85 2001 LVL Stringer Project

Very nice work. She looks great!!

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

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.

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

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!!!