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

[ACon977]

For sure Timr71! Living at 5280 helps, but adding 9,000 onto that really changes the game. But I'm still young and enjoy the challenge. Skiing back country this year really kicked my ass! Skinning out to the back country hut at 12,000 ft with a weekend pack really takes it out of you fast!

Thats a nice looking Radar! Which model? I have an "old" 2010 Strada with a front 2011 Strada boot and rear 2014 Profile (neon orange :lol. Below is what it looked like when I first bought it in 2012.

It was one of their top skis before they came out with the Vapor line, its served me well through college tournaments, but doesn't get as much use anymore :tsk: SOON TO CHANGE WITH THIS BOAT THOUGH!

 

[Woodonglass]

It IS important for the Bond to be good. If not the Steel serves no purpose. Kinda like putting gelcoat over paint The gelcoat will slide right off due to improper adhesion. Same for the steel,.If it's not bonded to the wood you're still only depending on the strength of the wood NOT the steel. But, as I always say...It's your boat and you can do with it as you see fit.

 

[Timr71]

It's a 2014 Theory with double Wiley's boots. I'm an RTP guy, so I'm about to purchase one for the rear and swap it out. I might ski it once though before I convert it. We'll see. Need to wrap up my own boat work and get to the lake. Keep plugging away. If I make it out to Denver this winter I'll bring my AT setup and we'll try to grab a tour...where I'll be sucking wind like a guy who lives at 695 ASL.

 

[ACon977]

It IS important for the Bond to be good. If not the Steel serves no purpose. Kinda like putting gelcoat over paint The gelcoat will slide right off due to improper adhesion. Same for the steel,.If it's not bonded to the wood you're still only depending on the strength of the wood NOT the steel. But, as I always say...It's your boat and you can do with it as you see fit.

I do agree with you WOG! The bond is super important, if we had a perfect adhesion between the Stringers and the steel it would be a beautiful distributed load, which is ideal. If (worst case scenario) we have zero adhesion, we will have multiple point loads. The use of the steel would be to distribute the load over multiple connection points. Rather than just the engine mount locations.

So lets say i have 80 lbs of force on my rear mounts, and 20lbs on my front mounts (not realistic, but just to make a point). If there was no steel then it would be exactly what it is, at the mounts. But with the steel to distribute the load over multiple through points then it would reduce the amount of stress at any one point. And then perfect adhesion would be best, with that load evenly distributed across the entire portion. Im hoping for a mixture between situation 2 and 3. Below is a simple sketch to help illustrate my thoughts. Maybe Im still wrong... but this is how my engineering brain is thinking about it



At the end of the day, I think it will help to make the engine attachment to the stringers better, so I would prefer to go that direction. And I already bought the steel lol. PROBABLY unnecessary, but I would rather be overly cautious.

As always, I do really appreciate your input! You are one of the best resources on this forum and I am honored to have you following along!

 

[ACon977]

It's a 2014 Theory with double Wiley's boots. I'm an RTP guy, so I'm about to purchase one for the rear and swap it out. I might ski it once though before I convert it. We'll see. Need to wrap up my own boat work and get to the lake. Keep plugging away. If I make it out to Denver this winter I'll bring my AT setup and we'll try to grab a tour...where I'll be sucking wind like a guy who lives at 695 ASL.

Nice! Thats a good ski, I used to have a RTP until the end of college and then the double boot actually helped to force me forward and be more balanced on the ski. But it took a few sets to get used to it for sure.

Yes! Please do! There are a lot of hikes I would like to get in this winter, feel free to let me know, it would be fun to meet up and get some turns in.

 

[TRH299]

Looking good ACon! The pics of Slalom skis reminds me.... I still need to find a cheap used one for my boat. I have acquired thus far an old kneeboard, two pairs of regular skis and a bunch of tubes. Where is a good place to search for old used slalom skis?

 

[ACon977]

Looking good ACon! The pics of Slalom skis reminds me.... I still need to find a cheap used one for my boat. I have acquired thus far an old kneeboard, two pairs of regular skis and a bunch of tubes. Where is a good place to search for old used slalom skis?

Hey Tim,

I would recommend ski-it-again.com they have a really good selection of skis from super high end 2018 models to older skis that people just want to find a good home for. You can get caught on Ebay buying something that is not worth the price. Pretty much everything on there is quality equipment.

 

[TRH299]

Hey Tim,

I would recommend ski-it-again.com they have a really good selection of skis from super high end 2018 models to older skis that people just want to find a good home for. You can get caught on Ebay buying something that is not worth the price. Pretty much everything on there is quality equipment.

Thanks for the website.... I checked it out. I don't know squat about modern water skis. 30 years ago when I skied with friends on the local river, they had good skis that were probably only $200 new. I was a little shocked to see what modern skis cost (even used). I guess I will keep searching the local Craigslist for a 20+ year old ski in the $20-$50 range lol.

 

[Timr71]

You can occasionally find stuff on craigslist and eBay. Another good place to look (where I've picked things up) are in the ski boat brand message boards. Each one has a for sale forum. So check Mastercraft - Teamtalk, correctcraftfans.com, planetnautique, There's a supra board, malibucrew.com (I think is that one.) Anyway, people who own DD ski boats tend to have nice gear and tend to take care of it. And, when they clean out there garage, they sell nice stuff and really reasonable prices.

I found a great deal on some skis that were actually in Colorado. An older gentleman had passed and his friend was liquidating his ski shed. But the shipping cost was so much that I just went to Overtons.com and purchased a new ski with free shipping for about the same money. I bought something like this to have as the "guest" ski in my boat:

 

[ACon977]

Thanks for the website.... I checked it out. I don't know squat about modern water skis. 30 years ago when I skied with friends on the local river, they had good skis that were probably only $200 new. I was a little shocked to see what modern skis cost (even used). I guess I will keep searching the local Craigslist for a 20+ year old ski in the $20-$50 range lol.

Its frightening indeed! All they are is foam and fiberglass (or now a lot are carbon fiber). But 1500!?!? damn, not made of that much money.

I wasnt sure what you were in the range for, if you're looking in the 50 range then ski it again wont have much for ya unfortunately. I would follow what Tim R had recommended.

 

[ACon977]

Lets just reference this How Its Made video.... Seems way too simple for $1,500 - $2,000. Well materials that is, I suppose the press and all the manual labor time adds up. But STILL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KzKUCaRhPA

 

[ACon977]

Hey all! I made it to the fiberglass store and got some more cabosil, chopped fibers, and 5 gallons of resin and hardener. Can't wait to get back on the game. I think I'm going to mix up some PB tonight and fix the fillets that I didn't have enough to fully form.

I also finished cleaning up the metal pieces for the motor mounts and pylon. We are gonna have a fun looking boat at the end of this haha. Glad these will be hidden under the floor unless you look for it. :lol:

 

[ACon977]

For the record, just to be clear, we are NOT making a rainbow boat LOL. Just figured that since these components are under the floor it would be funny to make them bright. We are doing a blue/white/grey color scheme throughout the rest of the boat.

 

[ACon977]

We are really ready to start making moves now! Painted the other sides of the steel pieces and got all the fillets on the stringers smoothed out.

It took 72oz of resin plus chopped fibers and cabosil (resothix is what they have) PER STRINGER! Way more than I thought, I was expecting one batch to do both haha. But I'm so happy with how it turned out.

And the stringers are already feeling so strong without anything on them. Big confidence boost knowing that they will be rocks after I finish the layups.

Headed to the mountains tomorrow for the weekend but maybe I'll smooth out (flap disk sander) a few places where I have "whoops resin blobs" on sunday to have smooth surfaces for glassing.

 

[ACon977]

I didnt get any time/motivation to sand and smooth everything out this weekend, spent the whole weekend in the mountains. But I plan to get on it tonight and maybe lay my first layer of glass... that could be cool lol.

QUESTION: Since I already put CSM on the stringers to waterproof them (and practice on an easier surface) should my first layer be my 10oz mat? Or should I do CSM to start the bonding to the hull?

 

[Woodonglass]

Do you have any 1708? If not then I'd clean everything with acetone, then roll out some resin and another layer of CSM Immediately followed by the 10 oz. I'd do this twice.

 

[ACon977]

Do you have any 1708? If not then I'd clean everything with acetone, then roll out some resin and another layer of CSM Immediately followed by the 10 oz. I'd do this twice.

Thanks WOG. I unfortunately do not have 1708, so as we were discussing before, I was planning on alternating CSM and 10oz cloth. 2 layers, like you recommended, glad we are on the same page! I just wasn't sure if I should go with the cloth first, or CSM which would be the 2nd layer, and then 10oz.

 

[Woodonglass]

I thought you didn't but just checking. I'm OLD , Dumb and forgetful doncha know!!!!
You ALWAYS put CSM down first when using Poly Resin and fabric. The resin actually Melts the CSM fibers and Make the resin less likely to Crack. Remember Less Is More when using poly resin. Just use enuf to make the CSM go clear and you're done!!! Then While its still wet, apply the 10 oz and just enuf resin again to make it go clear. Most people use WAY to much resin to do their laminations.

 

[ACon977]

Im assuming by your response its best to do cloth RIGHT AFTER you lay the CSM, to best imitate the 1708? Makes sense to me, I just always want to understand why, not just do.

** I posted this as WOG was responding in the above comment

 

[ACon977]

I thought you didn't but just checking. I'm OLD , Dumb and forgetful doncha know!!!!
You ALWAYS put CSM down first when using Poly Resin and fabric. The resin actually Melts the CSM fibers and Make the resin less likely to Crack. Remember Less Is More when using poly resin. Just use enuf to make the CSM go clear and you're done!!! Then While its still wet, apply the 10 oz and just enuf resin again to make it go clear. Most people use WAY to much resin to do their laminations.

AH!! I consider "old' to be a synonym for experienced, certainly not dumb! :lol: haha and I forget what I post on here half the time. You're all good, I really appreciate the help.

And your explanation was PERFECT!! Thank you! Again, understanding is my number one goal. Regarding the "less is more" motto, I agree with you there, as I was doing my practice pieces it was good to put a bit on so that it soaks through, but then I pushed it far out across the glass so that the layer wasnt just fibers floating, but actually still a mat.