Cap on????

[Supranewbee]

Is it possible to leave the cap on when you replace the floor? I bought an 86 sunsport recently. The po started a refurb about 10 years ago but stopped part way through upholstery. It's been sitting since 97. Believe it or not I hooked up a gas can to it with a new battery and it started on the 3rd try. However, the floor is shot. The top was fiberglassed but the bottom was bare. The stringers seem to be in good shape except for the crossmbers which weren't glassed either. I have the floor out along with the wet foam. I live in an apartment complex so this is already a pretty big project. I have no way or place to store the top cap. Can the floor be replaced without removing the cap? I don't want to do a half a$$ job.

[Supranewbee]

30 views and no one replied.... You are hurting my feelings. Please, I need help. I've read all over this site and can't find anyone who has done just the floor.

[leetudor]

The floor goes all the way to hull wall. Without removing or lifting the deck you cannot remove and replace the complete floor.

[flipz96]

I believe TitanTN did a cap on floor replacement. http://supraboats.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=7839

I think the toughest thing about your scenario is that you don't have a good place to do the work. Its all time consuming and messy and don't know how tolerant your property manager/association is.

[Supranewbee]

Thanks for the suggestion Flipz96. Unfortunately TitanTn doesn't have the lip at the bottom like mine does. I don't think I have any other option except take the cap off. There is just no way that I can see to seal the floor to the hull. I'm thinking I could raise the rear of the cap and lay a 2x4 across the hull under the ski locker. That would hold it up a good 12" or so. I think I could do basically the same thing in the front. Thoughts..... Maybe I could be the first one on here to do a cap off in an apartment complex

[Salty87]

Lots of reasons to remove it...too much rot, makes the job easier, fiberglass dust gets EVERYWHERE regardless of how much tarping you do, it's a shame to do 95% of the job and cut any corners....

At the end of the day though it's your boat and only you can see what you're working with. Rebuilds have been done with the top on. Were they harder?...no way to compare. Were they as good?...who knows. Regardless, it's not hard to do a better job than the factory or even a rebuilder who did all of the work but didn't glass the underside of the floor (what was he thinking?). It wouldn't take much for a rebuild with cap on to be better than one with the cap off and corners cut like that.

Grinding is really the nastiest part of the job and if you can get away with doing that in an apartment complex, storing the cap should be nothing in comparison. Getting it off is another story but there are many ways to do that. Some have even removed the cap elsewhere and trailered to wherever they did the rebuilding.

I don't want to come across as short but saying it's ok over the internet doesn't mean too much. It's best to remove it. If you can't...you can't. Again, the factory left alot to be desired so it's not the end of the world to leave it on. Don't notch your stringers for cross members and decide on a better solution than poured foam and you've knocked out the biggest problems in the original production...and glass the underside of the floor! lol

PS...just re-read your comment about the lip of the cap. If that's what I'm thinking, it's not structural. Cut that sucker off and put a piece of trim to hide it like lots of other models. Got pics?

[Jetlink]

Dirtydawg removed that lip you are talking about in his rebuild. But he also did a full cap off job.

[chris young]

My opinion does not come from experience, so take it for what it's worth. My boat may never get redone, the PO put a new floor over the old one, and from an operational standpoint, it's fine. The only stringers I worry about are the ones under the motor. I'd love to dig in to it and do a nice rebuild, but the boat lives at my cottage, and I want it in the water all summer, so I'd need heated work space larger than the boat in order to re do it.

I strongly believe that if you don't have the original mold, taking the cap off greatly complicates the rebuild if you want to get the hull straight. A great amount of the strength of the main structure of the hull, is the box that is created by the floor being bonded to the hull at the sides, and then tied together by the stringers. The remainder is provided by the cap being tied to the hull. Pulling the cap and the floor leaves you with a flexible hull. If you replace all the stringers and bond the floor back with the hull flexed, it'll stay that way. At least if you leave the cap in place, when you remove all the structure of the floor, you'll still have a shot at keeping the hull a bit truer than had you pulled the whole thing apart because the cap will somewhat hold the hull true.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad idea to take the cap off, just that there are some advantages and disadvantages to doing the resto either way.

[Okie Boarder]

Cap off seems like the best method. It worked well for me and all the others that did it that way. I agree with Salty that it is the best way to get to all the areas for repair and ensures the job is done complete.

[Supranewbee]

Well, I think I'llreally do some brainstorming on how I could get it done with the cap on. On top of having nowhere to put the cap I have no idea how i would lift it. I'll definitely post some pics this weekend so you all can see what I'm working with. Thanks so much for all your replies!