ksarge's superjet build

[jerzey]

I'm in the process of removing the factory turf(pains me to do it cause it's perfect shape haha)from my 91 hull and have to say...this job sucks. Three nights and i'm half way there! Got some wcf footholds in route. Kevo where did you find the best price on turf and padding. Also i keep talking myself out of doing a whole re-foam job as i have enough to do...we'll see how dry it is once i cut for the holds.

 

[Bobert540]

Mike, if you are going to go through the effort of returfing might as well refoam with poly and add drains. That way you won't have to do it all over again. It doesn't take much to soak the factory foam.

 

[jerzey]

Hey Bob...this is exactly what i keep hearing from that little voice in the back of my head.. followed by some mumbled obscenities! Dammit i guess i gotta just suck it up and lock myself in the shop for a few weeks lol. Thanks for the words of encouragement bro, how's your build comin along?

 

[Bobert540]

It's not as hard as you would think. Takes 30min or less to defoam with different size wire wheels and shop vac. My build is moving along the topdeck and hood are done. Now I just need to mate the top and bottom lol.

Sorry to hijack your thread Kevo!

 

[ksarge91]

Defoam now mike! You already have the turf off and your going to wish you had done it come spring. It's not fun, but it's not hard either.

I had the tray cut out, defoamed and ready for reinforcment in under 2 hours. A cut off wheel on the end of a rotozip and a wire wheel on the end of a drill make this job a sinch. I took most of the big chunks out with a wide chisel and used the wheel in the tight spots. Like bob said, shop vac is a must.

I used two layers of 8 oz strips to glass the sides back in, 2 layers of 8 oz across the entire bottom of the tray, and a couple layers of 8 oz on the footholds. It seems solid. Nothing flex's at all.

I'm starting to returf tomorrow. Call hydroturf and ask for some B-stock. It's 30 bucks a sheet and that's enough to do the tray rails, and even the pole pad if you really take your time and make no mistakes cutting. Get a sheet of 8mm underpad (10 bucks) and double it up for 16mm.

 

[ksarge91]

Hey nate, took the 4 lb battery back today and got the 8. Thanks

 

[ksarge91]

I'm in the process of removing the factory turf(pains me to do it cause it's perfect shape haha)from my 91 hull and have to say...this job sucks. Three nights and i'm half way there! Got some wcf footholds in route. Kevo where did you find the best price on turf and padding. Also i keep talking myself out of doing a whole re-foam job as i have enough to do...we'll see how dry it is once i cut for the holds.

I got every little scrap off on the previous turf jobs I did. Gas and goof-off mixed in a spray bottle, let it soak in and it wipes off with a rag and a little work with a putty knife. home depot and autozone sell a 3m eraser/decal remover for a drill. That worked good for the really tought to get up pieces.

This time I said screw it, it's getting covered with new glass and turf, got as much as I could up and sanded the remainder off. Took approximately half an hour.

:Banane09:

 

[jerzey]

Yeah i've been goin easy on the turf with a little heat and a plastic scraper getting everything down to perfect white paint(the perfectionist in me:biggrin...Little extreme goof off action and looks great. I have an eraser wheel never thought to try it on the pads.After tonight ive only gotta little left to do and about 3hrs. tops actually workin on de-turfin so not so bad. I keep tellin myself my first turf job is gonna look like crap and i'll just redo it next winter that's why no refoam now but i am still undecided. Hopefully my footholds will be here before the weekend so i'm gonna cut those and decide from there..i'm sure the turf job will look great and then i'll be kickin myself later to pull it off again! What to do what to do..guess i'll be on the phone with u.s. composites....yayyyyyyyy!

Thanks for all the advice boys and sorry for poopin on your build thread kev!

 

[ksarge91]

Yeah i've been goin easy on the turf with a little heat and a plastic scraper getting everything down to perfect white paint(the perfectionist in me:biggrin...Little extreme goof off action and looks great. I have an eraser wheel never thought to try it on the pads.After tonight ive only gotta little left to do and about 3hrs. tops actually workin on de-turfin so not so bad. I keep tellin myself my first turf job is gonna look like crap and i'll just redo it next winter that's why no refoam now but i am still undecided. Hopefully my footholds will be here before the weekend so i'm gonna cut those and decide from there..i'm sure the turf job will look great and then i'll be kickin myself later to pull it off again! What to do what to do..guess i'll be on the phone with u.s. composites....yayyyyyyyy!

Thanks for all the advice boys and sorry for poopin on your build thread kev!

I've ripped up my turf almost every season. It sucks, I know. Keep in mind though, when you dig out the foam for your footholds, just because the foam in the gunwales isn't wet dosen't mean the foam underneath isn't soaked, haha

 

[jerzey]

I've ripped up my turf almost every season. It sucks, I know. Keep in mind though, when you dig out the foam for your footholds, just because the foam in the gunwales isn't wet dosen't mean the foam underneath isn't soaked, haha

I know...sounded like a good excuse though right. Guess i'll be warming up the whiz wheel for this project! Are you guys doing any reinforcing under the tray in bottom rear of hull or unecessary? While i'm in there i'd also like to upgrade to a rn exhaust tube(little bigger).

 

[ksarge91]

I know...sounded like a good excuse though right. Guess i'll be warming up the whiz wheel for this project! Are you guys doing any reinforcing under the tray in bottom rear of hull or unecessary? While i'm in there i'd also like to upgrade to a rn exhaust tube(little bigger).

I re-inforced the sides and bottom with 10oz cloth. I packed the poly foam in as tight as possible so it does give a little structural support, the stock foam had gaps and wasn't even touching the sides in the gunwales.

I left a small channel in the bottom so that any water that manages to find it's way inside can drip down into the channel and exit the plug. I also reinforced the tray what I'd call pretty heavily. I put the tray back in using regular liquid nails. It said it bonds composites on the thing and seemed to hold pretty strong. I originally just did 2 layers of strips over the cuts and 2 layers over the entire bottom but went back last night and did another 2 more layers just between the footholds and covered the entire hold in one layer as opposed to just the sides. I think I should be alright. Only thing I'm worried about is hitting bottom in the surf, which I did a couple hundred times at wavedaze, haha.

I'm going to try to get it on the scale next week.

 

[rccrawlerkid]

lol nice t-maxx in the first pic of the ski before you took her apart lol

 

[ksarge91]

lol nice t-maxx in the first pic of the ski before you took her apart lol

Haha, that things a ton of fun. It's out of commision right now. I blew a connecting rod and need new sleeves, etc.

 

[jerzey]

Cool..thanks for the advice dude. Happy New Year!

 

[ksarge91]

Got most of the turf done this afternoon. Still have to do the insides of the holds and the front hold/dash. Coulda done better, but hey, it's turf, it serves it's purpose.

16mm underpad all around and 8mm in the holds for a change. Nice and cushy. Might order a rear strap this weekend.

Just need jets, watcon hoodseal, bilge switch, manifold gasket, and a new trim lever and I'm done for now.

 

[ksarge91]

Matched the ports on the exhaust 650 exhaust mani to fit the 61X cylinder ports.

Got some tectro levers for the throttle and trim. Not sure if I like the throttle yet but we'll see once I ride it.

 

[ksarge91]

So I got this thing on a scale today....

dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn


Anyway, much better than I had expected. 288.5 lbs dry. This includes battery and extinguisher, everything down to the tow loops except for gas. So I reached my goal weight but I'd still like to trim it done to 280 if I can. Not sure how I'm going to go about doing that though....

I think the weight loss is going to make a huge difference in performance. Hopefully it won't handle like shatttt

 

[Motorheads5]

Congratulation's you earned it that's for sure! I enjoyed watching your progress you have alot of patience and skill's nice work. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it also.

 

[ksarge91]

Congratulation's you earned it that's for sure! I enjoyed watching your progress you have alot of patience and skill's nice work. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it also.

Thanks for the kind words. It was definately a good amount of work but hopefully the weight savings will be worth it.

and I'm not done yet!!:drive:

 

[Bobert540]

Congrats Kevo! Looking forward to riding all of these new and improved ski's.