1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

[Miasman]

Well, I decided it was time to replace the floor in my Ski Centurion and figured I would share my pain with anyone else who was interested. I bought the boat from a guy in 2006 with the insurance money I got after my 1993 Four Winns 210 Horizon was stolen out of storage. Boat looked good, but I knew there were potential problems since the floor was a bit spongy. Of course I decided to ignore this since everything else worked like a dream and I had a really sweet looking boat.

In 2007 I moved from CA to Sweden and decided to take my baby with me. We had a lot of fun the first summer, but last year the water was a bit low in the lake so I never put her in the water. I knew I needed to replace the floor and should have done it last year while I wasn't using the boat, but being the procrastinator I am I never got around to it.

About two weeks ago I decided it was time to get on the project so here I go! The following are a few pics of this little beauty I call "Mellow Yellow"

2010-06-09

First, I want to say thanks to all who posted to rellis1962's thread - I got a ton of info out of reading your replies.

If I can figure out how to use this forum correctly, I will share my experiences with you as I do my best to complete the project in the next two weeks.

 

[bigredinohio]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Good luck on the restoration.

By the way, it's not pain...it's a labor of love so I've been told.

 

[BigBoatinOkie]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Cool boat. Good luck with the repairs.

 

[sendo70]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

I am looking at buying the exact boat this Friday, it will be my 1st. any tips on what to look out for? are the stringer wood on this boat? can't wait to see more pics of your project.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

sendo - yes they are, I am actually going to do a little further probing on mine just to be sure they are intact -no sense going to all the trouble to do the floor if it will just cover up rotted stringers.

To do this I will drill a series of holes in the tops and take an awl (ice pick more or less) and see if the wood is punky or not.

By the way - I came across this link which is almost bible like in its nature. Super resource for anyone who needs to repair their floor, decks or transoms.

Everyone should check it out:

http://www.rotdoctor.com/glass/GLrotrepair.html#transom

No work on the boat in the last week, we are having a lot of rain so, I placated myself by going out and buying my epoxy and glass fiber. Try translating quantities and just the name of the item from english/U.S. measure to Swedish and metric! Hopefully the coming week will be drier and I can get back to work. My goal is to have her back in the water by the end of the month.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

hey - tips?
Rot check - get in the boat and walk around, see if you hit any spongy places. Take a screw driver or a hammer and tap on the transom around the exhaust ports and see if it sounds hollow or the same as other spots in the transom.

See if you can pull the access panels in the floor to take a look at the bilge area - any oily build up or masses of crappy scud water? Unfortuantely you can't get the center panel of the floor upin front of the motor.

Check the impeller pump and see if it shows any signs of leakage. (the pump is mounted on the front of the motor) on the driver's side. Check the exhaust manifolds and see if they show any signs of visible rust at any of the mount points.

Ask when the last time the impeller was changed.
Ask when the last time the prop shaft packing or packing box was changed. Ask the same question about the rudder packing.

Make sure the bilge pump works.

Turn the steering wheel to make sure nothing binds.

Check the shift lever/linkage for binding.

Pull the dipstick on the transmission and see if the fluid is red or dark brown.

Pull the dipstick on the engine and check to see that the oil at least looks like oil and is not milky - if it is there is probably a water jacket or head gasket leak somewhere.

Ask if at all possible to take a test drive. I have had 3 boats and bought two on dry land. one had probs the other did not. bit of a crap shoot.

 

[sendo70]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

hey thanks for the info, i ended up getting the boat, looking at your pics i see we have the same trailer too. but i am missing something up front it looks like a bar connected to the eye hook. is that bar loose? you think you can post a closer pic of it so i can see to get it replaced?
thanks, sendo

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Hi, unfortuantely raining cats and dogs today so I'll try to get a pic up in the next day or so. This is a metal bar that attaches to the trailer frame, then when the boat is on the trailer the rope eye on the front of the boat goes through it then you re-attach your winch strap through it to secure the front of the boat to the trailer.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Well boat is done and has been in the water for about a month now. I have been having so much fun I haven't had time to put up the pics from the project. It is raining today so I finally took the time to sort out the pics and post them. This turned out to be a much bigger project than I anticipated, but in the end, I am really happy with the results. Over the winter I plan on having the upholstery done so next summer the boat should be like new

First set of pics is what the floor looked like in the boat after the carpet came out:

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Next set of pics is what the floor looked like after cutting what was left of it out of the boat. I thought it would be smart to save what was left of the floor and supports to use as patterns later on. As it turned out the only really valuable piece was what was left of the Driver's side floor - it was really worth its weight (all 35lbs of it) in gold as a template when cutting the new plywood later on. The supports were worthless because I decided to leave the edge around the walls of the boat were I cut out the old floor - I set the new plywood on top of this so the outside edges were higher and any water would drain to the center of the boat. Since the floor ended up about 3/4" higher on the outside edges, the dimensions of the old supports were no longer correct. I ended up making a new set of supports from scratch that were all framed together to provide better support. Pics of those to come further down.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

I used a saber saw with an 8" blade to cut out the old floor. I made the cuts about 3/4" away from the side of the boat to leave a good edge to rest the new plywood on when mounting it. What I found under the floor was a nightmare! The boat had been on land for over a year but there was water under the floor even then. All of the old supports were totally rotted, but miracle of miracles it looked like the stringers where intact!

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Here are few few more pics of the mess I found after removing the floor. The foam that was injected originally was poorly applied, and it had seeped out to the water channel along the stringers - preventing water from draining when the port and starboard drain plugs were removed at the end of the season each year. The bilge forward was a mess - full of oily sludge and gunk.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

First thing I did was to get rid of any standing water and to clean the slop out of the bilge.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

I took a rubber mallet and a Stanley WonderBar and by driving the WonderBar under the old foam I was able to get most of it out in big pieces. I filled up 8 big trash bags with the old foam.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

After mopping up and using my newly purchased for this job ShopVac, I inspected the stringers for rot. I drilled a series of holes just through the resin that covered the top and sides of the stringers about 1/2" from the floor every 8 inches and then took an ice pick and poked into the stringers to see if there was any rotted wood. The boat gods were smiling down on me and I didn't find any soft spots!

I did find some places where there were bubbles in the resin along the joints - water had managed to get into them, so I drill holes and drained them.

After that, I took my grinder with an 80 grit sanding wheel and lopped off any old flooring that was stuck to the stringers, and any gobs of old glass and resin that was stuck to the bottom of the boat. This job absolutely requires a dust mask and goggles. I covered the motor with a tarp but it was still covered with dust by the time I was through.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Dust everywhere! I had made a portable workshop in the driveway but putting up my 10x10 EasyUp and then pulling a large plastic tarp over it and the boat. This kept the dust from spreading and rain and a lot of mosquitoes out of my way. (This is Sweden in the summer - often rain and always mosquitoes) I used up more than one bottle of mosquito repellent!

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Important tools to do the job right

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

I had to stop and remove the exhaust hoses - They had been leaking the last time I had the boat in the water so I decided to clean them up and put new silicone in all of the connections. Surprise! The previous owner had used tub and tile caulk to seal them. Not too smart Mr. Biddle! I used 100% Silicone at the transom ports and PermaGasket Hi-Temp blue silicone at the exhaust manifolds. I took my drill with a 2 1/2" wire-wheel and cleaned out and roughed up all of the surfaces before applying the new sealant.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Next I had to clean up all the dust so I could start measuring for my new floor supports. Thank god I bought the new ShopVac, it really made things easier. After vacuuming up all the dust, I washed up any loose dust with a sponge and a bucket of water.

 

[Miasman]

Re: 1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - New Floor

Need to take a break here - next up are the new floor supports and floor.