Fresh Air exhaust

[jmbloecher]

I have been on here a few times and all the help has been great. I was thinking about maybe changing my exhaust to the Fresh air exhaust system. I currently have the supertrapps on a 88 saltare I think the right exhaust is letting water get into the boat. Just wondering if anyone would recommend changing or just fix my current exhaust. Just one other question is there anyway to tell if the stringers are rotten without tearing the floor up. There isn't any soft spots on the floor so would that mean everything would fine?

[mapleleaf]

Not sure on the exhaust leak but if you want to test your stringers there are a few ways....
hand tighten your engine mount bolts to test if they're stripped
visually inspect them in the bilge for cracks in the fiberglass
drill small holes in them and inspect the wood shaving's that come out, if they're black and wet, you've got rot....If you drill, fill the holes when you're done with epoxy......

[wotan2525]

I love my fresh-air-exhaust but if the only reason you want it is because your exhaust leaks -- it's probably not worth it. You can take yor supertrapps off, scrap off all of the old RTV or gasket-maker and reseal them. You're probably right about them leaking but you'll have to do the same procedure (and quite a bit more) to install the FAE.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

+1 to Woton's comments. I have had FAE for 1.5 years now on my 87 SunSport and it is a dream to ride in. You can have conversations in whispers at full speed. You can hear the water slapping the hull at full speed and hear the pulleys turning. You can TALK to the rider. But when you floor the throttle or turn (creates cavitation or disturbance) that lets the engine roar come through.

If your SupraTrapps are leaking, that should be an easy fix. They are epoxied onto the transom hull. You just need to remove the bolt from the protruding tip of the TRapps, then remove the rings, then remove the screws on the final ring.

These are where the leak should be occurring. They screw directly into the wood behind the transom fiberglass. The holes will likely be all dark and rotten wood. Fill these with epoxy, get some longer, bigger screws, rotate the inner-ring to get new wood and drill new holes. Epoxy the transom fiberglass and the inside of the inner SupraTrapp ring as well as the surface of the screws before you screw them in.

This should fix the problem but it's the same thing you would do if you got the FAE too. So it's up to you, really. If you search these forums for FAE or Fresh Air Exhaust you will find some more posts.

I have pictures of my process of removing the trapps and installing the FAE.
They are here (along with a few other pics):
http://photos.wakeboarder.com/showgallery.php/cat/3519

[jaywidhalm]

Mikey, about how long did it take to install your FAE? Doesn't seem to be too intensive?

[jmbloecher]

I do like the sound of the exhaust but sometimes I wish that I could just turn it off. You cant really talk to anyone and you can't even hear the music when you are wakeboarding. I have been looking into the FAE so i could reduce the noise and since I was needing to do something to exhaust anyway. The only time that it sounds cool is just ridding around and when its at idle. I might miss the exhaust every now then but I think less noise would be a good thing. Is it pretty common for the trapps to start leaking over time.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Jay it takes maybe 3-4 hours tops. The toughest part is the swim platform supports. You need to screw a piece of aluminum to the underside of your swim platform, then fun metal poles down to the FAE and cut them to length. It's very simple overall though.

jmb like I said whenever you are throttling-up or turning the rumble really comes through. In fact, in my opinion, it sounds even better because the boat is silent until you open her up and then she ROARS! Not as loud as she would roar with open pipes, but she sounds great to me.

Check any of my Vimeo videos in my signature link if you'd like to hear more (at least what the camera microphone can capture).