New to the forum, not to boating.

[jaynick1]

Hey guys I have been around boating growing up as my parents always had a boat to take out. Now I am looking at getting my own. I have been eyeing an 86 supra sunsport open bow with a tower, 3 yr old jasper 351, CD player etc... I believe the price is right from my research, but I am going to look at it saturday. He said one of the motor mount bolts turns, the rest do not. I have seen articles saying this could mean the stringers could be rotted.

He said the floor had been replaced but didnt know when, so I assume this is P.O. heresay, and also that the boat has 700ish hrs on it but he wasnt sure when the motor was replaced, but also added he has had no issues and transmission engages smoothly and power is great. Motor, including manifolds, looked almost new in the pictures. He just put a new starter and impellar into it.

Interior is faded, but no cracking and looked to be in decent shape. What else should I be looking for? Soft spots in the floor? What should I look/listen for during a test drive?

I should also note I am a car guy so motor work is not a big deal to me but fiberglass and wood craft are not my forte.

[michael hunter]

Its a car engine with a 1 speed automatic trans . Just look for general condition take it out for a test drive look for overall operation [ vibration, smoke, abnormal sounds engine missing etc ] From what you said the boat will need stringers in the future.
You may get a year or so but they will need to be replaced. If you cant do them yourself it will cost 4-6k to get them done make sure you figure that in the selling price. All the Supras 93 and newer have all fiberglass construction for a mechanical guy you may want to stay there.

[jaynick1]

Ok sounds good. I have about 3k to spend on maintenance at its current price. I could always save some during the winter to possibly do the stringers before spring time. Would it be feasible/smart to replace the stringers around the motor, and I am assuming there is no way to tell if they are all rotten without pulling up the floor?

[wotan2525]

I think it's possible, but it's almost as much work as just replacing all of them. Do it right or do it twice.

[tomelenbaas]

It's possible to repair the rotted wood around the motor mounts without replacing the stringers as long as you're confident that the rot is confined to the area of the bolt holes. This will require drilling holes along the engine mount stringers on both sides of bolt holes to see how far the rot extends (something the present owner probably won't let you do). Assuming you're satisfied that the rot is not pervasive, the Rot Doctor has products you can use to reinforce the engine mounts without replacing the stringers. The following link describes a variety of techniques for rot repair. About half-way through the page there is a specific section that explains repairing engine mounts.

Eventually you will have to replace the stringers, but this may get you a few more seasons before you are forced to bite the bullet.

http://www.rotdoctor.com/glass/GLrotrepair.html

[wotan2525]

It's possible to repair the rotted wood around the motor mounts without replacing the stringers as long as you're confident that the rot is confined to the area of the bolt holes. This will require drilling holes along the engine mount stringers on both sides of bolt holes to see how far the rot extends (something the present owner probably won't let you do). Assuming you're satisfied that the rot is not pervasive, the Rot Doctor has products you can use to reinforce the engine mounts without replacing the stringers. The following link describes a variety of techniques for rot repair. About half-way through the page there is a specific section that explains repairing engine mounts.

Eventually you will have to replace the stringers, but this may get you a few more seasons before you are forced to bite the bullet.

http://www.rotdoctor.com/glass/GLrotrepair.html

I still have a few gallons of rot doctor in my garage from when I tried to do exactly this. It won't work. I had my boat inside and covered with a dehumidifier running for 6-months.... the wood was still too wet for the rot doctor to setup. There's just no way for the moisture to escape and if you call those people, they'll even tell you that it won't setup or adhere to anything with moisture in it.

[cadunkle]

Now I don't recommend this, but an old I/O I had that had rot on the top half of the stringers and the lag bolts pulled loose, destroying the coupler. It was a cool boat but not really worth the effort to do stringers, for me anyway, since I wanted an inboard. I pulled the motor and replaced the coupler. While the motor was out I got 4 lag bolt anchors, the expanding type you use for concrete anchoring. I drilled the holes deeper and large enough to have a press fit for the anchors. Then filled the holes 1/4 way with epoxy rated for wood and metal and hammered the anchors down to the bottom of the stirngers for a press fit where the wood was still fairly solid and not mushy. Filled the holes to the top with epoxy, dropped engine in with longer lag bolts and cranked them tight.

Ran it a whole season that way with no trouble, and on the Delaware there are lots of tug, cruiser, and big ship wakes so I got plenty of air time and the boat plenty of thrashing. For winter storage I always pulled the outdrive and put it in the basement. Drive came off smooth and went back on smooth at beginning of next season, no alignment issues. I expect that "repair" to last at least a few more seasons before it shifts and breaks another coupler, but it's not my problem anymore. Not exactly my recommended fix, but it worked for me on a boat that I didn't think was worth a stringer job. There was still solid wood an inch or two into the stringer though, so that's what made it work. If yours are mush the whole depth, you're screwed. If you have stringer issues I wouldn't sweat a fix like this to finish out the season if there's still some decent wood in deeper, but it's just a temporary fix until you have the time and money to do a proper stringer replacement.