Originally Posted by
gogger
For many years I have wanted an Inboard ski boat. When I was 16 I bought a '67 correct craft with a I/O four cylinder. We had fun with it. But I then noticed that the inboards were a lot better. Now 30 years later I thought I would buy one I another boat. I found this piratta on Craigslist and went and looked at it. Totalled my car on the way up there last weekend to look at it. Went back up with my truck this weekend and brought it home on rotten tires and all. Took it straight to a restoration shop thinking I would have him check it out and see what he would charge. Well he was nice enough but a little crazy. He wanted 10 grand to do from the stringers up. I was think more like get it on the water this year and down the road put more money into it. I left it at his shop for him to evaluate. He said he would have to pull the carpet and some of the floor to give me a better idea of the stringers condition.
But after I got home, I decided he was a high pressure sales man. So I brought the boat back home to think on it a while. I have a guy that works for me that can do the wood working on the seat bases. I am going to fix the seats and take them some where to get covered. Fix some soft spots in the floor, put new carpet down and use it this summer.
When I was talking about not leaving it for the 10 grand repair he started talking about using git rot or doweling the holes for the engine mount bolts. If that can be done I can do that myself.
So does anyone have any input? Who else looked at this boat and walked away from it? Did you think that stringers were shot?
Just trying to figure out if I was taking all the way to the cleaners.
I think you need to figure out just how bad the rot is. If the motor mounts have rotted out, you're going to need to replace the stringers. I don't believe that it is possible to repair them (and I tried almost every method possible to do so.)
Turn some of the motor mount bolts and see if they can bite into good wood. If they can't, the first "repair" step to try and is to get some bolts that are 1-size larger. These might be able to find some good wood to sink into. If they don't.... either get insurance and head for deep water with the plug out, or be prepared for a big project.
The wood inside of the strings will be so saturated with water that the penetrating epoxy will never work. It can't bind or setup to anything with a high moisture content. When I cut my stringers open, water and mud poured out. And this was after I spent 12 months trying to dry it out with several dehumidifiers.
As far as other stop-gaps, be careful. I tried to "repair" my stringers with various methods. The engine in my boat ended up twisting when the mounts gave out. This caused the prop shaft to wear a hole through the shaft log. The hole in the shaft log caused the shaft seal to fail and my boat sank. Luckily I was able to get it to a place where the water was only about 2 feet deep, but.... knowing what I know now, I would have headed for deep water instead. I pulled the cap and replaced the stringers. That was before there was anyone on this board so I just figured it out myself.... I received quotes very similar to what you saw and didn't have any choice but to tackle it myself. In the end, I paid someone to reglass the stringers but I did everything else myself. It's not a project that I ever want to consider doing again but with the number of people that have documented the process on this board -- it's no longer as hard as it once was. Read through some of the pride and joy threads and you'll see some pretty good step-by-step projects.
Good luck!
Former owner of a 1987 Supra Saltare. Current owner of a Malibu 23LSV.