Ski Boat Forum
General Category => General American Skier Discussions => Topic started by: DanB on September 10, 2014, 01:19:16 PM
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Thinking of buying an '84 but fearful of whats not visible when I check it out. Not sure HOW much is involved in redoing floor, and am I capable?
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You would have to assume that the floor needs replacing. It's just a fact. Just walking around on the boat will tell you in pretty short order when you find a soft spot. Usually right around the drivers seat or immediately behind the observer seat.
It's not that hard to do but is messy and time consuming. If you have any amount of mechanical skills, some basic tools and some space to work it's actually quite a rewarding process that can give you huge amounts of satisfaction. It can also get you to know exactly how well built these boats are and provide some detailed insite into virtually every aspect of your boat.
If it's not too bad of a soft spot, you could easily run and enjoy the boat for probably several years. I had a soft spot when I bought my boat. I used it for eight years before I had no choice but to replace the floors. Just be a little prudent about trying to keep that area as dry as you can in the mean time.
Here is a high level version of how I did mine 15 years ago.
Remove rubrail and deck. Place on saw horses taking up the entire garage.
Remove gas tank
I didn't remove the engine but if I did it again I would.
Cut out old floor and remove old foam under the floor
Check to verify that stringers are OK or do they need replacing. Other manufacturers boats if the floor is wet, the stringers are junk and need replacing. Most stringers on these boats have been OK. Really bad ones might need replacing but that isn't too often. Reason for this that the stringers were douglas fir, fiberglass wrapped and hand bedded at the factory. Other manufacturers used bare pine, foam covered and then shot with a chopper gun to seal it. Don't get me started on quality building principals. The only mistake AmSkier did was then put a plywood floor over the top and not seal the screw holes that they mounted the seats with or screwed the plywood to the stringers.
OK, enough rambling. Cut, replace the floor.
Pour in new floatation foam if desired
Put a couple coats to fiberglass over the top.
Replace carpet and put everything back together.
There is so much more detail in each step but you can actually replace the floor in such a way that you should never have to worry about again if you do it right. My floor is now 15 years old and every bit as solid as the day I finished it. The factory floor had soft spots in less then five years.
You could also pay someone to do it but expect at least a $4-$5K price tag and then you better be somewhat intelligent enough to question HOW they'll replace it. If they don't do it right, the floor could be junk in five or six years again. The term "buyer beware" immediately comes to mind.
There are a lot of people who insist on making sure that they buy a composite boat but they aren't without potential issues either. Granted the floors won't rot but the foam under the floor can still get water logged and the only way to repair it is remove/replace the composite floor the exact same way I just described. People just assume that they're maintenance free. It's a longer gestation period for that maintenance to be required but at some point in time, it's inevitable.
Buy the boat and enjoy it with your family and friends. Don't sweat the floor replacement. You'll learn the benefits of that family time and the friendships developed from owning the boat far outweigh the details of replacing a floor.
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Dan B, there now you've heard it twice ..............
pics by the way - click gallery - click American Skier Pics
and scroll through - there are over a dozen pics in there to look @
Dan T
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Dan B. I see that you have a 2000 Sport Nautique. Is your plan for a second boat or looking to "upgrade".....LOL
;D ;D ;D
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The 2000 Sport Nautique is my family's boat on a lake straddling IN/MI border. Grew up with '83 and then '86 Ski Supremes.
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Depending on your boating preferences the Supremes would be very comparable wake wise to the A/S. The Sport Nautique is a decent wake boat but sucks for slalom. Having both available would handle virtually any watersports regimen that you might want to partake in.
Supremes would have used similar construction on the floors as the A/S. Meaning that the floors were cut and screwed to the stringers. I don't recall when they went composite but pretty sure it was before the A/S.
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Very good advice above, I would add that when replacing floors all composite is first choice but may be prohibitive due to shipping, second is to stay away from pressure treated plywoods, the moisture content is way too high for resin penetration.