Cap on????

[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?