85 2001 LVL Stringer Project

Hey everyone,

I thought I would show a few things that I have been working on with the boat. It sat in the garage just resting for the winter. I pulled it out one time early in the spring to let it run a little but it has been rather cool here this spring so not much boating action yet. I pulled it out last friday though and got to work.

I started off by pulling the old registration and boat numbers and cleaning off the goo left behind. Then it was time to get to work cleaning up the top side of the hull from the years of sitting and having fiberglass dust covering it. Not to mention the actual fiberglass and foam on the top side of the boat in the back.

First things first was a good washing. After the boat was clean I pulled the windshield off, removed the bilge vent intake and exhaust and the side teak by the rear seat so that all that would be out of the way.

My plan was to start at the front and get the front top and the sides completed so that I could get the new registration and numbers installed. So I started with a wool pad and some 3m Perfect-It compound on my Dewalt 849 buffer. This did pretty good but it became apparent that some light wet sanding would help things look better. So I whipped out the 1500 and 2000 grit sand paper. I started with the 2000 and that was plenty for the front. After finishing the wet sanding on the top bow I went back to buffing. I started with a Wool pad with 3m Perfect-it, then a red/maroon foam pad and the 3m Perfect-it. Next I changed to a yellow foam pad and some Collinite fiberglass cleaner, then I finished thing off with a white foam pad and Collinite Fiberglass wax.




At this point the top of the bow was finished. I could see my reflection in the gel and anything that was sat on top of the boat slid off, just what I was wanting.   



Next I did the exact same thing on each side back to the windshield with the exception that before I applied the wax I cleaned the area where the registration goes to make sure there was no wax or oils of any kind there then applied the registration and the numbers I had made to try and match the ski nautique that will be going on the side soon. Once the registration was on I went back over everything with wax, doing the area around the letters by hand. I do still have to go back and hit the V area under the boat, I was getting tired and did not feel like getting this just yet.





Once this was finished I removed the hand rail on the port side along with the interior piece that runs along there. *** Heads up*** Wool pads will burn the vinyl off of your interior if you happen to run into it. After this was removed I went to work with a razor blade. This area had a lot of fiberglass from me getting in and out of the boat with crap all over my gloves and just making a mess. Next I went over the area wet sanding with 2000. I finished up the port side and the back. I still have the Drivers side to clean up then I need to buff that whole area.
Before


After


One other thing that I was able to do was to install my new SS cup holders that are a little larger than the stockers that would not hold anything other than a can.





After working on the above Saturday and Sunday last week, Monday we took it out and had some fun in the sun. I tried out my box anchor and I really like it. It does not take up much space and it deploys easy, holds great then pulls back up no problem. Here we are anchored and swimming. My wife and son are on the swim deck that is why the boat appears to be a little nose high.


I still have to finish wet sanding and buffing the 2 sides, apply my new Ski Nautique letters on the sides, install the new pop up cleats by the windshield, then give the seat cushions a good cleaning and I will finally be able to call this project complete!! I plan on continuing on posting to this thread until that point so that the build thread is complete. I still have all of my receipts as well so I think I may try and come up with a build tallie so others can have an Idea on costs associated with this kind of project. This will be a while though, there are A LOT of receipts!!!    

Great job Kris. Did you put off building the starboard-side bench seat?

63 Skier wrote: Awesome job on the boat Kris! I'd love to see some more on-water pictures of it. How is it running? By the way, maybe it's mentioned elsewhere, but where are you located?

OK, I will take some the next time we are out, Hopefully this weekend. It is running like a champ, I will take some more video as well.

I am just north of Birmingham in Gardendale, Al.

Wow Kris you did a number on that boat. Wonderful job. She sounds good and looks awsome..

Very nice work. She looks great!!

Kris, just wanted to add my congrats and thanks for putting this all out there on the site, it might be a long thread dated back to Jan 2008 but you have finished with a boat you can and should be very very proud of. Great pictures and descriptions.

I think Brian said everything in a lot less words than me "WOW"


I look forward to your next 4 year thread

Wow, very nice. Looks awesome.

Donald80SN wrote: Nice work.

Thanks!!!

I think I may have found the source of my oil leak. It looks like it is coming from this on the fuel pump. It is like a plug or something. Is this something that can be tightened up or does the fuel pump need replacing?

mark c wrote: Did you ever get a chance to measure the front observer seat bases? I need to start making a new set for my BFN from scratch and need some general dimensions, heigh width depth, etc. so I can start to build up a set. Thanks,

I have not but I will get some together and post them up soon.

Here are a couple of shots of my trailer winch mount. I am going to pull it back off clean up all the welds and shoot some paint on it sometime this week then put it back on the boat all prettied up.

I wanted to give it a try taking the boat to the lake once first to make sure everything would work fine. It did.





I will be ditching the chain soon as well in favor of using a turn buckle on the front. After that I will feel much safer trailering the boat having it held on by a winch and turn buckle on the front and transom straps on the back.

I am finishing things up this week and hope to have the boat 100% complete on the inside this weekend.

Then I want to give the outside of the boat a good buff and wax to bring the shine back out and put on my new Ski Nautique letters on the side.

After that I have some new projects that I want to dive off into like Tinting the windshield, adding a stereo, interior LED lighting, adding a tower, fun stuff like that. First things first I have got to finish the boat!!

That's awesome. Sounds like it's really running nice.

Right between seconds 30-40 on the video, there's a little spray of water that appears then immediately disappears, right behind the engine. Is that the shaft packing?

Guys I had a fantastic weekend working on the boat. Friday I did some new wiring and cleaned up and organized the wiring and tubing in the bilge while watching the opening ceremonies.

Saturday I finished building my winch mount. I do not have a picture of that though, I will take pictures soon to post.

I also finished up my guide on posts. I saw something on the net a while back that I wanted to try for this. Basically you take a heat source and heat up a piece of schedule 40 PVC and heat it up so it is pliable then bend it to the shape that you want. I wanted it to go over the guide poles. I started by trying to use a 1100 degree heat gun. It would heat a small section but I could not get the whole thing up to temp. Then I tried a hand held propane torch. Still did not work good enough. Then out came the big guns. I pulled out my Inferno weed burning torch. See the torch here This did the trick and had a 5' piece of PVC like butter in about a minute. (Insert best Tim Allen Grunt Here!!)

So I heated up the PVC slid it over the guide posts and held it where I wanted and helped the bend stay somewhat round until it cooled. If you try this wear welding gloves!!! Once it cooled I threw on a coat of paint.

It all starts coming together nicely Kris... How's the tension on getting her back on the water for the first time...??

I like that trailer winch mount! you got any detailed drawings / dimensions?