Hi new member here, need a quick measurement

Hi folks,
Thanks to all the great info and restorations detailed on this site we decided to purchase a fixer-upper 1991 Sport Nautique. It already had a tower on it and a good stereo but needed all new interior and judging from the huge crack next to the passenger seat, I suspected the stringers were rotten as well. The price was right so I went ahead with the purchase. We knew we wanted an open bow but could not afford any of the newer ones with the open bow right now. We bought it at the end of the summer last year and were able to take it out a couple of times before it got to cold. So in January I started the tear down and grind out. The stringers showed signs of rot but were not all that bad but I decided to replace anyhow. With this being an open bow I had to separate the top and bottom hull, which was no small feat in itself. Luckily the previous owner of my house had built a garage with a steel beam across it for pulling car motors. I was able to pull the motor and tranny up with that and then just roll the boat out from underneath. I decided that since this was an open bow and quite a bit more involved stringer job with having to separate the hull and all that I did not want to use any wood or foam. I looked at the Nida Core and Coosa products as I have a local supplier. I decided to go with the Nida Core because of cost. I also decided to use vinyl ester resin as a cost compromise to epoxy. I used 1 inch Nida Core doubled up with 1.5oz matt in between to make up 2 8inch X 14ft "boards" for the stringers. After I fit the stringers to the hull (did one side at a time via recommendations on this site) I covered them with a layer of 1.5oz matt and then 18oz woven roving. I set them in place with two layers of 1.5 oz mat. I cut the mat into 1inch squares and mixed up a kind of putty with them and then tabbed each side of the stringers pretty heavily. Then I went with a layer of 1.5oz mat and a layer of 18oz roving over the stringers. I included 3 drain holes on each stringer to let any water out and made them large enough to let the boat dry out throughly. For the secondary stringers I used pool noodles to make the forms for them. I used spray adhesive to stick them in place and then laid the mat over the top. I also used a layer of 1.5oz mat and a layer of the 18oz roving. At this time I was out of fiberglass so when I went back to the supplier(Advanced Plastics) I found the 2415. So much better doing 2 layers at once with this stuff. I left about 2inches of the old floor all the way around so for extra floor support and stiffness I laid over this and then down to the hull bottom to make a third stringer on each side. I stuffed pool noodles underneath the old floor before fiberglassing to keep the shape and support the fabric while glassing. I replaced all the cheap plastic vent hose with PVC. I ran two of the vents along the ski locker as was done originally and I placed the other two vents into the floor on the other side of the stringer (between the main and secondary stringers) to vent out any fumes that might accumulate in there and also add to the engine venting. My drain/vent holes in the main stringers are approx. 2inch opening(I free handed them with my die grinder) so I feel that is more than adequate to vent the engine compartment. So now on to the floor, I used 1/2inch Nida Core with a layer of 2415 on each side. I gel coated the front section and then painted over that with Rustoleum Smoke Gray with Majic hardener added to it. The carpet doesn't dry out very well underneath the open bow area so I only plan to use carpet on the sides of the boat with seadeck or a heavy removable carpet matting in the rear area.

So now on to my not so quick question: I've got the rear floor sections cut out and fitted and getting ready to glass them in and I can't find a good picture of the floor behind the ski pole in my pre-dissassembly pics. I was wondering if someone could measure the floor directly behind the ski pole towards the engine and tell me how wide it is. Or maybe since my ski pole is out measure from the front edge of the engine cradle to where the floor starts. I want to make sure I leave enough room for the engine to clear but also not be to short for the engine cover not to leave a gap when closed.

Yeah, gonna thru bolt everything but the bolts on the top of the engine cradle. I drilled all the holes 1 1/4 inches and packed them full of a resin and mat mix up like I did for tabbing in the stringers. Then went back and drilled them out to 3/8. I wanted to create a solid core around each bolt for compressive strength and added water proofing. I ended up just making the section behind the ski pole even with the cross bars of the engine cradle directly below it. I think that ought to be close to what it was.

That is really cool Jason. I bet it was fun trying to get in and out of the boat repeatedly while the top cap was removed.

Reminded me of a thread on the Supra forums. A lot of those boats are open bow so they have to split the top and bottom. Here's one:

Yes, that was underneath the carpet when I pulled it up. I guess it's the "Isodamp" that Correct Craft was talking about in the brochure. It was a royal pain in the ass trying to sand all the old carpet glue off of it. It took me about four hours yesterday. It will gum up on you if you try to sand all the way though at once so you have to keep going over it with light pressure.

It wasn't that bad trying to get in and out. Luckily I could raise it up enough to create a 2ft window to climb through. I took the tires off and put it on jack stands as low as I could get it and placed a step ladder next to the fender so I could just swing my leg over and hit the step ladder. After doing it a few thousand times there's nothing to it.

Thanks Donald, It has been alot of fun and quite the learning process at the same time. I'd give anything to be done with it now and be on the water again. My goal was May 1 to have it useable again but my job has absolutely killed me this year. So now I'm just hoping I can ski before labor day. I'll work on the interior next winter.

Nice job Jason , you'll definitely have a bond with that boat when you get it back together! It'll all be worth it when you're out on the water. Keep up the good work.