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

[ACon977]

Looks Great, I was thinking about your progress the other day since my friends boat in back in action and the new 90HP 3cyl Evinrude E-Tec really get it done. Been out twice now on it and the first time it almost tore the rope out of my hands. Last week these 2 old guys both did some slalom runs in the bay and had a great day. Conditions in Barnegat Bay were as good as they get but still not like what your lakes are like. Keep up the good work. Mike

Thanks! Glad to hear your buddies boat is back in action. Getting the rope almost pulled out of your hands is certainly preferable to drinking a whole bunch of lake/river water on get-up.

 

[ACon977]

Looks awesome!

What type of buffer do you have? My second HF is junk (they replaced the first one that was junk immediately).

Looking forward to more of your top notch work!

Actually ended up getting one from HF... :faint2: I know its not the highest quality, but Im a sucker for a deal :facepalm:. I went with their mid range brand (which i've found to be adequate, lowest price is total garbage, i can attest to that) with the adjustable speed and seems to be stout enough. I only plan on really working it to get the original oxidation off, then it should be just annual or semi annual wax and polish which should be more gentle.

Although the buffer held up, cleaning off all the dirt and residue on the hull tore through my first pad within 2 hours. not a pleasant experience being bombarded with little bits of foam :lol: but no worries, went back out and got 2 more yesterday and some more cutting compound. I ran through most of the small bottle on Tuesday.

Planning on getting some more work done tonight! Hoping for an update tonight/tomorrow!

 

[kcassells]

What was the brand you used for the cutting compound?

 

[ACon977]

What was the brand you used for the cutting compound?

I used Meguiar's, no real idea on its quality, but so far its done me well. I used the most abrasive compound which had on its label that it would remove "rough scratches" left from 1200 grit sand paper, which to me is pretty damn fine. Found it at HF, or on Amazon.

MEGUIAR'S Foam Cut Compound
by Sparkle Auto, LLC
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CBM78V4..._xvAvDbM2CC0Q5​

I also picked up their polishing compound, which I plan to use once the boat is done.

Meguiar's M20532 Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish
by Amazon.com
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001O7PNXC..._DyAvDbBESH839​

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Really love that bow design. Looks great.

 

[kcassells]

Thanks Acon.

 

[strokendiesel002]

Thanks man! I've been watching a couple guys on YouTube and the one advises to stay away from foam for just the reasons you mentioned - and I have experienced to e and time again lol. Foot grips on the PWCs and rub rails REALLY do a number on the foam pads hahaha. I think I'll go check out the HF mid grade and give it a shot.

 

[Timr71]

yeah, welcome back!

 

[ACon977]

Really love that bow design. Looks great.

Agreed! Glad the original paint is still in such good shape, was worried I would lose it.

 

[ACon977]

Thanks man! I've been watching a couple guys on YouTube and the one advises to stay away from foam for just the reasons you mentioned - and I have experienced to e and time again lol. Foot grips on the PWCs and rub rails REALLY do a number on the foam pads hahaha. I think I'll go check out the HF mid grade and give it a shot.

Yea and tear them up indeed! I found that if I had the rotation upwards on the cap lip it shredded, but going down wasnt quite so bad. Honestly though, they are $6 a piece and Im not too worried about it. so long as the end product looks nice, I can deal with some **** flying in my face.

 

[ACon977]

And sorry Gents, the admiral wanted to go out for drinks with friends last night so we didnt get home in time to get any work done. Hopefully out of work early and onto the weekend today! We will probably go camping Saturday night but definitely expecting to set aside some time for the ol' aqua wallet.

 

[ACon977]

Hey All! and happy Monday to ya.

The weekend consisted of mainly yard work and lots of meeting up with friends, but there was some progress on the boat. Although it felt small, there were quite a few iterations.

Got the wiring for the gas tank done. Although this shouldnt have been a difficult task, all of the wiring was coroded and so had to cut, run, strip, and put on new terminals to all the wires. Again, shouldnt have been as long of a feat as it was.

Got the wiring for the blower exhaust. again all coroded and needed to do all of the above. However I also wasnt able to fit the tubing around the gas tank to work its way up to the engine. so right now I have the blower pulling air from beside the gas tank rather than in the engine compartment.. Although crude, below is a sketch (forgot to take pictures...


I also got the seat bases in the back figured out, although, again forgot to take pictures, will have to update again tonight with pics. But my concern is the height of the backseat. The standard seats we went with are pretty tall and Im concerned the rope will hit on the corners of the seats (1/2" above). That being said, mouting the backs to anything will increase the height of these even more, which makes me want to not attach to anything, and instead just have it set in place...

Does anyone have thoughts on how you have done the back seat?

 

[ACon977]

Here is an image of what I am trying to describe with the backseat..

 

[Woodonglass]

Can you modify the height of the seat bases?

 

[Timr71]

My blower exhaust tube goes under then behind the tank to get up to the vents.

My backseat sits directly on the floor with a 1x1 inch lifter attached to the front of the base cushion to generate the angle. There's not a lot of freeboard in the back of these boats. I wish I did have (or did build) an actual seat base for storage purposes, but I'm not sure how comfortable the seat would've been for sitting.

The way mine sits, is the bottom seat cushion can be pulled and then sat upon the arm rests to create a mini-sun deck. Also in that configuration, I can slip a low profile ballast bag under it in the space created in an effort to firm up the wakeboard wake. (I have a 180 - 200 lb bag, that I haven't messed with yet) At least that's how I did mine when we did the rebuild. How much height do you think you'll get from the seat base?

I did raise the height from the floor of the passenger seat and in the process, shortened the seat back, but we did a lot of measuring and testing to make sure it would be comfortable and so far everyone who's ridden in my boat has said the seat was great. I don't mention that I raised it up a couple of inches from the floor.

 

[ACon977]

Can you modify the height of the seat bases?

I certainly could however my issue is with the back rest. Not the seat itself. Here are a few more pictures that will hopefully help

Height of the seat over the cap with the bottom on the back rest on the deck.

 

[ACon977]

My blower exhaust tube goes under then behind the tank to get up to the vents.

My backseat sits directly on the floor with a 1x1 inch lifter attached to the front of the base cushion to generate the angle. There's not a lot of freeboard in the back of these boats. I wish I did have (or did build) an actual seat base for storage purposes, but I'm not sure how comfortable the seat would've been for sitting.

The way mine sits, is the bottom seat cushion can be pulled and then sat upon the arm rests to create a mini-sun deck. Also in that configuration, I can slip a low profile ballast bag under it in the space created in an effort to firm up the wakeboard wake. (I have a 180 - 200 lb bag, that I haven't messed with yet) At least that's how I did mine when we did the rebuild. How much height do you think you'll get from the seat base?

I did raise the height from the floor of the passenger seat and in the process, shortened the seat back, but we did a lot of measuring and testing to make sure it would be comfortable and so far everyone who's ridden in my boat has said the seat was great. I don't mention that I raised it up a couple of inches from the floor.

Hmm yeah I just can't find the space around the gas tank to run the tube.

And the back seat I have 2.5" raised for some small storage space.

 

[strokendiesel002]

The only time I could imagine that corner to be an issue is when you're looping back around to pick up a downed skier, and then pulling out the slack... My first thought was building up the glass around thatseat back area, almost like a reverse good scoop, but the second pic showed that it's be hard to make look right.
W
may work though, is a custom fabric cover to house your Bimini when not in use, as well as cover up the gaps between the cap and seat backs. Could either have it sewn onto the seat backs, or a zipper sewn on to seat back, and a few snaps into the cap? Even if you don't plan on a Bimini, the fabric cover may work?

I wish I knew how to doodle better

 

[froggy1150]

What about taking bottom of seat back apart, pull the guts out and chop 2" from the bottom and sew back together

 

[Timr71]

What about taking bottom of seat back apart, pull the guts out and chop 2" from the bottom and sew back together

I agree with Froggy, you're best bet is to take material away from the bottom of the seat back until you can get the top to be flush with the fiberglass.

Your only other option is to kick the bottom of the seat back forward and an inch or two. This will change the angle of the seat back and allow the top to drop down until it's flush. Hopefully this won't be too much, if you go this direction. You'll have to move the seat bases forward too. And therefore the entire seat is moving an inch or so closer to the doghouse.