It's Baaack!

[chris young]

Remember this boat? https://forum.supraboats.com/showthr...ra-Rider/page2

Well, it's actually a 1984, and while I was searching for Rider photos (trying to get a look at the gas tank mounting among other things) I stumbled across this thread, and realized that it was my boat!

Anyhow I started prepping the boat for spring, and pulling the tank this weekend so I can fix up the soft swim platform.

First Pics

[cadunkle]

That's an interesting setup you have there.

[DAFF]

I too was talking to the old owner about this one a few years back. It was up for sale for some time as I remember.

[cadunkle]

Yes I went back and forth with him a bit but it was a long drive for me and I was unsure of stringer condition. Given the soft floor and bare wood patches I wasn't willing to pay what he wanted or spend the time driving. How are the the stringers and general condition of the boat? What have you done to it so far?

[chris young]

From my initial inspections, the stringers seem to be in fair condition. A little hollow sounding forward of the engine, but apparently solid under the engine. I just pulled the gas tank (that was an ordeal) because the swim platform is iffy and I will be skiing this boat as soon as the ice is out. I pulled the raw water pump with the intention of replacing the impeller and ended up doing a full overhaul. And so far that's it.

The plywood backing the platform is rotten around the bolts, so I'll be doing a quickish fix so I can get it on the water, but it'll be solid. The upholstery is cracked and faded and the carpet is ugly, gelcoat is faded, pretty much what I expected for the 2200 (no trailer) I paid for it. The boat is a 3 hour drive from where I live, so I still haven't gone over it all. The plan is to run it pretty much as is for a season and then I'll decide what to do. The fix for the soft floor was simply installing another one over top, so I'm not tickled about that, but again, it's what you'd expect for the price. Someone drilled a bunch of holes in the pass through between the driver and observer for, I assume a subwoofer, so I'll have to deal with that at some point. Steering is one finger out of the water, so it's ok for now.

The 'setup' is the first 20' of a railway system, it'll be 50' long in total to get me into 3' of water.