Smoofers' '90 SN Revamp

[smoofers]

I bought my square back in December of 2008. It was a bit of a basket case but had a running 650. I ended up tearing it down, reinforcing the engine bay, painting the ski and adding a shortened RN pole. Also added a Protec Pipe and random aftermarket stainless impeller. The build was completed April 2009 I ran it like that until I threw in a 62t/61x motor and a factory pipe (with a few other goodies) in 2012 Around the same time, I did the hood mod and glassed over the fuel door on the nose piece (which was destroyed a few years later and replaced by a CarterB piece). It's always been a super reliable ski. In 2018 I pulled it out to go to the lake and realized how much it was finally showing its age and needed some TLC. I started collecting parts about that time but had no extra time to actually start the build.

The plans for the build:
-Tom 21 tubbies
-Hurricane foot holds/wide tray
-Upgrade exhaust to RN diameter from the water box to the hull exit
-Glass up all of the wear and tear from 10 years of thrashing
-Refresh everything that needs it (rebuild pump, new cables, rebuild carbs, replace wrist pin bearings etc)
-New Paint and graphics
-New turf

This is what it looked like when I started the tear down in November of 2019:



Just about everything pulled and started to remove all of the turf:

 

[smoofers]

While I was removing turf glue, I found that the old paint I had used - Duplicolor Paint Shop (from AutoZone) dissolved and came right off with Acetone. It was a pain and I went through a LOT of paper towels and Acetone, but it was still better than sanding! I used paint stripper on some of the larger sections, but still finished up the detail with actone. Also check out my awesome drop cloth... it was our old shower curtain, I couldn't just throw it away, drop plastic is expensive!



At this point I removed the old hood seal goop too.

 

[smoofers]

I always wanted a wide tray and adjustable foot holds. The cheapest pre-made option I found was the Hurricane holds (on discount back in 2018ish for like $299). I bought them and stashed them away for when I would have time to add them and some tubbies to the hull. If I had to do it all over again I probably would've saved my money and made my own (holds). The quality of them is not the greatest - not even close to symmetrical, warped, fit was pretty terrible. That being said, I had originally planned to just cut the gunwales and toss them in, with as little effort as possible.



At this point I was just trying to make them fit without cutting up the tray too much. I couldn't get the backside of the holds to butt up against the inside of the gunwales and just wasn't happy with the fit. It was about this time I started looking for RN exhaust parts and found a RN water box for a good deal. Then I started thinking about the exhaust tube through the hull and decided I'd replace it too.




Bonus helper shot:

 

[smoofers]

When I cut out the foam for the holds, it was all bone dry. I then started to try and remove the exhaust tube And realized I would need to defoam more. The Hurricane right side hold has a kicked up section to clear the exhaust tube, which I didn't want, so I started planning to move the exhaust tube down and modify the hold to make the foot tray flat. At this point I gave in and defoamed the whole tray... It was a good thing I did, since I found a giant crack in the tray as I was removing it, and the foam near the front intake grate inserts was soaked.

 

[smoofers]

I started attacking all of the various dings and cracks in the hull. I don't plan to make the bottom perfect, there were just so many messed up spots that needed to be addressed. I also ended up cutting off the rear lip of the tray. In addition, I planned to glass up the old exhaust tube hull and bulkhead openings, since I'll use a bigger tube in a slightly different location.

 

[smoofers]

The next weekend I rough sanded down all of the repairs. I must have been too covered in glass dust to remember to take photos...

 

[smoofers]

At this point. I figured I might as well reinforce the gunwales as well.

Template made from free* government cardboard:

The template works

I filled the bond line with epoxy thickened with micro balloons. Then, I laid the glass down with the bond line epoxy still tacky.


Started to glass up the bulkhead exhaust tube hole:



Bonus helper shot again. This was the only way I was able to get any work done.

 

[smoofers]

Bonus helper shot, she was "cleaning". It kept her busy, I didn't complain.



All tubes (minus exhaust) removed, cleaned, reinstalled and sealed up with 5200.

 

[smoofers]

I used a mold I made for a separate project (which I might detail later in another thread) to make my tray bottom. Three layers of 1708.





Initial trim for fitment.

 

[smoofers]

At this point I hadn't cut the exhaust tube holes yet, since I need the tray bottom to reference where I needed my exhaust tube. I also started modifying the right side hold to remove the kicked up section that would normally be needed to clear the exhaust tube.

This is the hold as it comes, notice the section to clear the exhaust. I didn't want to sacrifice the toe room... I'm also just OCD and wanted it gone.


Section cut out and ground to prep for glassing. You can also see where I started cutting up the top lip of the hold to make it clear the tray side top. This was done to make the hold butt up against the inside of the gunwale.


I waxed up a piece of MDF to get a flat surface and clamped/screwed it in place. Then I laid my glass over it, 3 layers of 8oz. I plan to add more once the hold is installed in the ski.

 

[smoofers]

Foothold finished and mocked into place:


I ended up getting some 2.375" OD (same as stock RN) aluminum tube for the exhaust. I think it was less than $40 for a three foot length. I used my home made bead former on the engine bay side. Below is the stock SN tube next to the RN diameter tube. Definitely a noticeable difference!



Exhaust tube holes cut after mocking up the tray and modified foot hold.



Sanded and beveled the mating surfaces where the tray floor will be epoxied in:

Sanded the tray top and bottom and beveled the mating edges as well

Exhaust tube sealed up with 5200. I might end up sanding the rear exit flush since 5200 is a pain to work with and came out looking messy on the outside of the hull.

Before I epoxied the tray floor in place, I filled the entire tray up with water to make sure I had no leaks whatsoever. Success.

 

[smoofers]

Tray floor was secured in place with thickened epoxy and screws. The screws were removed after the epoxy cured.



Holds in place and still not happy with the fit, nor the fact that the top lip of the holds took up room. The blue tape is where I planned to trim off excess hold material and make it somewhat symmetric to the right side.

Holds getting epoxied in place. The 2x4 holds them against the inside of the gunwales, while rivets secure the bottom of the holds to the tray. More epoxy thickened with micro balloons was used. You can also see how much of the upper lips I cut off right before this step. They fit much better now. The sharpie marks are my alignment references to make sure the holds are where I want them once I leave them to cure.

Rivets were all removed and now getting ready to foam. I didn't feel like using the pink foam that is all the rage, plus I wanted the structural reinforcement of the expanding foam. My tray is sealed up tight. The tape used in the photo below is 3M "No Residue" duct tape. This stuff is amazing and worked perfectly for this task.


Getting ready to pour some foam!



I ran out of foam.
More will be here tomorrow. Either way, it worked exactly how I planned for the rear of the ski!

 

[bkillgore]

Looks killer! I have a 91 hull I just picked up that I’m going to do the same to. Looking forward to your progress!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[smoofers]

Onward!

 

[Myself]

Nice, I'm working on a SN for my wife right now too. Got the nose modded smooth and fixing some cracks around the bottom nose area now.

 

[smoofers]

Slowest build ever.
Between the last update and now, we've had a second child, I got laid off, got a new job and have been busy as hell. Now that the new little man is 11 months old and my daughter is 3 I have a few hours a week I can actually spend on the ski.

Got her sanded and ready for the first coat of glass.



8oz twill for the gunwhales and 2 layers of biax with mat for the tray floor.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Glad to see you back at it.

 

[smoofers]

My old shop stand was killing my back, so I made a new one. Should be much more ergonomic to work with and I have storage under the ski now.



Sanded down the glass to lay some more. The 8.9oz twill didn't want to lay down on the tight bends above and behind the footwells. I ended up with air behind those parts so I sanded most of it off. Got some 6oz I'm going to try. In the meantime I'm covering those spots with some filler to have a smooth and non porous surface to lay the glass over.

 

[smoofers]

I sanded that coat of filler and laid some more, since I broke through to foam in a few spots. The right foot hold area was low so I added some filler to it. After that I sanded the heck out of the tray area to get everything flat. The only pic I have is with my son standing in the tray.
Made a template of the tray floor out of cardboard so u could cut the tray floor glass as single pieces.
I then put four layers of 6oz glass on the gunwhales and laid two more layers or biax on the tray, followed by a layer of 9oz twill to finish it off.

It's a slow build but I will finish it someday.

 

[Sanoman]

Big wide ass tray!