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?

[Supranewbee]

No doubt, taking the cap off is the way to go but I'm going to take the road less traveled and leave it on. My stringers are in pretty good shape except for the cross members which were replaced with raw wood. Needless to say they are rotten. The floor came out really easy as it was all rotten. I cut along the lip of the side wall leaving the fiberglass from the top of the floor still connected to the hull. My plan is to install plenty of cross bracing and slide the new fiber glassed floor right under the fiberglass lip left from removing the floor. At least that's the plan.... I hope to add pics soon. I've noticed a lot of pics seem to disappear from posts. How do you attach so they will remain linked to your post?

[Supranewbee]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422327754.043087.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1422327788.641589.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1422327816.828023.jpg
Here are some pics of my progress. The foam isn't wet until I get to the bottom 1" or so, except under the gas tank which seems to be wet all the way through.

[Supranewbee]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422328014.345394.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1422328037.710723.jpg
Not exactly in the correct order but you get the idea. I've got 90% of the foam out as of this weekend.

[Kma4444]

So how rotty was it? Rotty, that's a good term