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

[ACon977]

Great work on rebuild!! Your glassing is top notch!! Wish I could help ya more with your engine woes. I like Ford V8s and trucks, but my boat has a GM.....shhh, don’t tell my Ford friends!!

thanks chuck! I appreciate it, the glassing was more new to me than the engine stuff, and I feel like I have the hang of glassing now. the engine is frustrating, although I've never really done anything with quite so many unknowns. if I knew it ran before that would be great. but right now I just have no idea what I've gotten myself into.

but c'est la vie! roll with the punches and keep moving forward

 

[ACon977]

Austin, sorry to hear about the engine issues. Just work your way through the trouble shooting one step at a time. When it gets down to it, the older ones are really fairly simple.......newer not so much lol!

that is the best thing about older engines and older cars, they do make a lot more sense because it's all much simpler. nowadays everything that's newer is all electrical and quickly becomes black magic lol. thus why I love working on my 07 jeep, not old imo, but old enough that it's still on the basic level.

On the cleats, you might check reviews on the retractable ones if you go that route. I have a friend that had some that rattled, drove him nuts. The Attwoods I have are the Neat Cleat, no issues at all with rattling. They also have provisions to hook a a drain line for water that enters from the top. You can pipe it to the bilge, but I think its unnecessary unless the bottom opens up to a cabin. Mine drip a bit when it rains hard, but not a big deal.....especially since the rest of the boat is soak! Just looked at the price on them, eek! Looks like they have gone up, I think I shelled out $50 each for them.....apparently we have had some inflation in the last 8 years lol!

Keep up the good work, enjoying your progress.

good thought. the rattling makes sense for the pull ups since you would need clearance in order to let them move. I'll have to check out those Atwood cleats you have and maybe just bite the bullet on cost. it would be worth my sanity!

so glad to have you guys following along and putting in your 2 cents. it makes a big difference for me and the motivation to keep chugging along

 

[mickyryan]

careful we been known to push too hard and right off the boat into a mulch pile

 

[Timr71]

good thought. the rattling makes sense for the pull ups since you would need clearance in order to let them move. I'll have to check out those Atwood cleats you have and maybe just bite the bullet on cost. it would be worth my sanity!

I spent 5.5 hrs behind the wheel of my Falcon this past Saturday at the lake. I had 5 teenage kids to pull on various devices from Wake and Kneeboards to tubes. My recently installed popup cleats worked flawlessly and didn't snag any of the ropes that I was using at the time. Happy camper. I need to update my thread with a picture or two.

Keep up the good work!

 

[ACon977]

careful we been known to push too hard and right off the boat into a mulch pile

haha well that sounds like a reality. but I'm not close to the mulch pile yet!

 

[ACon977]

I spent 5.5 hrs behind the wheel of my Falcon this past Saturday at the lake. I had 5 teenage kids to pull on various devices from Wake and Kneeboards to tubes. My recently installed popup cleats worked flawlessly and didn't snag any of the ropes that I was using at the time. Happy camper. I need to update my thread with a picture or two.

Keep up the good work!

nice! thanks for the update. I'm sure the kids loved that extra power with the new ACME prop as well!

and one more plus for the cleats.. I'm sold them.

 

[ACon977]

I also just got the exhaust ports in the mail! I still need to finish a few things in the back before I install but very pleased with how they look.

 

[oldrem]

New shiny bits - always make things pop

 

[ACon977]

Got the engine mount adjustments freed up tonight in preparation for getting the angle iron glassed to the boat and holes drilled to mount the engine.

I want to get the engine into the boat and do all the adjustments to line up the shaft before putting the PB down and then lowering the engine on it to finalize the location. After that's cured I'll mark the holes and drill out like we've discussed.

sorry for the slow progress. It's been busy with travel and everything else.

 

[archbuilder]

Your moving along nicely! Any progress is good progress, one more thing crossed off the list!

 

[ACon977]

I also wanted to replace the steering cable since it was a little stiff when turning. After finding the markings I believe it was made in '89. If so, that's one heck of a life.

looking at replacement options the SN I could find was 80C72 Tereflex 17'. When I googled it I wasnt able to find anything. Does anyone have recommendations?

 

[Timr71]

I'll text my cousin today and see what I can find out. I'm pretty sure he purchased a new cable for the 1988 model Falcon/Tru trac that we restored. And I know he purchased a new one for my boat because I took it out of the wrapper and installed it.

 

[ACon977]

I'll text my cousin today and see what I can find out. I'm pretty sure he purchased a new cable for the 1988 model Falcon/Tru trac that we restored. And I know he purchased a new one for my boat because I took it out of the wrapper and installed it.

Thanks! That would be great!

 

[ACon977]

I found this replacement cable on iBoats store, same cable, and $40 less than what I've found elsewhere. I think this is what Ill be leaning towards.

https://www.iboats.com/shop/seastar...1CWqZT4AQ4tiN0SAR8gXueADGLGKT7WBoC5VMQAvD_BwE

For reference, here are some images with the old cable.

. .

 

[Timr71]

Hey Aaron, haven't heatd back from my cousin, but a guy over in our Centruioncrew.com thread just replaced the cable and the helm in his 86 Tru trac. Details over there and in the attached link.

 

[ACon977]

Hey Austin, haven't heatd back from my cousin, but a guy over in our Centruioncrew.com thread just replaced the cable and the helm in his 86 Tru trac. Details over there and in the attached link.

Thanks Tim,

I had seen that post and noticed that he did a full replacement of the steering column (helm?) as well. I think the cable that I found will be a direct replacement for the cable, with the one quick connect that is mentioned in the video on his post. Here is the link for reference.

THIS VIDEO https://youtu.be/YbH6JorBZLc by Ron Tanis of skiboatpartsonline.com

 

[Timr71]

Thanks. That's a great video.mi have a new stand off bracket tube and ball joint in my boat. I do still have some slop in my rudder though due to the actual rudder shaft being putted and therefore it doesn't tighten up at the top of the box.

 

[ACon977]

The bracket and tube look like they are ok, I cant say that I played with it too much when taking it apart. Hopefully I dont have to replace them as well

 

[Timr71]

THIS VIDEO https://youtu.be/YbH6JorBZLc by Ron Tanis of skiboatpartsonline.com

So, did you watch any of his other videos? My wife was having surgery yesterday, so I had a lot of time to kill in the waiting room. I stumbled over to his series on a full restore of an American Skier. It's very similar to the project you're doing now and that I did in the past.

While watching his videos he kept saying things like, "When this came from the factory it was..." And, "They didn't do such a great job on this, it should've been this way..." And, "We're going to upgrade this L seat to the 2000 model configuration."

Turns out that guy Ron Tanis is the former owner of American Skier! Kinda cool. Great videos. Although, I'm sure that the one where he inserted new wood in the middle of the stringer instead of replacing the entire stringer wouldn't get a thumbs up from this crowd.

 

[ACon977]

So, did you watch any of his other videos? My wife was having surgery yesterday, so I had a lot of time to kill in the waiting room. I stumbled over to his series on a full restore of an American Skier. It's very similar to the project you're doing now and that I did in the past.

I didnt end up watching any of his other videos, but I did like this one! Sorry to hear about your wife, hopefully it was something relatively simple..

While watching his videos he kept saying things like, "When this came from the factory it was..." And, "They didn't do such a great job on this, it should've been this way..." And, "We're going to upgrade this L seat to the 2000 model configuration."

Turns out that guy Ron Tanis is the former owner of American Skier! Kinda cool. Great videos. Although, I'm sure that the one where he inserted new wood in the middle of the stringer instead of replacing the entire stringer wouldn't get a thumbs up from this crowd.

Seems like hes got some knowledge, and cool that he was the owner! Doing restores on your own product is good to see. Ill definitely spend some time poking through what his thoughts are.
I would agree with you there, dropping new wood into an insert makes me uneasy, I'm glad that I redid them all from scratch.