87 Comp "quick" restoration

[Grandorleans]

All right, like so many of you I've been reading and viewing pics of the older supra restorations. Now I have my own. I dropped it in the water for the 1st time this year. The motor shakes violently. The cause: both stringers are rotten. I'm pulling the motor tomorrow and hope to as little demo as possible to the rest of the boat. The driver's side stringer is very soft and I plan to replace bout a 4' section then glass it in. The other side is pretty strong yet and I would like to inject an epoxy resin to solidify what's left. Any advice? I've seen some you guy's restoration pics and they are very impressive. I just don't have the time or resources to pull that off. I would love some feed back from someone that has attempted this. Thanks fellas.

[rickr]

I would at least scab some pressure treated pine to the stringer.
Aluminum plate or angle makes a good stringer renforcement also.

[Salty87]

that's kinda weird, my stringers were so bad my strut was tweaked to the side and i had no idea/no vibrations. i'd check your alignment/strut/prop first. unless your stringers are so bad the motor leans to 1 side, the stringers should be ok for a while....not good but good enough.

my initial thought is that anything you do to reinforce mushy stringers will be a waste of time. you've probably got wet foam and there's nothing you can do for that except to replace it. you can't glass new sections to old rotten sections either. hey...you might get lucky and find the rot limited to the engine mount area but it's unlikely.

i think everyone starts these with the hopes that they can just fix that bad area. rot doesn't work that way unless you catch it early.

i'd try to line things up as they are and use it that way first. opening the floor is a slippery slope that often leads to a very big job.

[Grandorleans]

Well I pulled the engine and opened the drivers side stringer. Nothin but black mush in there. I figured that warranted taking a peak at the other side and found most of it in good condition. Right around the back motor mount the stringer has some soft wood but overall its not too bad. I believe I can solidify the soft wood with "Rot Rid" and fill with an epoxy.
Now the question is how to shore up the driver side stringer. Once I pulled the rotten wood the water keeps filling the void. Obviously there is substantial water in the foam. Can I create drainage system out the back of the hull? I saw both Ricks' and Salties' restorations and am very impressed. I really don't want to go that far .... Any ideas? I can email pics to anyone that wants to see what I'm dealing with. The pics show the driver side stringer void and the rest of the boat in her current condition. Thanks for any input fellas.

[Grandorleans]

By the way Salty, the driver side stringer was sagging a good 1/2". Could easliy have been why the vibration.

[rickr]

I had the sole (floor) off for 4 months in a heated garage and maybe 10% of the water came out of the foam. Once the foam is saturated it must be removed to get rid of the water. Sorry :(

[Grandorleans]

Thats unfortunate. How much can I expect to pay for materials if I redo the foam/ stringers and deck.

[Salty87]

i'd say $1500 is a reasonable target. depends on how much you don't have to replace, and how many things you don't have to do twice. :)

you can end up with a boat that will outlast you though.

i can almost smell the foam and rot.

[rickr]

Depends on quality of materials. Since I am inexperienced I went with the user friendly products.
I just bought our TS6M and plan on using it a lot of years SOOOO I used Douglas Fir, epoxy resin and 1708 fiberglass. I have tried to ignore the cost but I am probably around $1500 for sole and stringer repair. Add in the 24oz carpet, depthfinder, vapor detector, gauges, pumps, stainless hardware....... my restoration will probably be around $3000.

If you go with southern pine, polyester resin, mat and woven roving, sole and stringer materials (only) should come in >$1000

Figure on 6 gallons of resin, 3 sheets of A/C plywood. I have not kept up with the amount of glass. The Douglas Fir was around $200 Southern Pine should be about 1/2 that.
http://www.uscomposites.com/index.html

[csuggs]

Grandorleans -

I've got a very similar problem with my newly acquired '86 Sunsport. I know that I have some soft spots in the stringer, water in the foam, etc. but not sure the extend of rot. I'm waiting for warmer weather to get into it, but my thought now is to run the boat this season (ran great last season) and maybe get into a restoration next season. I noticed the extent of water in the foam on my boat when we had a thaw after a deep freeze (boat is in the garage, but not heated). When the temp got above freezing, condensation formed on the outside of the hull - the entire bottom of the boat and up the sides, below the floor, was "sweating". Also, when the temp is above freezing, water collects in the bilge from somewhere. My boat also had a vibration at high rpm when I first bought it, but after changing the prop the vibration went away.

FYI - There's a guy in Marysville, TN (recommended by Supra) that does the restoration like you've seen on this forum from some of the other guys. He gave me a price of about $4500 turn-key. That includes new stringers, foam, floor, carpet, completely refurbished and lake tested. I believe they also upgrade the exhaust if you have the supertrapps that are prone to leaking (like mine). My hope is to take my boat to him when I finally decide to have something done. His name is Donnie Bennett, Bennett's Boat Repair, 865-982-9589.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing!

[jasonba1]

Hey CSUGGS there is another guy in Maryville that does awesome work and has been cheaper that anyone I have found he is actually in the old supra plant and knows supras inside and out. his place is called Viper Customs his name is Jim Jackson

[csuggs]

Thanks Jasonba1, I'll check it out.:cool:

[Grandorleans]

Well,I've had some major progress. I decided to go with the quick restoration idea. I ripped out the floor and the stringer from the exhaust forward 6'. ( the foam was almost bone dry, the bottom corners of a couple spots were wet). Also replaced a couple cross braces since I had it opened up. She's glassed in, now I need foam and reinstall the floor.
My plan is to see how well this holds up for the summer and if needed, do the total restoration next winter. Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm very happy to be joining the Supra cult...I mean family.
If all goes well, my next post will have pics cruisin on the Amite River.

[cowboy4]

Wow these pics bring back bad memories.
This winter I'm redoing some of the seat bases and other stuff I wish I could have gotten done last winter. You will get fairly good at glass once your done with these.
Good luck man.

[rickr]

Looks good.
While you have the engine out you might replace the cutlass bearing (and packing) before aligning the engine.
http://www.skidim.com/

[Salty87]

looks like you caught it early enough...too early! come on, tear it all apart anyway...j/k

good for you!

[csuggs]

Grandorleans - How are you planning to tie the floor back together at the side? I was thinking that an aluminum plate about 4" wide under the carpet would do nicely. What plans do you have?

[Grandorleans]

I added a couple of supports where necessary, then glassed it in. I think that will hold it for the summer at least. I really think I'm gonna have to rip the whole boat apart next winter, so I don't want to go overboard with the repair just yet. I'm hoping to put the motor back in tomorrow but with Mardi Gras rockin this weekend I wont be on the water. I'm crossing my fingers to be out next week. I'll keep ya posted

[DKJBama92Mariah]

Ya know, I've got a soft spot in my floor the left of the engine that I was thinking of investigating. I think I'll leave it alone.

[csuggs]

Grandorleans - I'm really interested in knowing how that turns out because I may also be looking at a quick fix to get me into this season and then have the stringers and floor replaced next winter.

[Salty87]

Grandorleans - I'm really interested in knowing how that turns out because I may also be looking at a quick fix to get me into this season and then have the stringers and floor replaced next winter.

what area are you working on? if there's solid floor around the area, you can glass a patch to it pretty easily. cut the floor like the top of a pumpkin so it holds itself up when you lay it back down, glass it over. or glass a strip of wood under the floor creating a lip to hold the new section up, glass it over.

[Grandorleans]

I dropped the motor in and now I have a lot more questions... The motor sounds good but when I shift into gear the tranny makes a continuous grinding/clunking noise. There are a lot of variables here to add. One being the shaft isn't hooked up, 2 being I don't know what the heck I'm doing and getting a little frustrated.. The strut seems to be out of square with the bottom of the boat, I'd say its 1/2" to one side. Last time I was on the boat (12 months ago) the prop seemed to slam into gear suddenly when engaged to get up and go. Bad tranny? Initially I thought it was an alignment issue due to the rotten stringer. Is the shaft supposed to be aligned with center of boat, running straight from front to back? There will be more questions in the morning. Thanks in advance.

[rickr]

This link should help
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.waterski/browse_thread/thread/447eb621ecd9e64b/7dd0f8ffdaf03849?q=alignment&rnum=2&hl=en

More alignment here
http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?showforum=8

And here
http://www.planetnautique.com.unixweb-7.nethere.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewforum&f=3&sid=6f2527f9ff41bc224d9bfc09146a3679

Engine alignment much easier if you replace the cutlass bearing. Shaft alignment is a very close tolerance.

Driveshaft bent???? Mine was our <.002"

[Salty87]

i had to get my strut fixed too. that's when i had to cut the shaft...damn shaft. that wasn't fun or cheap.

a grinding/clunking noise without the shaft hooked up??

alignment isn't fun, at least not to me. take your time and you'll get it.

these transmissions are pretty stout. check the fluid level. the previous slamming into reverse could have been a cable adjustment issue, maybe idle.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Good lord I am always sorry to see these threads. Csuggs my SunSport is an 87 I'm pretty sure it's ok but sometimes I worry. I will look for sweat but doubtful.

What's this about leaky supratraps???? Please elaborate. I am putting Fresh Air Exhaust on this spring. I removed the supratraps and rear wood is still solid.

[csuggs]

One of the Supra guys told me to be sure and remove not only the the supratrapp baffles, but also the flanges that are mounted to the transom. The point is to seal them each year so that they don't start leaking into the hull.

[Salty87]

i don't know why you'd need to pull them off each year but they do need to be sealed well. use a good, below the waterline sealant...3m 4200, sikaflex, boater's life...not silicone caulk.

the plates that the supratrapps mount on need to be sealed for the screws used (behind the plate on the transom) and inside the exhaust tube where the plate slides over the exhaust pipe.

take off the bolt that holds the trapps on, remove all the trapps (there are 8 or so stacked together) and you'll see the mounting plate. run your finger inside the exhaust and you should feel where the plate and exhaust pipe meet, about an inch up the exhaust. depending on how bad they are, you might need to remove the mounting plate and start over. new sealant on old sealant isn't a great idea.

[csuggs]

Thanks Salty 87, as soon as I get it out of the garage that will be one of the first things I do.

[Grandorleans]

Latest news: Shaft is .012 out in the center, ordered new one this mornin from skidim. Replaced strut last week. For some reason the new one rested the shaft on the stuffing box, creating a rub spot. So I had to shim the back 2 holes with a brass plate. Found out this morning the tranny cooler leaks water into tranny. One thing concerns me. The transmission is making gear noise from time to time. Last week it sounded great, but then I noticed the bubbles in the fluid. I sucked it all out this morning/ re-filled it cranked it up/ sucked it out again/ and re-filled it again. (That was my way of confirming the water leak.) What steps are first in diagnosing the problem? Remember, no shaft in boat. I have been moving the motor mounts lately trying to align to a bent shaft.... damper plate misaligned? Anyone have a free 71-C they want to donate to a good cause? (broke-ass skier)
On a complete different rant, check out the after-market stuff and tell me if this boat is better off or worse off after the previous guy wrenched on it.
-Edelbrock intake manifold
-Comp Cams
-K/N airfilter (no spark arrestor/ therefore the fuel pump had been replaced with automotive pump with no sight tube)
-MSD ignition
Keep the inspiration coming...I need it.

[Salty87]

GO- i'd get on the phone to skidim and see what they say about the transmission stuff. they have coolers and lines, i don't know if any of that stuff can be fixed.

i don't know about the cam or intake manifold. are you saying there's marine carb too?...yikes. if so, an edlebrock marine carb would be a nice addition to that manifold.

i'd lose the msd.