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

[ACon977]

And yet again the boat got pushed off last night. Our friend is running the Chicago Marathon and had a fundraising event we went to.

but I do have some adventure pictures for anyone who is interested. Its not quite as good as boat porn.. but I think its a good way to try and keep this thread alive.

We ended up hiking ~60 miles, backcountry camped every night, shortest hike into camp was 3.1miles, longest was 5.2. We had lots of snow, and a little sunshine at the end of our trip.

 

[oldrem]

Beautiful area - looks like a great trip!

 

[ACon977]

Beautiful area - looks like a great trip!

Thanks Rem! Banff was awesome, definitely a bucket list item. Now the admiral wants to go back in the winter to go snow skiing.. I'm not opposed haha

 

[Timr71]

Looks amazing. I've been to Banff in the summer too. Plus, I've skied interior BC twice...the southern part Red Mountain near Rossland, and Whitewater, near Nelson, BC. Great trips both times. The Admiral's cousin lives in Fernie, so that could be next on our list as a potential family trip. My kids ski (well) the Admiral could just take it or leave it.

Ready to see more boat pics! Take your time though...I did.

 

[ACon977]

Looks amazing. I've been to Banff in the summer too. Plus, I've skied interior BC twice...the southern part Red Mountain near Rossland, and Whitewater, near Nelson, BC. Great trips both times. The Admiral's cousin lives in Fernie, so that could be next on our list as a potential family trip. My kids ski (well) the Admiral could just take it or leave it.

Nice! The glacial cutouts are pretty amazing. And we got the Ikon pass for this year, which includes 3 mountians in Banff. So who knows.

 

[ACon977]

Ready to see more boat pics! Take your time though...I did.

Well trying not to take too long on the updates! I was climbing around in the boat yesterday after we had people over and realized that I forgot something. Good catch too, would have been an issue.

Below is an image of the engine and motor mounts from the side. Since I did a cutout in the stringer to get the engine at the same height as it was before, that surface is no longer flush with the rest of the stringer, which is where the floor will sit. This leaves a gap between the bottom of the floor and the top of the "engine mounting area" of the stringer.



So if I was to glass the floor on, then this gap would be exposed and foam would come out during the pour, and water would get in while we are out boating. Not good.

My thought was to just put a little board next to the stringer on the outside in order to get the top heights all the same, Then I can put my floor on without this gap. Below are my new outer stringer boards, the cutouts are for the throughbolts for the engine mounts.

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Not super exciting, not super difficult, but its something.

 

[ACon977]

For some better clarification of what these boards will do, I took some more pictures last night before I glassed the other side of the boards. and got my rear removable section glassed with CSM and cloth.

The images below are with the piece roughly held in place to show what gap this board will make up, and what the cutouts are there to do.

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I plan on getting these glassed into the stringers tonight, so that I can get the floor glassed in thursday. Im driving to Moab UT for a camping trip this weekend... it would be boring to stay still for more than 5 days right? :crazy: :faint:

 

[Timr71]

Hey Austin,

I was in another thread early this morning and there was a guy asking questions about travel on the Tennessee river. It reminded me of a movie that I've watched a few times. Love this movie. And, my parents live on the river (about 40 mins up from Ft. Loudon Dam) and my aunt and uncle live on the next section of the river, and my cousins live just north of Chattanooga. My wife grew up 15 mins from Ditto Landing (another scene in the movie).

Anyway, I post it here for you because you seem to like and appreciate a good adventure, and it's good inspiration to keep cranking on the boat.

Enjoy, -Tim

 

[ACon977]

Very cool video. That would be a fun trip to do!

It is something we could add to the trip, and motivation to keep moving on it for sure!

 

[ACon977]

And last night I got the floor support pieces glassed to the stringers, and the removable floor section glassed around.

This floor piece will be directly behind the motor covering the shaft coupling and steering mechanism. Its removable to have access to this area. I used one sheet of 10oz cloth to go around the whole top and then small parts of the underside. The images below are of the piece flipped over, showing the bottom. Some of the sides are still dry, it was tough to get it to wrap around and wet out the whole area in 1 go, so I did the top first, then just did the bottom last night. I will wet out the glass on the edges, and then paint the whole thing white.
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And then I mounted the floor supports to the stringers, It was tricky to have the top portion sticking out and not needing PB. So I ended up putting the PB on part of the board, then sticking it to the stringer, and then using my finger to spread the PB along the inside.

Overall not terribly impressed, but they will do what I need them to.
. .

 

[Timr71]

Nice work. I see you went with one big piece in the center behind the dog house. That's what I have in my boat too, and it does give the most access when doing work or checking things out. The only down side is that you have to take the back seat up to get a look at any thing. But, I've done that out on the lake, and it's really not that bad.

 

[ACon977]

Nice work. I see you went with one big piece in the center behind the dog house. That's what I have in my boat too, and it does give the most access when doing work or checking things out. The only down side is that you have to take the back seat up to get a look at any thing. But, I've done that out on the lake, and it's really not that bad.

Yea looking at the doghouse, I think the hinges are fine being on the outside. and I'm gonna have to do some thing clever to get the seat to stay, but also be removable. Shouldnt be too complicated.

 

[Timr71]

Yea looking at the doghouse, I think the hinges are fine being on the outside. and I'm gonna have to do some thing clever to get the seat to stay, but also be removable. Shouldnt be too complicated.

yeah, I did all of that too. My hinges are outside of that piece, and I have some guides / stays that hold the back seat in place. Kind of a press fit to keep things from moving around.

 

[kcassells]

Looking like ya moving forward.

 

[ACon977]

yeah, I did all of that too. My hinges are outside of that piece, and I have some guides / stays that hold the back seat in place. Kind of a press fit to keep things from moving around.

that was kind of what I was thinking, press fit, or do something with a slot and wingnut? probably not necessary, but I would like to have something hold it in place.

 

[ACon977]

Looking like ya moving forward.

Slowwwwwwwly, but still making some progress! Alreeady missed my planned splash date, no surprise there. We traveled almost every weekend in august and September.

 

[kcassells]

Pssssssssssstttttt.....You're allowed to! RE-ENERGISE! I must be the most re-energised rehabber here.:joyous:

 

[ACon977]

Pssssssssssstttttt.....You're allowed to! RE-ENERGISE! I must be the most re-energised rehabber here.:joyous:

Haha this is great advise.. except my re-energized self starts looking at other projects. until I dive back into the boat. I cant wait to get it done, but dang. slower progress than I was hoping for.

 

[ACon977]

Guys! guys! I finally pulled the trigger! After having everything prepped I put the PB down and put the floor in. I had some issues man handling each of the 3 pieces. But it is well worth it to see that floor in.

also. After our patio project I had a few extra bags of concrete laying around.. I would have been SOL without the few hundred pounds to pile up.

 

[ACon977]

Ok so the forecast is a high of 45.. sounds like I'm not glassing today. But good time for some planning.

on the front of the boat, that piece is not quite as perfect as the sides.... what strategy have people done for filling these gaps?
The front is the one I'm worried about. Just under 2 fingers. It's the gap between the front new piece and the bow piece.