89 Sunsport rot

[oldman]

Purchased 89 Sunsport first of September. Knew it had some rot but now in full scale demolition. This is a daunting task. Here's some pictures of some rot.

[michael hunter]

Looks like its going to need a complete stringer and floor replacement. There are many threads on this forum showing how. Its a lot of work the upper and lower hulls will need to be separated. If you have it done you will pay about 5k . How is the rest of the boat?

[Okie Boarder]

Yup. I'd be looking at getting that engine out and seperating the hulls and just get to it. There are a bunch of us on here that can help you through it.

[oldman]

Maybe the Decal is the best part of the boat. The hull seems to be in decent shape. We pulled the motor, which will be rebuilt. Found some GT40 heads. Looking for some recommendations about what type of carburetor and distributor to put on. Have not split the hull and top yet because I would like to be on the water by April 1st. Hopefully I am not fooling myself.

[TitanTn]

Are you really making progress this fast? Wow! I don't think being ready by April will be an issue.

[Okie Boarder]

Is that a new secondary stringer in that last picture? How did you get that in there without splitting the hulls?

I'd say if you want to be on the water in April and you're doing a full rebuild of the stringers and supports, split the hulls and get to it.

[oldman]

Yes both secondary stringers where to far gone to save. I went 12 feet down on the drivers side and butted up to existing, will have to plate. I might have been able to get the whole thing, if I cut some more floor under driver area. It will be even harder on spotter side. I"m working outside and dont have a good place for my top, but I know someday it will have to come off. I will take some more pics so you can see all the crazy stunts on the rot repairs. Main stringers are in decent shape, rock solid around engine mounts. Have to cut out all rotten areas mostly at notches and install new doug fir. This supra forum is great and the old threads have been huge in helping me in this project.

[mapleleaf]

Great work so far.....Love those tower lights!!!! it gets dark early these days....

[jet]

Those are led's right?? lol

[sybrmike]

Gosh, that looks all too familiar...

Yeah, the two halves took up all my garage - so the trailer work is all outside. Working outside sucks!

Great work & continued fast progress. Up front under the playpen is notorious for rot. Don't know how you can repair that area w/out splitting the hull - but maybe you're lucky & it's not that bad. New stringers over 75% of the length might be good enough depending on the condition of the front area & your long term intentions for the boat.

I think a boombox bolted to the tower would compliment those lights nicely.

Keep us posted.