1988 ts6m rebuild

So I have been an observer for the most part over last 6 or 7 years, used to have a 1986 Pirata with my brother but we split up on that 3 years ago. Since then my wife and I bought a 1988 TS6M Comp. Over the years we have replaced the steering cable and added PerfectPass with Zbox upgrade along with a few minor repairs and upgrades. This winter we decided it was time to tackle the floors/stringers. Having owned an old Supra before we have been well aware of the project we were getting ourselves into when we bought the boat. There were two soft spots when we bought it back near the rear seat, so we figured we could get a few good summers out of it before needing to be replaced. So far we have pulled the motor and gotten the cap off. I have tried my best to read through everyone else's rebuild threads on this site and think I have a good idea as to what needs to be done, but who knows what I am getting us into. We have a detached garage that is just barely big enough to do the work in, so hopefully we can work on it a couple nights a week and most all weekends. Hoping to be ready to ski as soon as spring rolls around. I will try to post our progress and pictures as we go.

I appreciate all of you who have posted your rebuild projects, and am welcome to any pointers or advise.

Does anyone have advise as far as best way to post pictures, as I have notice a lot of the older posts pictures are no longer available

I use imgur to post pics. If you are talking about the pics that Photobucket deleted there is a fix from google chrome to recover the pics. You want to use Douglass Fur for the stringers and marine plywood for the floor . I always coat all the wood with clear penetrating epoxy sealer [CPES] FROM THE Rot Doctor web site .
US Composites is a good place for glass and epoxy.

Thanks for the info, did find out that my local lumber yard has douglass fir in stock. We are working this week to get the stringers on one side cut out, planning to do 1 side at a time so we can mirror the other and make sure the height of stringers all stay consistent. I was able to create an Imgur account and get some pictures of our progress up.

https://imgur.com/a/ukESQGq

We were hoping the rot was not as extensive as it. There was a lot of water trapped up in front of the bilge, which made for a nasty day of getting the foam out. Seems like we are making good progress on the demo.

Once you post pics on Imgur you can put mouse on your name in the upper right corner then click images in the drop down click the picture you want to post click copy on the second from the bottom marked forum then you can paste it to your post. Make sure you edit the size of your pic. I use 1000x2000.

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Originally Posted by 3826smith

Does anyone have advise as far as best way to post pictures, as I have notice a lot of the older posts pictures are no longer available

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Yeh, imgur or pasteboard.co are good for this.

So we have been pretty busy lately and have not been able to put much time into the boat until this past weekend. We were able to get the two stringers on the starboard side cut out and sanded. I found that an oscillating tool with a carbide blade was the best tool for this. Once the stringers were out it is clear how extensive the rot is, especially where the motor mounts were lagged in. https://i.imgur.com/qSVdNPc.jpg https://i.imgur.com/y8wLk0O.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6s3dvz5.jpg

Once the stringers were out of the way we moved on to the blocking for the swim platform and rear hooks. After going back and forth on whether or not to mess with them I am glad we did. At first when I cut into the blocks the wood seemed in good shape, but once below the waterline it was obvious that some water had penetrated through the wood as it was just starting to rot. https://i.imgur.com/EBx4zRR.jpg

I still have a bit of sanding to do as the original fiberglass work was very sloppy and inconsistent. Large bubbles in some areas and some spots that almost seem like they did not put any resin on at all.

Hoping to start fitting the new stringers in this coming week after the holidays. Can someone give me some pointers as to what type of epoxy and fiberglass I should be using and where? This is my wife and I's first time doing any fiberglass work and I am a bit confused as to what to use. Any advice or pointers is appreciated.

I would call these guys and talk to them about your project. Wealth of knowledge and will help steer you in the right direction.

http://www.uscomposites.com/

US Composites are a great source of materials and knowledge for sure. Take lots of pics and measurements it will help when you put it back together.

Seeing that brings back nightmares. Lol. Im so glad mine is back together.

It has been a while since I have posted any progress. January was rough as the wife and I both caught the bug that was going around so we missed quite a bit of time feeling under the weather makes it tough to find the motivation to go work in a cold garage. February is going well though making some strides and finally feel like we are making forward progress. We were able to get the starboard side stringers formed and fitted to the hull, and after a test run of mixing PB to find a good mix and consistency were able to get them set in place.

https://i.imgur.com/4TOT0EV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YJTAO9h.jpg

I am happy with how the stringers worked out and keeping the port side stringers in place while doing the starboard really helped to make sure the deck height will stay where is should. Now that starboard stringers are solidly epoxied to the hull I removed the port side stringers, transom backing, and the strut and rudder backing boards. The board over the rudder poured waters when the fiberglass was cut around it, and was able to remove in one piece as it was so rotted. We have a bit more sanding/grinding on the port side which should be done this weekend. Then on to forming and fitting the last two stringers.
https://i.imgur.com/Dix7Xf8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/486UXN8.jpg

Hopefully we are still on track to be back on the water in May. All the stringers should be in by the end of February, fiberglass the stringers in March and start the decking, and finally reinstall the cap and motor by the end of April.

Thanks to everyone for the advice it is much appreciated, we are enjoying the project but can't wait for the end result!

What kind of wood did you end up using for your stringers?


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2x8 douglas fir for all the stringers. The original outside stringers were only plywood which seemed pretty flimsy so decided to use the 2x since that is were everyone steps on and off the boat from the dock. I did have to call around and found one lumber yard in my area that could order in the 2x8 x 16' so it was a little pricey but we are happy with how it is all turning out.

I use 1/2 marine on the outside stringer rip it 8 ft long glue together stagier the seams every 4 ft
inside stringer i 1 peace it using lvl or lam beams full 2 inch

So it has been a long time since I have added anything to this thread, with all the craziness from Covid-19 to just life being busy I have forgotten to update. With all the lock downs the wife and I did not have much else to do so we spent a lot of time working on the rebuild, and surprisingly finished almost on time. Our goal was to be on the water by Memorial day, but because of the weather we were delayed by about a week. The only thing we have not finished up is the rear seat as we want to improve on the original design and make it more ski friendly by being removable. So as of now we are skiing and using the boat like normal just without a rear seat and an exposed gas tank. Overall we are extremely happy with how it has turned out! The only issue we had was that the floor ended up being about 1/4" higher in the rear than originally so we had to cut the bottom out of the rear compartment because the gas tank fittings were preventing the cap from sitting all the way back down. I'll add some of the pictures of the process.
https://i.imgur.com/kNjUKJz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uQiPF3t.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wpvvcqp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RU8D8ga.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xMnnbNl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/X7FkVi4.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/L56ZLAX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MmYbtUr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Sm1R6Kv.jpg

Wow, that is a damn fine job on the restoration. Love the upholstery. Brilliant work! I would like to see what you come up with for the back seat when finished.

Thanks! We are really happy with how it has all turned out. Tried to keep it all as original as possible. We were really hoping to come down south for the summer meet up but haven't seen anything posted about it this year, just assuming with all the Covid that won't happen this year?

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Originally Posted by 3826smith

Thanks! We are really happy with how it has all turned out. Tried to keep it all as original as possible. We were really hoping to come down south for the summer meet up but haven't seen anything posted about it this year, just assuming with all the Covid that won't happen this year?

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Original is the only way to go. Your upholstery is very striking. I keep going back looking at that last pic and although a lot of people would think it looks dated, to me it looks as fresh as the day it was originally designed. Of course, these are the same people that will go out and buy the funky shaped Supras with the funky shaped cushions that glow in the dark.

Working on my Comp right now and planning to have the upholstery done this fall. It is just white with red piping but I hope it looks as fresh as yours. I would love to do the new Chill Tech vinyl on mine.

No official Southern Supra Reunion this year but stay tuned for future gatherings.