing the 3,000lb straightmast work do the job?

https://www.hertzequip.com/herc/rental-equipment/material-handling-equipment+industrial-forklifts?branch=9462

Few more questions:
1) I found a local guy to buy some polyester resin for when I need it. He quoted me $335 for 10 gallons and $60 for one gallon of catalyst. I've been looking around and it seems like a decent price. Is it a good price?

2) Would 1 gallon of catalyst be enough for the 10 gallons of resin?

3) I'm currently trying to figure out what material I can use for the stringers. I've seen some of you use ply and douglas fir. Can I pretty much use anything? Could I use pressure treated wood that is used for decking?

[wotan2525]

Forklift is probably second best option to a gantry lift for both the top cap and engine. If they have fork extensions, get those as they'll make getting the engine that much easier.

[bens250ex]

i would say only use doug fir, or maybe marine ply but i would stick with the fir. This is not a part you want to half ass if you keep the boat, you will find out it is very time consuming and you will NOT ever want to do it again (probably). I ordered all my fiberglass from uscomposite. I used epoxy though and it is impossible to find that stuff local for the price uscomposite sells it. If i did it again i would use poly i like how it sets faster.

For the floor i ended up using exterior ply, i know it was not the best choice but i was low on money at this point and i painted it with a epoxy based paint and also did a layer of light glass as well. i also dont let my boat sit outside and get rained in so i figured this would last me till i sell it.

Make sure you design the new layout so that the water will escape easily. I had good results with mine draining this past summer. Also measure measure measure and write down everything

[duckseatfree]

So it definitely lookes like someone let their 5 year old play with a drill when they took the top off...

Also, its a combination of rivets and screws. A little bit wacky.

bens, I saw you had the same problem. How did you fix the cracks/holes?

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/16/yqe5esyz.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/16/u3y6uhem.jpg

[bens250ex]

So it definitely lookes like someone let their 5 year old play with a drill when they took the top off...

Also, its a combination of rivets and screws. A little bit wacky.

bens, I saw you had the same problem. How did you fix the cracks/holes?

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/16/yqe5esyz.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/16/u3y6uhem.jpg


With that many holes it could be a possibility the cap has been off before, thats what i ended up finding about mine. But i fixed mine by mixing up some cabosile and resin, made peanut butter consistancy and filled them in.Where i had some bad cracks i just added some glass to the back side.

[wotan2525]

Yep. Looks like the cap has been off before, or the factory boys were particularly drunk that day.

[Salty87]

I'm currently trying to figure out what material I can use for the stringers. I've seen some of you use ply and douglas fir. Can I pretty much use anything? Could I use pressure treated wood that is used for decking?

you don't want to use pressure treated. it's often very wet and fiberglass won't stick well to that. if you dry it out for a few weeks you could but pressure treated will want to warp as it dries. if you prevent it from warping then it would be ok. but plywood is considered better than dimensional lumber. the grain is alternated when plywood is put together. dimensional lumber can't do that. personally, i used marine. my thought was i'm not a pro fiberglasser and there's a chance my stringers could get wet. i wanted the best plywood in that event.

your topcap looks like swiss cheese alright. whoever took it off before probably used screws to pull the top and bottom together. sometimes there's a bit of a gap that needs to be closed up and screws can do that better than rivets.

[csuggs]

Yes, the cap may have been off before, but remember that these boats were basically hand built - and that's not necessarily a good thing in our case. There was no template or any other guideline for the factory boys to use when drilling . . . they just put a guy behind a drill and said "have at it". The real evidence of whether or not the cap had been off before will come when you take your cap off and see how the floor is attached to the hull, or not attached. The only reason I can think of for someone to have the cap off would be to do a floor and stringer job. If it's had stringers done before, then whoever did it didn't do a very good job.

[bens250ex]

i had this happen to me, someone had pulled the cap and attempted to put new outer stringers in which they did about the worst job possible then drilled a million new holes to secure the cap back down

[duckseatfree]

Quick alternator question. If I go with a new 105 AMP alternator will I have to upgrade the breaker on the back of the engine as well? I think the breaker on it right now is 40AMP - should I got 50, 60? I'm not very knowledgeable on the electrical stuff...so be kind :D

http://www.db-starter-alternator.com...e-adr0334.aspx