1988 Supra Mariah: Floor and Stringer Restoration and more...

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Originally Posted by lmnelson86

Coming along quickly! Seems like your boat is in a lot better shape than mine, mine was just plain old nasty inside and under the floor. It was wet everywhere, I would even have to stop cutting the stringers so I didn't get electrocuted because water was flowing out of the stringers that badly. Then I would have to vacuum it all up and start over. The stringers that my exhaust tubes went through didn't even exist anymore, just a little bit of the fiberglass shell was left.

Any chance you'll vacuum bag your boat since you probably have the resources? I know I sure as hell would have if I could have.

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It was pretty muddy when I first started. Once I realized that I was removing all the stringers, I drilled holes in them to let dry out a little. I also threw the debris from sanding the foam blocks and saw dust to soak up any remainder. It was still a little wet in there...just not as bad.

I probably wont vacuum bag the stringers. I might however vacuum bag the floors. The Airex T90 I have access to is 3/4" thick. So I'll have to offset my stringer height to accommodate that. I'm still deciding what I'm going to use for the floor. It would be nice to have wood free stringers and floors but its really not necessary. The more I think about it, it really just needs to be properly encapsulated (as you are doing) to get the job done. Using all this lightweight material is going to require me to buy more ballast since I don't have the weight of the wood and soaked foam.

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Originally Posted by flipz96

Using all this lightweight material is going to require me to buy more ballast since I don't have the weight of the wood and soaked foam.

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Your rebuild is definitely setting the bar higher. I'm looking forward to watching.

Have you thought of creating some tank spaces for under-floor ballast? Seems like you've got better supplies than those of us who had to settle for wooden stringers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYJ85CEc2Sw

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Originally Posted by Salty87

Your rebuild is definitely setting the bar higher. I'm looking forward to watching.

Have you thought of creating some tank spaces for under-floor ballast? Seems like you've got better supplies than those of us who had to settle for wooden stringers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYJ85CEc2Sw

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Now that is cool. That's a great idea for filling your ballast! Simple and genius

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Originally Posted by Salty87

Your rebuild is definitely setting the bar higher. I'm looking forward to watching.

Have you thought of creating some tank spaces for under-floor ballast? Seems like you've got better supplies than those of us who had to settle for wooden stringers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYJ85CEc2Sw

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That is a good idea. I'm am very hesitant to cut those big inlets in the transom and the ones on the sheer. I also have a really short freeboard and there wouldn't be room for a swim platform on my boat using that system. There actually isn't much usable space under the deck. The only place I can get a bag underneath would be in the bow and built in cooler area.

I chopped 1.5 oz on both sides of a test panel of Airex T90. Its pretty strong and light. I was thinking about vacuum bagging, but it would be a lot faster to chop.
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...psbd8504b4.jpg

I also removed my swim platform to get access to the transom boards. I plan on moving the outer brackets closer to make room for an actuator for a surf tab.

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps84534e91.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps6246fa12.jpg

I had one dull sounding spot on the portside outboard bottom corner. I am replacing them with 2" Coosa board and cut it to shape. I made them a little bigger to accommodate the moving of the swim platform brackets. All others were solid. I am going to go ahead and replace the starboard side even it was solid. I am keeping the top ones original. I have still have quite a bit of grinding to do before the mount and glass these in.

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps916e130f.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps8c91ee96.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...psa007a4e0.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...psbce2f7bd.jpg

Looks good man, your boat is definitely leaps and bounds cleaner and drier than mine! Are you replacing the center of the transom or no?

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Originally Posted by lmnelson86

Looks good man, your boat is definitely leaps and bounds cleaner and drier than mine! Are you replacing the center of the transom or no?

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Thanks! I'm not replacing the center one. Its pretty solid. The starboard transom board was actually solid but I decided to stay symmetrical. It was dry as I expected when removed. I had some good progress today and will continue tomorrow. I'll post some pictures tomorrow night!

It just goes to show that there's not just one way to rebuild these boats. I know when I started I was concerned about doing something "wrong." I learned as I dug in that it's not hard to do it better than the manufacturer did in the 80s.

I forgot to mention, I am using a mix of 1.5 oz csm, 1708, 3400, and 3610. Most it is scrap from previous projects. The resin will be using for this is a vinyl ester.

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps04e4a2b6.jpg

I drilled holes in the coosa board and resin coated it.

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps63e4fd5e.jpg

I created the "peanut butter" (resin, cut up csm, and cabosil) and used it to smooth out the transom before putting the 1.5 oz csm, then the coosa boards in place.

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...psbead8050.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps5ce606c9.jpg