Restoration progress (with pics)

[TitanTn]

I think your boat is my twin. Our gelcoat color appears to be the same.... I've seen two other red on white Saltares of that vintage in person and both of them had a darker red than my boat.

I don't have any great insight into what those stress cracks mean -- except to tell you that my boat doesn't have them that go out nearly that far.

It's nice to know I have a twin! I hope to get mine looking as good as yours soon.

[sybrmike]

Uhhh... possible double crap. Yup, most likely gonna hafta pull the rear ski locker insert and gas tank to acess all the nuts & bolts back on the transom.

Plus, I think the floor on the 86 was solid under the gas tank all the way to the transom. My 89 is open under the tank. Check with Wotan, Salty87, & others with earlier Salts. If possible, I'd recommend thru bolts with backing plates for the platform brackets to stiffen them up - lags coulda been the crack culprit from the beginning.

[wotan2525]

Triple crap! Mine has a floor under the gas tank all the way to the transom. I also only had lag bolts in the lower holes which (stupidly) I didn't replace with backing plates when I replaced my stringers. Now they are loose and leak like crazy and have no way to access them.

One of these springs I'll pull the gas tank (again!) and cut some access holes in the floor so I can tighten them up. Until that happens... auto bilge.

[Salty87]

these guys are right. improper installation practices likely contributed greatly as does a thin transom. when i had my floor off you could see light shining thru spots on the transom (translucent, not clear). the transom isn't under the stress that an i/o transom would see. that's not a great thing for the swim platform though. lag bolts were an awful design.

don't be afraid of taking the tank out and cutting some access holes. you can easily seal it all back up and under the tank no one will know. when i put my floor back in i went all the way to the transom like the factory had done. i wish i had left it open like the sunsports.

for fixing the spider cracks, i kinda took the easy way out. i opened the bigger cracks up a little more and used marine tex to fill them in. the gel on my transom was stained, bad layup imo, so i wasn't concerned about matching colors.

for the platform, i'd seal those holes real good and start over. you'll never get a solid platform trying to re-use them. i added a 1/4" aluminum backing plate to all 3 of the brackets. over drill the holes, use thickened epoxy to seal the holes, and then drill through the epoxy for your new holes....and throw the lag bolts in the trash.

with access holes you can seal the exhausts better too. in fact, i'd take it to the ramp with the floor opened and see if you've got any leaks...after sealing the platform holes.

[TitanTn]

Oh boy. I guess I'll be pulling the tank. I was going to replace the floor, carpet, strengthen seats, etc next year, but it looks like I may have pushed that project on myself a little quicker than I was anticipating.

I'll pull the tank and put some backing plates on some through bolts. The only good news that I can think of is that all the lag bolts were very solid. The funny part is that I just filled the tank for winter storage and now I've got to drain it. I've also got to get with my basement clearing project so I can make room to bring it inside.

I think for the stress cracks I'm going to open them a little, mix some gelcoat, and see how well I can blend the color. I've got a few other minor places I want to repair and so testing the process on the transom, under the platform, seems like a good place to start. Thanks for all the input.

[TitanTn]

It's been a while since I've given an update. I've got the old floor out, and in the process of putting the new floor in. I think in comparison to a lot of stories I've read here, I'm very lucky. No water in the foam. The worst of the damage was around the floor supports that were cut into the stringers by the factory. I've removed the damaged wood, treated everything with CPES and put new supports in.

I've got all the floor pieces cut and just fiberglassed them today. I'm hoping to get them in the boat by the end of the week.

[sybrmike]

Dry foam? Only cross braces in need of repair? You lucky dog! Looks like maybe some PO "aftermarket" stringer bracing around the tow pylon mount. I'd check that out further... Congrats & continued progress.

[TitanTn]

Yeah, I definitely feel that I'm in the minority.

The PO did do something to strengthen the tow post area. Most of the "aftermarket" work seems to be in place to give more support to the floor. I can't find any issues with the stringers or any moisture issues.

[jet]

Is there really aftermarket bracing?? Jet

[Okie Boarder]

Yeah, looks like things are pretty dry. It does look like some plywood has been "sistered" on to the inner area of those main stringers by the pylon. Have you drilled any pilot holes in any of the stringers to check the wood condition? What does it sound like if you know on it? Hollow or solid?