1986 Sunsport Brown

[tmosely1]

I have been lurking around this forum for years I am looking for some input on a project cost. I am out of projects around the house and I'm considering building an old Supra this winter. There is a dead one near me ... however I'm sure you can guess by the title, it is the brown/burgundy color top and bottom. I've goofed with a rendering and I think I can make it work and I'll include it below. My plan is a no graphic wrap making it two tone. The wrap color would be close to the Silver Metallic Birch color that GM uses. It's the color of my truck...so it would work.

What I need from the members is an idea of the real cost and hopefully a suggested material list for the fiberglass materials. I understand the process, but I am wondering if a few of you would be willing to share suggestions on quantities.

Also the interior is gone, but between my wife and I we are more than capable of sewing the new skins. I have been watching craigslist and there are old but capable singers with the walking foot that I can pick up around the $250 range. Anyone have a number on what they spent on vinyl and carpet?

Thanks...
Trey
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[michael hunter]

You are looking at 1500-2000 in stringers floor and epoxy-fiberglass materials,400 in carpet and 400 in interior vinyl.depending on where you buy and quality of materials. I don't know haw much a rap is?

[Albin]

Wow, you just described the project I am just finishing up I rebuilt my 19.5 ft '85 sunsport, I have a bunch of photos I will post soon but they are not web ready yet. I have a good idea on costs though. I will list what I did and with what products, then put a price a the bottom (since some materials were used in multiple places)

Work done:
Stringer and transom: I used marine ply with us composites epoxy and 1708 biaxial for the stringers and to repair my transom.
Deck: Marine ply glassed in 1708 around the perimeter and covered with epoxy and 1.5 oz chopped strand mat
Carpet: Outdoor carpet with rubber bottom from my local carpet place
Interior: I also bought a sewing machine and did all my seats in marine vinyl, I also rebuilt several seat bases from ply
Interior pt 2: I also ended up doing some mods that were unnecessary: rebuilt dash, bimini, and added storage to the gunwales.
Exterior: New vinyl stripes and logos

Materials Used:
• US composites: $1025.15 total
:15 Gallons of Epoxy: $604
:Roll of 1708 Biaxial 12" tape: $159 (I only used about 3/4 of this roll. This stuff is has the mat backing and is very thick and difficult to wet out. plus it uses a ton of epoxy. It is what is recommended by us composites but I think I would use something else if I were to to it again... probably the biaxial with NO mat: db170)
:14 YDS 1.5 oz 50" Chopped Mat: $44.8
:4 gallon Aerosil-Cabosil: $22.50 (I ran out and had to get more, I should have got the 10 gallon bag: $67) This stuff just makes the epoxy thicker but only adds 5% volume to the epoxy so I ended up using a lot more than I Planned)
:16oz white and black pigment: $28.95
:Freight Shipping: $165.90
• 8 Sheets marine Ply: $600
• Ebay Special Sewing Machine: $250
• 20 Yards Ebay Special Vinyl Upholstery, thread, sunbrella for bimini from "textile specialist": $272 (its a nice vinyl but a little soft... it feels nice but I worry about durability)
• Outdoor Carpet: $150
• I already had all most of the tools but I must have spend $350 on various glues, ss Fasteners, ss staples, sandpaper, grinding discs and other random stuff I ended up needing.
• Vinyl stripes and logos $250
• New Rub Rail: $210
TOTAL: $3107 Plus well over a 100 hours of labor O.O

[tmosely1]

Albin... That's exactly what I was hoping to get. Thank you for the detail. I would like to see the pictures when you have time to get them uploaded. I was considering using the marine ply to build laminate beam stringers on mine. Did you bond the layers with mat and epoxy and then screw them? Also, did you assemble them into dimensional beams and then cut them to shape? I'm very interested to hear the process you used for the stringers.

[Albin]

No problem. I will try to get the pictures uploaded sometime soon, but there are a ton of them and they are all still on my camera.
I ended up borrowing from a lot of sources for my rebuild but one of the most helpful was the west epoxy boat repair pdf. It shows the steps for all kinds of repairs. HERE is a link for your reference.

Following the advice of west and a few other sources I decided to use the marine ply for the stringers. There are several advantages of ply over dimensional, but the biggest advantage for me was availability. I could get the ply local and that was a big plus. I cut and shaped the stringers first, then glued them together second (held together with just screws during the shaping). All 4 of my stringers are 2 layers of 3/4 marine ply. I bonded the layers with epoxy making sure the seams were at least 4' apart, but I didn't use any mat in-between. I was planning to at first but the guys at US Composites said not to. What they recommended, and what I did, was to coat both sides with epoxy, they to add a layer of thickened (with cabosil) epoxy in between and screw them together. When this dried it was very solid.

[tmosely1]

Albin,

Did you use ply to fabricate the motor mount part of the stringer?

[Albin]

Yes, I used ply for all the stringers. The motor mount section is 4 layer of ply that is glued together with epoxy.

[tmosely1]

You are looking at 1500-2000 in stringers floor and epoxy-fiberglass materials,400 in carpet and 400 in interior vinyl.depending on where you buy and quality of materials. I don't know haw much a rap is?

Michael.. Thanks for the help. I've noticed from some posts that you have significant experience with interiors. Am I on the right track with G&T vinyl? Also, can you give me a recommendation on a vendor for pre-pleated and pattern vinyl. I noticed that Albin mentioned something that's a concern for me and that is not knowing the quality of online stuff until it's cut and shipped.