96 blue water pro-am skier.

[samt]

Hey guys. I swapped a motorcycle for a better boat for the family. It's a bit of a project, more like future projects. But the intent is to make it like new after I run it a summer or two. My wife was never a lake fan, but after 4 days/evenings on the lake with zero issues and good friends she has been converted. I've got to do the best I can to keep up the streak.

Boat is a 1996 blue water pro-am skier. Has a 5.7 mercuiser competition ski and Borg Varner velvet drive.

Very nice hull and everything fiberglass. The seats show age, but only the drivers seat has huge cracks. Dash is redone with gps speedo, tach and depth gauge , all faria match originals. Engine purrs like a kitten and sounds new.
Now for the questions.
1. What service does the drive require? Looks very simple I assume the oil needs changed? Looks like atf to me.
2. Raw water pump. What's the life expectancy here? It's of unknown age and care.
3. Rules for running out of water? I have a fake a lake, but have yet to fire it up out of the water.
4. It only wants to run about 35mph and 3500 rpm. But does it at the same rate with a skier or whatever your pulling. Almost like it has a rev limiter. I've not had it out with just 1-2 people in the boat.
5. Now the big one. Looks like the floor, possibly stringers need some service. Floor does some moving while going across the lake and there is some softness in the passenger side. Looks like the floor support is separating from the stringer. And also looks like the stringer is not sealed up very well. Stringers seems solid. But I assume something here needs attention.
Driver side stringer.


Passenger side



Man those are bad pics. But the aluminum is a cradle the engine bolts to that bolts to the stringers. Looks like the floor support on both sides is pulling away from stringers. I'll try and get a better pic but it's kinda hard.

Sam

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would get the stringers repaired asap

 

[Woodonglass]

Uhmmm YEAH!!! From what I see, I wouldn't be doing any Hard turns etc. with the stringers in that Bad of Shape!!!

 

[samt]

The stringers aren't rotten, but it does appear that they are coming unglassed to the floor. Anyone have an idea how far up they go? I can't find much info on these blue water boats.

I guess they may be rotten somewhere on up or back where I can't see. I'm not sure what to do other than pull up the floor, but I'd much rather rig it up and limp it to winter and then do the whole interior.

 

[samt]

Well I pulled the access panels up and did some investigating. Looks like the stringers are trash. There is a bulkhead right in front of the ski pole. The stringers are good once you get right past the transmission. I pulled a bolt and holy smokes there is nothing inside. They spent some time very wet.

So I assume I need to cut the floor up and try to see where the damage ends. Do I cut the floor all the way at the edge or what? It appears that there is no fiberglass just epoxy paint that's all cracked up.

Do I buy treated plywood for the stringers or special marine wood of some sort? I see online guys use all sorts of stuff. I'm pretty good with fiberglass so that's not really an issue. I have some resin and a roll of glass. Also some q cells and stuff.

So I'm thinking pull up 1ft of floor outside of the stringers and see what I have to start with. Oh yea I guess I have to pull the motor very first. I'm not real fond of that since all the electrical connections are sealed up really nice unlike the floor






I drilled into this stringer and it seems fine, any tips on making sure?

 

[Dangerwil]

Looks very similar to a Ski Nautique build wise. Take a look at some stringer rebuilds at correctcraftfan in the forums.

 

[samt]

Pulled the motor out this evening. I was impressed all the wiring was in 1 big plug besides the ground and hot wire to starter. I'm gonna do some cutting tomorrow and see what's up.
It really looks like there is no glass on the stringers just epoxy "holding them down". I don't see how that's a good idea. It's so easy to lay even just 1 layer of glass.

I'm curious if I can simply sand and lay some glass to hold the stringers where they are still good. I assume I can bond to the epoxy with regular resin If I sand it a little.

I rebuilt the stringers in my old boat by just cutting the glass off the top and ripping all the rot out and stuck a few 2x4's and spray foam inside and then glasses back over them. Pretty red neck, but it was rock solid. I was probably way overboard on the glass with like 20 layers of some real fine cloth.

 

[samt]

I cut back 10" of floor on each side of the stringers. The stringers have almost no rot, but there is almost no fiberglass. 1 piece of 3/4" plywood is the stringer. It is epoxied to the floor, no glass. What I thought was a second layer is just a backer for the lags to hold. No glass only some epoxy over it. I can't imagine that holding.
What I'm going to do is leave the stringer, fill all the holes with resin and q-cells. Sand and the. Glass is down. Then glass/resin a 2x6 in behind it and run longer lags through it also. That way my motor mounts are exactly the same.
There is no foam in the floor, it's pretty dry, but the epoxy is all cracked so it needs some sealing. I think I'm going to sand it, resin coat and then use some non skid coating instead of carpet.

 

[samt]

I've kicked butt so far this weekend, but it's too hot to finish up and I have a get together tonight.
But I got my new stringers mostly installed. Cut to fit, bedded them in PL professional, glued, resin, and screwed them to the old stringer. Then I glassed over the epoxy cracked on the inside edge of the old stringer and then went the rest of the way (it was only cracked where the engine cradle is.)
Then this morning I glassed the outside of 1 stringer and put a couple layers over where the motor mounts. Also got it tied back into the floor supports and I reinforced a bulkhead that was trying to separate some. Maybe Monday I can finish up the other side and put the floor down and get it ready for the tough coat.

 

[samt]

Well I finished the stringers and tied the floor supports back in. Also have most the new wood cut for the floor.


I think I'm going to tuff coat over the access panels. Seems they are a big cause of rot, especially the front ones that attach to th front bulkhead. I don't have experience with the coating, but I suspect the day I need in for access that I can run a razor down the seam. The front access panel would only need removed to get the ski pole or motor mount cradle out. I can't imagin needing to remove either and not needing to pull up the entire floor.

 

[Jarcher3]

Looks like a pretty nice boat. glad it seemed like a quick fix for you!

 

[samt]

Today put a few resin coats on the floor and tonight I sanded it with 50 and rolled out the tuff coat. It should be super water resistant, but I don't really like the look. I think snap in carpet is in my future.

Yea the wife would not call it a quick fix. I probably have 40 hours in it and still have to put the motor and seats back in, refit the hood.

 

[Ned L]

Hmmm,.... I just found this thread. I will still make a couple of comments for you.
If you are not aware, the engine beds on an inboard carry quite different stresses than in an I.O. In an I.O., all the stresses of pushing the boat are carried by the transom (similar to an outboard). With an onboard, the prop pushes the engine, and the engine mounts basically pull the boat through the water by the mounting bolts (lag screws), so the engine beds do need to be really solid. It seems like you are in good shape there.
I also don't dislike the way that boat was originally built (with a lack of fiberglass cloth and resin over the wood). Water really isn't that big of an issue for wood, the problem is when wood gets wet and then can't dry out (as in "everything is sealed in fiberglass".)
I suspect you would have had much bigger issues if everything had been covered with fiberflass as I'm most boats.
When you drop the engine back in remember it needs to be aligned properly with the shaft, not just bolted back where it was. Aligning it means the prop shaft & shaft coupling are in a 'neutral' position and no more than .003" out of flush anywhere between the two coupling faces before they are bolted up.
Borg Warner reverse gears are good gears. Shouldn't give you any issues (as long as it is aligned properly to the shaft. They are common reverse gears, so maintenance info should be all over the net for them.
Nice boat. Take care of it, maintain it and do things properly on it and it will always have good resale value.

 

[samt]

Hmmm,.... I just found this thread. I will still make a couple of comments for you.
If you are not aware, the engine beds on an inboard carry quite different stresses than in an I.O. In an I.O., all the stresses of pushing the boat are carried by the transom (similar to an outboard). With an onboard, the prop pushes the engine, and the engine mounts basically pull the boat through the water by the mounting bolts (lag screws), so the engine beds do need to be really solid. It seems like you are in good shape there.
I also don't dislike the way that boat was originally built (with a lack of fiberglass cloth and resin over the wood). Water really isn't that big of an issue for wood, the problem is when wood gets wet and then can't dry out (as in "everything is sealed in fiberglass".)
I suspect you would have had much bigger issues if everything had been covered with fiberflass as I'm most boats.
When you drop the engine back in remember it needs to be aligned properly with the shaft, not just bolted back where it was. Aligning it means the prop shaft & shaft coupling are in a 'neutral' position and no more than .003" out of flush anywhere between the two coupling faces before they are bolted up.
Borg Warner reverse gears are good gears. Shouldn't give you any issues (as long as it is aligned properly to the shaft. They are common reverse gears, so maintenance info should be all over the net for them.
Nice boat. Take care of it, maintain it and do things properly on it and it will always have good resale value.

Thanks for the reply, I battled with glassing the whole stringers, but at the end of the day decided to only glass the entire stringer where the motor mounts are. Hopefully that's a pretty good compromise.

I left the old stringer in place, and it had a cap I removed where the motor mounts are. I measure the cap and replaced that with 4 layers of glass. So my motor mounts should be very close.

So your saying that The trans and drive shaft should line up perfectly before I bolt? Seems like I remember the shaft having a small amount of play in it where it goes through the hull, should it?

 

[Ned L]

So your saying that The trans and drive shaft should line up perfectly before I bolt? Seems like I remember the shaft having a small amount of play in it where it goes through the hull, should it?

Ahhh, ....... YEP, That's exactly what I am saying. Yes, there is some "play" in the shaft log where the shaft goes through the bottom of the boat (that rubber hose between the dripless stuffing box and the shaft log allows some movement or 'play' in the prop shaft. That play is NOT there to allow for poor shaft alignment.
The prop shaft needs to be located pretty much in the middle of that 'play' area (actually the shaft at the coupling should be hung by a spring scale with a weight showing that is equal to the weight of the coupling and half the shaft weight between the strut and the coupling. .... Buts that's a bit fussy on a small boat and engine. --- That's how it is done on large commercial boats with hundreds of pounds of shaft and tons of engine weight).
Anyway, ....... you absolutely do need to place the shaft (hold, block,... whatever) in the middle of that small amount of play, and then you align the engine to the shaft (up, down, left, right, front this way and back that way, front up & back down, however you need to move it ) to move the engine to the shaft, NOT the shaft to the engine.
Moving the shaft to the engine will cause premature wearing of the cutlass bearing in the strut, and possibly premature wear (leaking) of the rear seal in the reverse gear, and if bad enough, thrust bearing wear in the reverse gear.

This is why the engine mounts are adjustable, allowing for up, down, left, right. ----- I would recommend making sure all those adjustments are free and working before dropping the engine back in. (But I wouldn't move them all around, now you at least have a good starting point and may get real lucky and not have to move things.
........ And that .003", ... that's about the thickness of a piece of photo copy paper. - You'll need to go buy yourself a set of "feeler gauges" at an auto parts store.

 

[samt]

Well I must have measured good because it was lined up as centered as possible without using a scale like you suggested. I picked up on the shaft about 1/8 inch to line it up. That puts it close as any shade tree mechanic can get to center.

The previous owner had told me it would take on water at night. I figured out that the dripless stuffing box replacement was loose too. It was about 1/2" from touching the carbon ring. Learned that after dragging it 1.5 hour to the family reunion the morning after putting it back together. The bilge pump could barely keep up.

You tube got me back going though. I guess it had been barely loose and when we pulled the motor the shaft slid making it extremely loose. I almost can't believe that thing works.

The boat still seems a little underpowered. Takes quite a bit to pull up a big, not too good, slalom skier with a full boat. It doesn't like to go much faster than 35mph, about 3300 rpm. It seems like it pulls too good to be a prop issue. Has no problem hitting 35 with a skier. I'm just curious what it's supposto pull like. If I didn't have a tach I would probably just assume it's proped to run that speed, but I figured it should rev to 4200.