1988 Supra Mariah Floor Restoration

[lmnelson86]

Well yesterday was the first day I was able to launch the boat. I still have to paint the tower and order speakers, install my radio and other little things, but I just wanted to get her in and drive her. Free time has been sparse so it feels good to get the trial run over with. I love how it rides, reminds me of our 98 Malibu so much. What a riot! I was getting tons of compliments all day by people I didn't even know, so that was great! My dog love to ride on our boats and jet skis, four wheelers...anything that moves. Naturally, she also was digging the new boat.









Edited for bigger/better pics

[TitanTn]

That looks awesome - can't wait to see some more pics of the finale. It's a great feeling to enjoy your boat after all of that hard work - and even better when other people recognize it. Congrats.

[Salty87]

What a great feeling to be back out there. Good job!

Got plans for the tower paint yet? I painted mine and it's holding up great even being store outside.

[lmnelson86]

Thanks guys! Yeah, it felt great to finally let her rip. So much relief. We've had about 18 hours of rain today and she's still afloat so I am stoked! Haha. For the tower I am planning on painting it purple to match the boat. I had considered having it powder coated purple or white or silver...but I already have the purple paint from the boat so the plan is to use that. I have a bunch of it left, no sense in spending money on purple powder coat when I have the paint. Once the tower is painted I will whip up a Bimini top, but that may not happen until the fall. I'd like to finish it before then but I am super busy. Just glad to have it in the water. I am going to bring it home Sunday and do the bottom paint this week.

I have yet to secure the driver seat, I rocked a five gallon bucket with a cushion. I'd love to have a newer seat with a flip up bolster. Anyone have a line on one? Or does anyone know of a supra scrap yard or parts boat(s)? New seats are $200+ and I'm not that interested.

Hope everyone has a stellar weekend,

Luke

[lmnelson86]

I used the boat all weekend with friends and family. Tubing, skiing, slalom skiing, kneeboarding, and I even attempted to get up on my dads old trick skis. Not the slalom kind of trick skis, but the 42" long, 8" wide stubby looking things. I wasn't able to get up but I wasn't in the best shape haha. Here she is on the whips, no bumpers required. These are a great investment if you keep your boat scratch free. I was even able to test out the bowrider and take a nap for about 45 min sunday afternoon. It was awesome!

Trying to get speakers and radio installed this week.

[mjdean]

I uploaded some pics to my profile. One pic shows the rot I found on the seat bases in the rear, which I recently rebuilt. I also rebuilt the step in between the rear seats and the base frame for the engine compartment. Floors feel pretty solid except between the cooler and the ski pylon. I did the "thump" test on the rest. Haven't drilled the main stingers yet.

[mjdean]

Luke, Take a look at this pic. Does it look like my boat is heavy at the waterline? It has normal gear in it as it sits. Thanks, Micahhttps://forum.supraboats.com/asset.php?fid=14114&uid=29441&d=1437020115IMG_5737.jpg

[lmnelson86]

Luke, Take a look at this pic. Does it look like my boat is heavy at the waterline? It has normal gear in it as it sits. Thanks, Micahhttps://forum.supraboats.com/asset.php?fid=14114&uid=29441&d=1437020115IMG_5737.jpg

Looks normal to me. My boat is about the same

[lmnelson86]

A few weeks back I ordered my speakers for the boat. I ended up with 8 speakers in total, they were only available in sets of 4. Two extra speakers is perfectly ok with me. They're Boss Audio. I didn't want to break the bank on speakers so I just got these off of Amazon. They seem to have worked just fine this weekend. This fall/winter I will add a second battery and Perko switch, an amp and maybe a 12" sub. I have all of the stuff in my garage just waiting to be used. For now I'm just going to rock the 6 new speakers.

I was also able to finish my speaker panels. I had to make these panels to move the speakers inward so that they cleared the bracing for the tower. The bracing effectively covered the OEM speaker holes. I originally intended to paint them purple to match the boat, but I was waiting until I painted my tower to paint them. I got tired of waiting for my buddy to paint my tower so I decided to gelcoat the panels in white, and add a purple and black splatter effect for good looks. It is similar to the floor, only difference being that the pattern on the floor is much smaller since it was sprayed from a gun, whereas the speaker panels I used a brush and paint stick to drizzle on my pattern. I think the bright white gelcoat makes for a much better look than the dark purple would have. I think purple would have been too much of a contrast with the bright white interior paint of the boat. I received tons of compliments on the boat and the panels this weekend while out at my cottage. I am happy with the result for sure. Next fall/winter I am going to add an LED light strip on the inside of the panel that will allow the light to shine downwards for a nice effect.

First coat of white gel:



Second coat of white and splatter:



Test Fit:



Port Side:

[lmnelson86]

Interior shot:





A quick test "drizzle" on some newspaper:



Front Speakers: