1987 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II - First Time Rebuild - Floor, Engine, Dash, etc.

[ACon977]

hey A, just hoping its the battery. Why cant that be tested on a home bench?

Me too. No real progress last night since we had friends over for dinner.

Although I hopped in the boat to show the husband who came over for dinner (I know, quite the host). And the boat turned over great! I had all the plugs out but it turned over just fine. It had been off the charger for almost 24 hours and was resting at ~12.5V. I didnt check the voltage under load this time.

How would I test the battery at home? as of now Im curious if it was just a little bit of a fluke that it drained down so quickly..

 

[ACon977]

If you have a big ol' wirewound power resistor you can lol.. it needs to be load tested... A battery can have 12 to 13 volts but as soon as you put a load on it, it might drop down to 9 or 10 volts or even lower if it doesn't have a good charge or damaged plates. Just probing with a voltmeter ain't gonna tell you much.

EDIT: sorry, just realized you were talking about the starter lol

Yea I had tested the starter last year when I swapped it out for the old busted one. had it spinning like a top on the bench and turning over the motor just fine when it was attached.

 

[Mad Props]

Me too. No real progress last night since we had friends over for dinner.

Although I hopped in the boat to show the husband who came over for dinner (I know, quite the host). And the boat turned over great! I had all the plugs out but it turned over just fine. It had been off the charger for almost 24 hours and was resting at ~12.5V. I didnt check the voltage under load this time.

How would I test the battery at home? as of now Im curious if it was just a little bit of a fluke that it drained down so quickly..

If you can have someone turn the motor over, you can probe the starter lead and a motor ground and check the voltage while the motor is turning over... Then you can do the same thing but probing the battery plus and minus terminals.. The numbers should be pretty much the same.

If the voltage is higher at the battery than the terminals, that means you have a bad connection somewhere... If they are below 10.5 or 11V while cranking, I think you battery will need charged and rechecked. If it drops low on a full charge then its probably got a bad cell.

 

[ACon977]

If you can have someone turn the motor over, you can probe the starter lead and a motor ground and check the voltage while the motor is turning over... Then you can do the same thing but probing the battery plus and minus terminals.. The numbers should be pretty much the same.

If the voltage is higher at the battery than the terminals, that means you have a bad connection somewhere... If they are below 10.5 or 11V while cranking, I think you battery will need charged and rechecked. If it drops low on a full charge then its probably got a bad cell.

Perfect! Thanks Ill have to take a look

 

[ACon977]

So... I may have hopped on a honey do item instead of testing the battery this weekend..

​​​​​​Designed and built a rolling kitchen island for our house with pull out trash, 2 drawers, butcher block top, spice rack on the side, and Tupperware in the back.. It's not don't yet, but coming along nicely. My first time making drawers and they turned out pretty decent. Mostly thanks to the fact that I bought a new table saw, game changer.




Unfortunately some of the rivets didn't reach far enough through the cap to grab on, or the holes were too damaged. So in a few spots I had to put little stainless steel screws in place.

 

[ACon977]

Hope everyone is staying safe in their own version or quarentine. At the moment I'm still employed and going into the office. Expecting to have to work from home here soon. Then my lunch breaks can be working on the boat

 

[archbuilder]

I would back the screws out and put some silicon or something similar on them and put them back in. Not for water tightness, but to keep them from backing out from vibration. Miss Morgans rubrail is screw on, I kept having to tighten the screws a few times a year....I backed them out one at at time, dabbed some clear silicone on the threads, reinstalled and no more problem. What kind of table saw did you get? A good tool always makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to table saws.

 

[ACon977]

Good recommendation Arch! I'll be sure to do that on the few I used.

I ended up grabbing the Hercules saw from harbor freight. Read quite a few reviews and it held up against the comparable DeWalt. Plus my impact driver is Hercules and that thing has been amazing.

 

[oldrem]

Nice work Austin

 

[ACon977]

Look what just got here in the mail! Looking forward to rebuilding the carburator and getting the engine to start up.

 

[archbuilder]

Its always nice to see parts show up at your house!

 

[Timr71]

Hey Austin,

Quick unsolicited tip that is specific to Ski Centurions. There's a guy over on the centurion forum that I'm helping to trouble shoot some of his issues. So, I placed a quick call to my cousin and he pointed a couple of things out regarding the steering cable. On these older models, the steering cable was routed and laid in the floor of the bilge. We all know that that means eventually, the steering cable is laying in water, and that's what leads to "hard" steering later down the road. So, two things: 1, route the cable to go to the back of the boat via the top of the bilge. We hung mine going right under the engine and it doesn't lay in the bilge area any more. 2. My cousin said that there's a gland nut option that can be fitted to the end of the cable, where the rod comes out of the cover. If you find that and install it, it'll act as another defense against water getting past the seal and buggering the cable up.

Good luck! Can't wait for the next update!

-Tim

 

[ACon977]

Thanks guys! It was a good weekend in quarentine and I got quite a bit of work done on the kitchen island I'm building, and also... Dug into the carb!



It's quite the mess so I'm going to have to get a lot more carb cleaner and take everything apart any recommendations on getting into the small recessed of the bowl? I was trying to use a little hand scrub brush but the bristles were a little short to get all the way down in there.

 

[ACon977]

On these older models, the steering cable was routed and laid in the floor of the bilge. We all know that that means eventually, the steering cable is laying in water, and that's what leads to "hard" steering later down the road. So, two things: 1, route the cable to go to the back of the boat via the top of the bilge. We hung mine going right under the engine and it doesn't lay in the bilge area any more. 2. My cousin said that there's a gland nut option that can be fitted to the end of the cable, where the rod comes out of the cover. If you find that and install it, it'll act as another defense against water getting past the seal and buggering the cable up.

Good luck! Can't wait for the next update!

-Tim

Hey Tim! Thanks for the advice, honestly, I will never turn down anyone's thoughts. There's no such thing as a bad opinion, and I didn't like how the cable was in the belly of the boat rubbing on the hull either. But couldn't see a way to get it to mount up.
maybe I'll have to try and see a better strategy once I get the old girl in the water.

 

[kcassells]

Most run up under the gunnel or just above deck.
I have seen some where the run a solid corrugated tube whereas both ends come up out of the deck with a rubber cab to reduce water penetration. Also read guys pulling it out spraying with a lube and make the cable vertical so lube runs to to bottom and work the cable back and forth for awhile till they free up.
All the best!

 

[ACon977]

Most run up under the gunnel or just above deck.
I have seen some where the run a solid corrugated tube whereas both ends come up out of the deck with a rubber cab to reduce water penetration. Also read guys pulling it out spraying with a lube and make the cable vertical so lube runs to to bottom and work the cable back and forth for awhile till they free up.
All the best!

Just above the deck? The steering cable? I cant say i've ever seen that be the case in an inboard boat...

 

[kcassells]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...-49&sk=&cvid=8519B89E5B2044A88903F631BDBB1EA0

 

[sopwithcamel74]

FWIW - seems last year someone linked to a YouTube series where a guy was re-building a ski boat, and seems he laid PVC piping below his deck to route all of his cabling and wiring.

 

[ACon977]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+to+run+steering+cable+above+deck+for+ski+boat

Interesting... I guess since my cable was run up the gut I assumed thats how they all were. His mechanism is mounted 90 deg to mine. Good reference to know, thanks KC!

 

[ACon977]

FWIW - seems last year someone linked to a YouTube series where a guy was re-building a ski boat, and seems he laid PVC piping below his deck to route all of his cabling and wiring.

Yup! I think I remember seeing this one and was curious to give it a shot. But when I was looking at what it would take to do, since I would have to make multiple cutouts for the different exit points to the motor and rear. Plus my engine mounts were close enough to my hull that it would have to be a pretty small tube, which wouldn't fit all the wires.

Long story short... I didnt see it working smoothly, so I figured Ill put it back in the way it was built and maybe have to replace a steering cable in the next 40 years