1984 Ski Nautique project

Dude I like you ambition but even if it arrives Friday you've got a ton of work to do before you’re ready for that step.

Joe’s synopsis of the rub rail screws is right on.
My '85 when I bought it had a little section by the corner of the windshield on the driver’s side that took the same hit.

Here's what it look's like under the floor in the battery box area minus a bunch of water soaked foam.

ny_nautique wrote: After taking the remaining 8,597 stainless screws out, I was left with this:

You must be missing a couple of screws. All mine have had 8,600 stainless screws in the rub rail.   

And of that 8,600 stainless screws, maybe 10 of them were not bent.

iknow your swim platform has some cracks but dont be shy with a sander.mine was worse,i refinished every hole with a file,retrimed all the edges and grooves and then did the teak resto kit.it looks pretty good by anyones standards.wear a mask,that dust is nasty.

Oh one more question... I assume it is suggested that I fill in all the holes where the original rub rail was mounted. Is that a job for 3M 5200?

The ideal way to fix those holes (both in the vent and rub rail) would be to put a layer or 2 of glass behind them, and then fill them with thickened resin. A high strength filler like microfiber or aerosil-cabosil would be best since you want to screw into the holes again when reinstalling. If you can reinstall the rub rail without fear of having to reuse any of the old holes, then you could get away with a sealer (like 5200) or filling the holes with a lower strength filler, or without having to backing it with glass first.

I've been working on it the past few weeks with some significant progress this week. I'm hoping I can get a lot done on this 4-day weekend.
The foam on the passengers side is mostly dry. Definitely not saturated. However, scroll down to see what the driver's side looked like!

Here it is before starting the work. I removed the gas tank today and the carpet and am ready to dig into the floor.


Before I show you the floor, here are the 4 ports for the vents under the bow. Notice the right-most was capped off. Is this normal?


Oh boy.. The observer side looks OK but the driver's side is quite wet. The boat hasn't seen water for 6 weeks yet it is soaked!


This was the base below the driver's seat. It just melted in my hands.


Yup, that is standing water that I found after pulling the foam.


I could squeeze water out of the foam...

eric lavine wrote: you know legionaires started from bacteria from an air conditioner, when i see the wet foam, thats what i think of

Yes, I've been in the hotel in Philly where it started.    There was some nasty standing stinky water that I found this weekend.

On to the pics...

Here's my work area. It is nice to have so much room. I also have great lighting and a dumpster 20 steps away.


Under the bow being chopped up.


My 8-year-old son is the perfect size to fit under the bow and he was a great help. His pay was a new Wii game...


The floor is removed under the driver's seat. Lots of delamination here... Next is to remove the cooler and battery box.




Yuck. And here's my "drain to nowhere" from the cooler. In this pic the cooler is removed and rotated upside down. The drain fitting you see has a flat piece of plastic in it... it used to be a tube but now it is 2-dimensional.... So it was letting all of the water go under the foam.


Wow.. nasty stuff!


Here's my full dumpster:


And here's how it looks now. Waiting for next weekend...

Yes, mine was small slit too. It felt like the coat hanger I shoved through broke through the glass/wood of the bulkhead.
I think I have a few more pics that may show it. I will post them tomorrow.

ny_nautique wrote: Yes, mine was small slit too. It felt like the coat hanger I shoved through broke through the glass/wood of the bulkhead. I think I have a few more pics that may show it. I will post them tomorrow.

Thanks for the insight, just seems stupid they would have covered up or left very little oppening in the drain holes in that area.

BTW the capped vent hole you asked about in a picture is stock I would "assume" my 84 has the exact same set up, maybe a spare for a heater?

verdi1 wrote: ny_nautique wrote: Yes, mine was small slit too. It felt like the coat hanger I shoved through broke through the glass/wood of the bulkhead. I think I have a few more pics that may show it. I will post them tomorrow. Thanks for the insight, just seems stupid they would have covered up or left very little oppening in the drain holes in that area. BTW the capped vent hole you asked about in a picture is stock I would "assume" my 84 has the exact same set up, maybe a spare for a heater?

Phil - the pic I labeled "wow nasty stuff" up above is the only other good one I have of that drain to nowhere. You can see the pipe running under the battery box - that was from the cooler. I never did get a good look at how it came through the bulkhead because it was so rotted by the time I got that out, it was falling apart. And, this was the only part of the boat that really smelled and I was gagging trying to get this stuff out of there!
In the summer I stated that it felt like the hole was just poking through the bulkhead and it wasn't really a proper port. I still think that was the case. If you can get some light and a camera down by your pylon to take a pic of the bulkhead from the front, I would like to see it.

You're probably correct on why the 4th port was capped. Good to know it was factory though.

Jeff,
Hey got your post and am responding about my us composites order. I spent alot time on phone with them as well as scouring the forum for a game plan. Are you going to go with an original floorplan or something different? Mine varies a little bit because I am going foamless with a plywood floor coated in fiberglass.

My order (I will most likely have to make another) was 500$ plus shipping which ended up more like 600$. But my fiberglass and foam needs are going to be less than the original design. After talking with us composites to get a layup of original thickness you will need about 5 layers of glass on the floor. Also it will take about 3 16lb foam kits. He also said for estimating purposes a quart of resin per yard of fabric is a good way to guess for most fabric. Also I got the epoxy resin not polyester. Dont forget to order CPES for any wood you may have, they dont sell at us composites, or at least I dont think so. post any other questions and I (or someone I am sure) will try to answer. I still have my shopping list if you want more detail but I am sure I missed some things. Other things I ordered were,
thickener
pumps for resin
mixing cups
fiberglass roller
tyvek suits
and some pigments ( wanted to fool around with colored resins, ive got some ideas for some side projects mainly some custom speaker boxes )

You are doing a wonderful job. She was disater and looking great.

nice work! i cant believe how much fiberglass you got to leave in your hull and get your stringers out.i had to get every last bit off and it was still a struggle.keep up the good work