1986 Sunsport Tear Down and Rebuild.. by a Novice!

[tallnfast]

Hello Everyone;
I decided to start a thread on my boat tear apart and rebuild.
A little about my situation: I owned an 89 Malibu Sunsetter for a few years, then sold it and was looking for another value boat. During my research I came across this site and was inspired to buy an older Supra and put some time into making mine! PLEASE NOTE I am not very handy and have never done anything like this. With that being said I took a lot of pictures to ensure I remembered how it went back together.
I will post a lot of pictures of the process, and also ask all of you a lot of questions. Here are my plans:
1. Tear the boat apart (done) 2. Take out carpet (done) 3. Remove gas tank to get at rotten wood (done) 4. Replace all the rotted wood (1/4 way done) 5. Replace rear transom bench seat wood (done) 6. Re-install the tower that was put on improperly (Jim will do at Viper) 6. Tune the engine, it only has 400 hrs (got a guy who will teach me (not done yet) 7. New bilge pump 8. Re-do all teak wood (not done) 9. new starter (not done) 10. New speakers 11. Re-do trailer, boat does not fit properly on it, not original (not done yet)

I went to Arkansas to get this boat for 4K. The floors and stringers were fiberglassed a few years ago. The seller showed me a bill for $3200... seems a little high?

I want to do a lot by myself with quidance from forums and other people. So far a few of you have already help, and I appreciate everyone being so encouraging so far. I have noticed that the older model Supra owners really like to pass along thier love for these boats.

I will post pictures frequently going forward through the process. I have been doing it now for about two weeks. I hope to have it all done by May or June??
HOwever I keep looking at the next thing and saying to myself...why not?

I have 100 pictures to share, I will share a Shutterfly link soon, but does anyone have an easier way to post pics. The one I posted in this thread took about 5 minutes to upload...

[tallnfast]

As you can see, these are the before pictures. Working hard to ensure the after pictures look better....
Here is about 100 more pictures. I took a lot of pics because I was worried about putting it back together the correct way. Click on View Album at the bottom:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...AbtWLdm1bN2TlI

[dshaff24]

I host pictures on www.picturetrail.com, whats your plans for the boat?

[csuggs]

It looks like you've got a good start on the boat. I'm glad that you're stringers have already been done but don't quite understand why you have more rot under the floor if the stringers were done right. While you've got it apart, I would just be sure that you take care of everything that needs to be taken care of so that you don't find yourself having to do it again. Do your motor mounts tighten good? Keep us posted of your progress!

[tallnfast]

dshaff24: I plan on basically replacing all the seat wood, keeping the existing vinyl, fix what needs fixing, re-fiberglass, re-install starter, tune up engine, stereo, fix the trailer, fix other small things, that's all.

Csuggs:
In regards to the rotted wood. I should have explained. The wood that is rotted is the 1/2" plywood that the gas tank sits on. For whatever reason, it was saturated with water. Maybe the previous floor guys got lazy?

I did not check the motor mount bolts. I will do tommorow. Today I worked on re-doing the the wood on the spotter seat. There was a few angled cuts that took me a long time, as I am learing as I go!

Still stumped about how to remove the ski pylon, all bolts are out...

[Jester]

Still stumped about how to remove the ski pylon, all bolts are out...

tallnfast,
I looked at the pictures of your pylon and it looks like it's corroded and most likely won't come apart. My brother and I tried to remove ours from it's base during our stringer rebuild but eventually gave up on it. It wasn't going to budge. We had wanted to remove it and still have the option of putting it back in the base to use for our barefoot boom when needed. We ended up just installing the whole pylon back in the boat.

[mapleleaf]

tallnfast,
I looked at the pictures of your pylon and it looks like it's corroded and most likely won't come apart. My brother and I tried to remove ours from it's base during our stringer rebuild but eventually gave up on it. It wasn't going to budge. We had wanted to remove it and still have the option of putting it back in the base to use for our barefoot boom when needed. We ended up just installing the whole pylon back in the boat.

Got any pics of the pylon in the back??? sounds pretty cool......

[87SunSportMikeyD]

If the pylon bolts are out, it is likely just rusted in. I also planned on keeping the pylon in case I wanted to barefoot, but I haven't even had time to try I've been so busy boarding and surfing. Looks great welcome to the club.

[Okie Boarder]

Looking good. I just looked at a few pictures...I'll look at more when I have more time. I was planning the same thing with my pylon, but mine won't seperate either. I'm still debating on keeping it, putting it back, or just getting rid of it. I'm not sure I would use it, but whenever I sell the boat someday, it might be good to have it.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

I can attest that is feels much roomier in that area without it. People really like to sit on or slide over the motorbox.