supertrapps and floor questions

I bought a 88 supra saltare about 1.5 years ago. I ran it last summer without any major problems. I have been looking at the stringer post all winter and it has gotten me a little worried. The floor seems to be pretty soild, the motors mounts are good and I drilled a few holes to test the strings and they were fine. One of the problems that I have been dealing with is that boat takes on water. I replaced the rudder and repacked it last year and it still leaked. Im going to repack the drive shaft and see if that fixs the problem. I decided to look into the exhaust today because I think it was leaking last year and I saw where the supertrapps need to be resealed everyonce in a while. When I took the exahust off there was a little water starting to come out of the screw holes. I don't see how the water can get to the middle area of the boat if the exhaust leaking. The only thing I can see is that it would make my foam wet and rot my stringers. I am new to this so I guess my question is there anyway to check and see if the foam is wet without taking off the floor. Also I have been trying to find out how to put the supertrapps back on and cant find any pics. Do i need to drill new holes, some of the gelcoat come off should I replace it and do you put the sealant on every ring our the just the one that mounts to the transome. The preson that I bought the from did say the floor and sub floor were refinished but I don't know how long the exhaust has been leaking. If the foam is wet are stringers probably going to rot before to long. Another problem I found the fiberglass on the cracked is there an easy way it fix this. It seem like there was a soft spot but I think its just because the of the fiberglass the plywoood still seemed to be good. Any help would greatly be appreciated.



Thanks,

John M. Bloecher

Don't shoot the messenger, but you might be looking at some fairly serious issues long term.

If water came out of the screw holes holding the supertrapps on, then it sounds like the wood in the surrounding transom is saturated. Allowing the wood to dry with fans & heat while the trapps are off, injecting with CPES, and resealing might buy you some time.

I assume the pics with the screwdriver are at the joint between the floor and inner gunwale liner? If so, the previous repair is suspect. Looks like they glassed the floor to the cap/liner wall so no way to tell what's behind the liner? If everything appears solid, you could just do localized repair & keep running with a regular pm/inspection schedule and watch out for any bad signs (loose bolts, weeping water, etc.).

Good luck.

I would agree with sybr. Exactly how much water are you getting in the bilge?

I was worried about that. I really don't know how long it has been leaking either and there isn't really anyway to tell without taking the floor out I guess. The screw drivier is at the floor and inner gunwale liner. Is there a quick fix for that? About the water if you let it set in the water all day it will be up to the motor mounts.

Another question. I have seen so post about the supertraps I was wondering do you need to put sealant on each plate.

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Originally Posted by jmbloecher

I was worried about that. I really don't know how long it has been leaking either and there isn't really anyway to tell without taking the floor out I guess. The screw drivier is at the floor and inner gunwale liner. Is there a quick fix for that? About the water if you let it set in the water all day it will be up to the motor mounts.

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That's a LOT of water - and no, there is not a "quick fix" for any of these things. I think I would get an opinion from someone that can look at the boat, someone that knows what to look for.

If the water in your bilge is coming from the supertrapps, then I'm guessing your foam and everything is soaked - unless the person that re-worked the floor left the exhaust open to the bilge area. On the supertrapps, only the ring that screws to the transom gets sealed with 3M 4200. Also you have to seal the joint where the supertrapp flange fits in the 3" exhaust tube, again with the 4200. The remaining rings just stack on. Good luck.

Thanks for the help. I guess there were a few things that I missed when buying the boat.

from the description of draining water i'm guessing your floors connect to your transom. you might poke around to verify that. if so, you can pull the gas tank and cut the floor open to inspect the foam and exhaust. if this is a recent development, you might be able to avoid a bigger rebuild project. all depends on what you find. sounds like a serious leak though.

another spot to inspect is where the rear stringers meet the transom. this seems to be a common rot area and a possible way for water to move from the foamed areas to the bilge.

the gunnel usually isn't glassed to the floor like that so it looks like someone has been there before.

when re-installing the trapps, you might want to seal those holes and re-drill. they look pretty crappy...also looks like there are a few extras. marine tex will seal them.

edit: are those exposed glass fibers around the exhaust? hard to see where they're coming from but it doesn't look good.

good luck!

My next question or questins. What is the best way to drill new holes? Im a little scared since its underwater. There are some chips in the gel coat and some small cracks as well I. As far as the question about the fiberglass showing Im pretty sure it isn't but my luck it is. There is a little gap between the transome and the exhaust tube on the bottom half not sure if its suppose to be like that or not. Would Marine tex take of little chips of gel coat that came off or do I need to order some gel coat? There are some cracks all around the transome. They usually are starting at a screw. Im guessing they are pressure cracks. Would those need to be fixed as well are they just cosmetic? The floor is all the way back to the transome as well. Not sure if I will dig into that before the summer or not I usually never leave the boat in the water over night. I am hoping that fixing the exhaust will fix my the leaking problem. I also saw on another post someone to put the 5200 on the swim deck as well. Do you have to take the screws all the way out or just enough to get some of the sealant on them. Thanks again for the help its greatly appericated.