livin4real
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- May 22, 2009
- Messages
- 167
Hey Guys, I have searched and searched for info on GW Invaders on here but it is few and far between. I have a 1987 20' GW Invader Bravo FS200 I bought at the beginning of this summer. We have used it extensively all summer long, close to 100hrs already and love it. It doesn't look anywhere near a 22 yr old boat. I'm only the second owner of the boat and the previous owner took very good care of it, storing it inside, winterized, oil changes etc, etc. The boat had sat unused for two seasons before I got my hands on it but it had been stored inside and loosely covered the whole time.
I had been chasing a small leak for a month when I finally got it nailed down to the portside rear swim platform on the rub rail where the top cap and bottom halves come together. (This is a euro style ski boat with the slanted rear that slopes into the water, the swim platforms are always wet basically.) I rebedded the rail and that solved the leak. Fast forward to last week and after unscrewing the drain plug after a day of skiing it drained for a good minute straight! All day long I hadn't seen any water in the bilge or in the ski locker so I crawled under the outdrive when we got home and sure enough my u-joint bellows had a tear in the bottom that would only leak when the drive was raised. I decided to do the bellows myself after several $800 quotes so today after having pulled the drive and bell housing and sitting there waiting on parts to arrive I get to thinking that since I'm at this point I may as well look into redoing the interior as well.
The boat has a soft spot in the floor above the ski locker which finally brings me to my question. What kind of stringers do these have in them? The company has switched hands a couple times and I can't find any structural info on it. i am currently reading everything I can on glassing, repairs, etc. I just finished gutting and remodeling the inside of my house from bare studs over the last two years. I consider myself a very mechanically inclined person as long as I can get my hands on manuals and books about it. I planned on just replacing the carpet but I know I will end up doing more once the carpet is pulled. I would love to get some info on the structural characterisitics of this particular boat and whether the cap will need to be pulled to replace the floor and what kind of material lies beneathe. Also if anyone can point me towards a good glassing website that starts from scratch I would be very grateful. I have never done glass work but love to learn new things. Sorry for the very long post.
Thanks,
Brian
I had been chasing a small leak for a month when I finally got it nailed down to the portside rear swim platform on the rub rail where the top cap and bottom halves come together. (This is a euro style ski boat with the slanted rear that slopes into the water, the swim platforms are always wet basically.) I rebedded the rail and that solved the leak. Fast forward to last week and after unscrewing the drain plug after a day of skiing it drained for a good minute straight! All day long I hadn't seen any water in the bilge or in the ski locker so I crawled under the outdrive when we got home and sure enough my u-joint bellows had a tear in the bottom that would only leak when the drive was raised. I decided to do the bellows myself after several $800 quotes so today after having pulled the drive and bell housing and sitting there waiting on parts to arrive I get to thinking that since I'm at this point I may as well look into redoing the interior as well.
The boat has a soft spot in the floor above the ski locker which finally brings me to my question. What kind of stringers do these have in them? The company has switched hands a couple times and I can't find any structural info on it. i am currently reading everything I can on glassing, repairs, etc. I just finished gutting and remodeling the inside of my house from bare studs over the last two years. I consider myself a very mechanically inclined person as long as I can get my hands on manuals and books about it. I planned on just replacing the carpet but I know I will end up doing more once the carpet is pulled. I would love to get some info on the structural characterisitics of this particular boat and whether the cap will need to be pulled to replace the floor and what kind of material lies beneathe. Also if anyone can point me towards a good glassing website that starts from scratch I would be very grateful. I have never done glass work but love to learn new things. Sorry for the very long post.
Thanks,
Brian
