87 Saltare rebuild

[Salty87]

i doubt you'd need to do it every year. i wouldn't get too gung ho. once you wet sand once, if you keep it covered and wipe down every time out it should be good for years.

a quick polish every year or other year is alot easier than letting it get bad.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

yeah it is sad but I am bad at wipe downs hehe

[Salty87]

you keep yours in a lift, right? that can't be easy to wipe down. i got to use a lift for a while, so much easier.....to get the boat dirty but why not?

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Not to mention it is dark and I am super tired by the end of the day lol. A lift is pretty nice but I have to crank it up and we have to lug the boards and cooler back and forth from the dock to the house everyday. At least with a trailer you can pull up next to the garage lol. It is nice though dont get me wrong. I will have to work on that this summer lol

[jet]

Salty..don't freakout, but I used carb spray to clean the whole top of my boat. it works like a charm. I would spray a hand held rag and then rub the area and it would strip all of the oxidation right off. then I would wax and buff lightly and It looks brand new now on top. but your saying my maroon color is is under the gel coat, so I can wet sand or buff with no probs? i cant wait till it warms up again. I'll try it. Jet

[jet]

How do you take off the blue supra stickers? And will it have fade marks under neath? jet

[Salty87]

hey jet

i'm saying the maroon is IN the gel coat. a pigment is added during layup, the gel is maroon.

i'm no chemist, i took a quick look at a data sheet for carb cleaner and the main ingredient is petroleum products (naptha). that makes me wonder if you're really getting the oxidation off or just filling in the imperfections with petroleum portion of the carb cleaner. petroleum jelly does that, might be a less toxic way to get the same results. lots of 'miracle' type products just hide the problem.

put me in the skeptical camp. once the carb cleaner washes/wears off, the gel coat quickly fades again? a good wet sanding or compound job should last alot longer.

the stickers can be taken off with a heat gun or eraser attachment for a drill. the heat gun leaves glue behind which has to be taken off. i've never tried the drill attachment but everything i've read says it takes the glue too. you will see that the gel coat under the stickers isn't faded. it will make you want the rest of the boat to look that good.

[cyndiv]

Did you look into composite material for stringers and floor instead of wood? I have an 87 Saltare that I purchased a few years ago and have gotten 4 good summers of fun out of it. I plan to do the same insane rebuild that you did along with new upholstery and rearrange some of the seating. I was thinking of using all of the subfloor area to install ballast since we mostly wakesurf/wakeboard. I was considering building in what would amount to built in fiberglass containers with plumbing to fill and drain the tanks. It looks like the Saltare has copious amounts of space under the floor for plenty of weight. Am I out of my mind?

[WATERSKI44]

I am sorry to ask this dumb question, how did you attach your string lines?

[Rusty]

the carpet is textured, from ingles carpet.
i got my fiberglassing supplies online at uscomposites
i had a shop rebuild the engine
i cleaned/painted/or replaced everything that went back in. skidim cleaned up on this project.
i still need new upholstery and have no plans on learning how.

ok, not completely done...i'm using interlux perfection on my tower. no room in the budget for powder coating. this is a primer before the jet black goes on

That's a great looking tower! Where did you get that?