1989 Saltare - My god Spock, what have I done???

Yep, it's a lot of wood - but I think I'm still lighter than before with all the saturated foam and rotten wood. Be curious to see how she sits in the water when it's all said & done. Maybe just some additional permanent ballast? I'll see how the bow teak trim cleans up & make a decision then.

By corner seat, do you mean the rear facing observer's seat? It's a separate base, seat bottom, and seat back (like all the rest) so no water is trapped anywhere.

Yeah, I'm a composite junky at heart, but on a timber budget at this stage. Does treated ply with 2 coats of CPES count as composite (should last as long)? - hey, at least there's some epoxy in the matrix... As much as I picked Jim's brain & experience early on in my rebuild, he can have the rear bench idea (the angles were a biatch!)

Maybe this'll help you visualize

Attachment 8919

Attachment 8918

I had to make the rear bench seat back and armrests extra wide to support the edges of the seat bottoms when "up" since the hull tapers out at the top. Once the final height is set with the upholstery, I'll add some hinged panels to the underside of the seat bottoms that fold down to support the inner edges - fronts will remain open. I've got 2 MC X-2 sacs (450# each) that fit underneath - half full with the seat bottoms down, full sacs in the "extended sundeck" mode.

Love it. This is one of the best interior redesigns I've seen on one of our old boats. I'm looking forward to seeing the end result. Are all of the interior panels that attach to the inside of the gunwale through-bolted (so they'd install like the original back seats)?

I love it!!! Sybrmike, you have done an excellent job redesigning your interior. I really like the rear facing bench. I have thought about doing that on my Salt but could never decided if I woul like not having foot room for walking. I would love to knbow how it works out for you during the summer with all the traffic in an out of the boat. I cant wait to see all this covered in upholstery. Speaking of which, what are the bosses design ideas on upholstery?

So what size ballast bags are you putting in the rear? I was planning on doing something similar to what Vette over on wakeboarder.com did with his. Here is a link to his thread about hidden ballast http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewto...light=#1086434
I was thinking a 12x12x60 or something similar to that size

sybrmike. TRULY the "BEST OF CLASS" and "BEST ENGINEERED" I have seen. Thats how you do it man. Take the old and mix in the new. love your ski locker/rear facing seat idea (does anybody ski anymore? just kidding skiers) Still the rear facing idea is great. be sure and add some steel bracing to your back bench seat. Most boats that have done that have a huge sagging problem. Nice job man, pat yourself on the back. Jet

Should be sweet Mike. I'm still not seeing how that folds up and down with the armrests/cupholders in the way.

Will, thanks for the link to that thread! I wanted to hide some ballast and I think that may be the route to go for me. Not sure where I'll store gear if I fill the locker, under seats, and bow.... But I'll figure it out. I wonder about all that room under the dry storage on the port side dry box in the walkthrough. There would be no access to that when bags are full and it's not convenient anyhow. Maybe I'll move my batteries from under the spotter seat to under that compartment... Then I'd have storage for ropes and small stuff under the spotter seat, as well as the cooler if not in use.

Thanks guys, weather permitting she's going to the upholsterer tomorrow. Boss didn't put up too much of a fight - decided on mostly light gray, white bolsters wrapping all the edges and some accents, black piping around each piece and color change seams.

TT - Yes, all the side panels are t-nutted on the front and bolted with locks and washers from the back. The two side vanity panels will still have buttons like the original. For the bases, I PL'd backers on the inside of the liner and through bolted w/ t-nuts so I don't have any holes into the new floor. My arms are still bruised and fiberglass scarred from all the reeeaaaccchhhing through the speaker and access holes...

WS - Hopefully the new layout is functional - I wanted lots of seating for family & friends, but still needed storage and room for hidden ballast. In my previous experience with DD's, the space behind the driver usually ended up as just storage anyway. I made all the seat bases 10" tall, so the rear bench base will hold two MC X-2 sacs (450#, 18x20x32 each) half full with the bottom down and full when up. One 400 in the ski locker, one 400 port bow, one 400 starboard bow, and an optional 750 that can go on the floor portside of the engine or on the starboard chaise seat to help her list for surfing. All will be individually valved - two bow 400's and surf 750 on the front reversible pump, ski locker 400 and two rear 450's on the rear reversible pump. Probably swamp if all were filled at once, but I'll have the flexibility to find out...

Jet - hey, I still ski till my bum back gives out & then switch to the boards. The rear bench back/armrest assembly is a 1/2" ply and 2x2 truss, glued & screwed, then through bolted to two 2x4's that span port/starboard and to the sides - hopefully, it won't sag!

Cad - Originally I had planned on a one piece rear bench bottom that lifted up like on the Outback. However once assembled, I couldn't move it up top because the armrests, cupholders, and engine cover had it trapped like you said. I had to split the seat into two pieces, but that left the center unsupported. Once the final elevations are set from the upholstery, my plan is to add some support panels hinged to the bottom side of the seats that fold down from the inner edges to support them off the floor. Adapt, improvise, & overcome (I hope?). I moved my batteries up under the port storage like you mentioned - cut an access panel behind the observer seat base and glassed in a wall to separate the batteries from the remaining bow storage and sac that will be underneath that dry storage area. The backside of my observer seat base is mostly open & could probably reach the batteries for a jump if I needed to, or now that the bases are separate from the seat backs - remove 2 bolts and the base lifts out for full battery access.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ngavdba

Can anybody ski anymore? Kids grow up on skateboards, wakeboards, and snowboards. Parents don't teach them, the sport dies.

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I ski, my whole family skis. Mom, Dad, two brothers and my sister. I have 20 cousins on my mom's side of the family and they all learned how to ski or are learning how to ski. I am personally hoping to really work on my slalom skiing this year as I got back into it with the purchase of our comp a few years ago.

I'm sure Jet was just pokin' fun, but I'm with you - slalom's in my blood. Got old 8mm of me skiing on my dad's shoulders at 2, trainers at 3, big skis at 5, and slalom at 8. My grandparents skied into their 70's, my late 60's parents still slalom, so there'll always be skis on board. Buuuuut, my kids are more into knee/wakeboarding & fancy themselves as displaced Cali surf chicks (just cause they can ride the little waist rollers on the Texas coast) - so had to make room for ballast too. The Salt was never a slalom queen (& possibly worse once I'm done turning her into a crossover boat), but sure beats my other options - 17' outboard, bumming from friends, or watching from shore...

I'm sure to be thinking of you & that sweet Comp wake and yearning for my old SN the first time I crash into my yacht-like wake (well, o.k. it's not that bad)...

I grew up skiing behind various stern drives and grew tired of skiing because of the wakes. Got the comp and the first time out with my dad, a few cuts in without all the "skipping" over the wake and it was like, "Hey! This is fun again!" And because of that, I will probably hold on to the comp even after we upgrade to a wake boat. Good work on turning the old boat into a "new" cross-over boat though, should be interesting to see how it all turns out.

Looking great! Some really good ideas and very well implemented...can't wait to see the finished product.