should i pass or would it be worth it even if i had to replace all the stringers, doing all the work myself.
1986 supra sunsport skier with wakeboard tower. 20 ft rated for 10 people. It has a 351 big block motor with a velvet drive transmission. Teak swim platform and teak wood trim. It's a very nice boat, the only thing it needs is a new floor, the plywood under the carpet is starting to get soft in places.
It has a 351 small block. With soft floors it will probably need stringers too . You can figure about 3k if you do the work yourself. Check the engine mount bolts and alignment maybe you can get a couple seasons before the rebuild.
really 3k, thought i read it was only like $1100 in material, anyway what needs to be aligned motor and trans? where do i look under the motor cover? but you never really answered my question if the price is good
You can look at a few of my recent posts to see my comments on floors and stringers. Basically, I just bought a well cared for boat for 5,500. It had ONE very SMALL soft spot that I figured was not a big deal. The boat ran great on the water and was well cared for. Unfortunately, the one soft spot is actually a few different rot spots on the stringers.
To your question about the price, it seems like a decent deal. To be honest, I think I overpaid but the hull, engine, drive, and exhaust were all in great shape so I went for it. How are the seats?
As stated, I paid $5,500 but will be needing to replace the floors, repair the stringers, recover the seats at the back and bow, get a tower, etc. I am looking at about $8500 for what should be a good, solid, clean boat. From my searching (for MONTHS), that is about what can be expected to be paid. I expect you will be able to do your work and repairs for under $4,500 but that is assuming nothing else pops up like the engine or drive.
Just know that I am only doing some basic repairs and with 3 very mechanically inclined individuals working non-stop (okay, a few beers in there) and we still have about 11 hours of work in just to take up the floor. To be honest we are even half-arsing it a little, the cap SHOULD be pulled up to remove the floor but we are...making it work.
the guy selling it said floor is bad under drivers seat not a big area but needs to be replaced and that the engine mounts are solid and trans is in good alignment
Underneath my drivers seat was bad also. the horizontal supports that had rotted below it unfortunately caused rotting in the main stringers as well. Again, if you are planning to do a stringer job this is not a bad price but you have to A) take that price into account if you have someone else do it or B) know that you are going to have a lot of headaches.
We were quoted $1500 to finish the job from where we are but I think that quote would quickly climb...
There are people who know better than I, but let me tell you what I understand the process to be from my reading and from my efforts thus-far.
Strip the interior. (seats, trim, dash, radio, engine, etc.)
Lift the cap (I skipped this, it resulted in a major PITA for removing the carpet and I simply don't have the ability to remove the whole floor. Not to mention I can not access forward of the windshield.)
Cut the floors out. The more rotted, the easier but it still is no easy task. This involved grinding, grunting, and hemorrhoids (sounds like sex for old people).
Cut the foam out. This is a messy, nasty job.
Cut the stringers out. This involves dealing with lots of wood and fiberglass.
There are dozens of threads here on stringer rebuilds. Do some searching and you'll find lots of info.
That price doesn't seem bad at all. If it were me I would try to find any possible example of stringer issues and use that to drive the price down a little. But even at $4k, you can do the stringer work yourself and have a perfect boat for $7k. It'll then be worth more than that.
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86 supra sunsport $4000
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