1988 Ski Nautique Rebuild

Different hull, but on mine, the blower one hose (suction side) that just winds up towards the bottom of the engine, under the doghouse. That's where the fumes would wind up, so that's where it needs to suck from.

The output (blow side) winds up going out towards the top of the stern.

The intakes, on the bow, allow fresh air to be pulled into the doghouse from the vaccume created by the blower or pushed from forward movement of the boat while under way. They would have ducting that allows air to get towards the bilge, but I don't believe they would ever be connected directly to the blower.

do you have to use a hard pass through or can you just run the flex pvc through the cut outs in the wood and seal it up?

Thanks man, yeah I completely forgot about the battery cables. I really want to use something flexable for the vents, I think it will save alot of time if I can connect some flexy stuff somehow.

I got the front piece cut out last night, this turned out to be a chore. Lots of in and out of the boat.


When fiber-glassing the bottoms of the deck boards, is fiberglass mat sufficient or do I need to use cloth?

Im also stuck on what size holes to cut in my bulkhead board. I know there are 3 holes for the blower/vent lines and one for the drain to the battery box. And there needs to be a big one for the cables but I keep seeing a 6th hole that seems to be about 2.5 inches in other people's builds. What is this one for? All of my stuff was rotted and trashed and none of my vents were hooked up when I bought the boat so I dont have a good reference.

No, we are smart enough to know now! Alan rebuilt the delux wood seat bases in his 81, and after just a few years of use, they were already showing signs of rot, despite having been coated with epoxy. Cpes may have slowed the process... But no doubt fully encapsulating them in glass (not just resin) would have been the best at prolonging them. Probably overkill for seat frames, but not a floor!

I think that if you rebuild with wood, you need to take all necessary precautions to prevent water intrusion into the structural members... They're not going to breathe if they're coated in glass on one side and cpes'd on the other. Keeping water out by sealing them as best you can and avoiding drilling holes, then keeping water away (no foam) is your best chance at avoiding future rot.

gun-driver wrote: captbob626 wrote: FYI. For what it's worth, I've seen plywood delaminate when not at least coated on the underside. I don't think cpes will stop it. I use cpes and a thin layer of glass, make sure you seal the edges good also. I agree wrap the whole thing in glass even the sides. Most of the constant moisture is underneath that's where the rot starts.

Are we sure about this? I thought that every layer of fiberglass was a potential bond that could be compromised?


When I did mine earlier this summer, I just CPES'd the bottom 3 or 4 times. My reasoning was according to what I'd seen here: that "if" the water gets through to top of the wood, fiberglassing the underside would trap it there, and cause the rot to begin at the bottom ~ where it was trapped....

I also did little drainage holes ~ where the ribs connect to the secondary stringers ~ so that any trapped water would go to the back of the boat and into the bilge.... as long as the boat of the boat is tilted up.... then once it's all in the bilge, lower the nose and drain it out the drain plug....

I haven't updated lately, but I got most of the ribs cut, sealed, and glued in. I also started on the back portion of the floor. I cpes-ed it yesterday and will start glassing it this week along with cutting out the floor for the front.

Okay cool, thanks guys. Im putting in another order today and wanted to make sure I ordered the right stuff.

The fan of Overkill in me says, "2 layers of 7.5 oz cloth."

Personally, I would not use a single layer of fiberglass on anything.... just seems like a simple way to repeat the whole process.... I mean, you've done all the hard work at this point ~ an additional layer or two or three of glass is just going to make it that much better.

I use 3/4" plywood..... I believe in Overkill.

I did not cover the part of the floor that is faces the bottom of the boat with anything except CPES. My thought was that a layer of fiberglass on the bottom would trap water in the wood ~ if water ever entered from the top....

I went with 2 layers of fiberglass cloth connecting the hull wall top of the plywood, and then down over the exposed secondary stringers and finally onto the little pocket between the secondary & primary stringers.

Then I put a layer of biax mat that tied the floor to the hull wall (as I wanted that bond as strong as possible).

Nice work! Brings back memories...
One tip that was suggested to me was attaching wood blocks under my plywood floor where the screws for the seats attach. That give more than just the plywood for the screws to bite into. Cpes is good stuff. Fill screw holes with it also,then 5200. Hope this helps. Monty

I bought some 3/4 plywood that ill glass down. I didnt want to go back with foam. After I glass down the secondaries im going to build all the perpendicular supports for the plywood. Then I guess ill have to start figuring out the bulk head stuff and all the fresh air vents. My boat didnt have a bunch of stuff hooked up when I got it so ill have to do some research and see what all needs to be done.

I haven't updated in a while, I test fitted the motor and had to make some adjustments to the stringer height. I cut and glassed my secondaries together with mat and epoxy, glued them down with a thick epoxy and Aerosil-Cabosil mixture, then I smoothed the bottom out with fairing compound. This weekend I plan to glass them in with my cloth strips.






Im slowly getting there.

Hey great job so far.... One thing I'd do before I went any further is to cover the top of the boat ~~~~ down the sides, etc....

I've got dozens of tiny fingerprints (epoxy) that I still have yet to wetsand off my gelcoat.

A couple of sheets of plastic and a bit of tape would have saved me a huge cosmetic headache...

Also ~ I dig the oly plates ~~~~ exactly what I used....

Here are some pics from last weekend