1988 Ski- Restoration Project

Hey everyone, I've been a lurker for the last few years, checking out a lot of the great work and information on the site! I guess you can say I've been a CCF my whole life. We had a lime green 74 Skier (dad restored to original) and now own an 88 Ski Nautique, I love these boats!!

I noticed the floor was soft behind the driver's seat during this past boating season and began investigating things after I pulled the boat a few weeks ago.

Here’s my Diagnosis:

-Bolts in the stringers spun freely (not a good start)
-Underside of the floor in front of the pylon on the drivers side was basically gone.
-stringers behind the engine are exposed (fiberglass has come off the wood) and is saturated at the top and looks “ok” at towards the bottom.

     First, I removed a portion of the carpet and grabbed a flash light to see what damage was visible without tearing any thing apart. I noticed there was an opening under floor of the drivers seat.

After making sure I wouldn't cut into any cables or stringers I began to cut away parts of the floor. No wood was found under the fiberglass top layer, it’s all rotten and fallen onto the foam.

(I'm not worried about keeping a template because there is literally no wood left, its all rotten and fallen onto the foam.)

I exposed the stringers from the pylon to the battery box but stayed inside the secondary stringers (in fear of cutting too deep and getting into the hull.) Foam was saturated and there was standing water in between the main stringers and secondary stringers on both sides.

The main stringer on the passenger side (port) was BAD! I was able to peel off the top of the stringer with my fingers like a Pulled Pork sandwich! The drivers side (starboard) wasn't as bad but the fiberglass surrounding it was cracked and the wood was exposed to water.

Secondary stringers didn’t look terrible, but I can only see a limited portion because I didn’t want to make the mistake of getting into the hull.

I’m thinking a complete floor/stringer job is in the works for this winter. My dad (it’s his boat) thinks we can possibly salvage the stringer and only do a portion of the floor!! So I will need some good evidence and support to persuade him to do fix it up correctly! After all, it is his boat and mostly his dime.    

Sorry, no pictures today. I’m a college student and have my next day off on wednesday so i’ll get to dig into it more then.

Any advice on what my next step should be? Should I move to the bow or start moving towards the transom?

Sorry for the novel, any advice/feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Yep, what he said. It sounds pretty bad from the description.

storm34 wrote: Should I be worried about leveling the boat before I take the floor apart?

I think I'd level the mains and check them several times while you take the floor out. The floor is glassed to the sides and adds some rigidity. I'd want to know if anything changes over the process. Also your floor is probably sloped down from front to back with the mains leveled and this is a good time to study and measure things.

Is the engine out?

First thing I would do is remove the engine and all interior. Next cover the dash...etc. up. Get some plexiglass and lay it over the windshield so you do not break it.....