ONE OF THE BEST JS550 BUILDS/ 750 CONVERSION
- Thread starter kwakhead
- Start date
uscomposites order came today. got the whole pump tunnel cavity completly glassed with epoxy resin and quality f glass. I fiberglassed the whole back hald of the ski to make sure the pump wasnt going anywhere. templating was a PAIN!!!! and got my metal rods in place to make the channels on the 550 deeper so it will have a better grip, they will be as deep as SXR channels, and those SXRs WILL NOT let out of a turn lol. never got the other sponsoon on yet, lol, the onther one is just glued on from some fiberglass goop. will do one layer of 8.5oz cloth around the tubbies (sponsoons, whatever u prefer to call them) and theyll hold fine. ordered some jimmy johns to hold me over lol.
all of my supplies for glassing besides the new stuff is all in these boxes. amazing how much money worth of stuff can fit in em. 
all of my supplies for glassing besides the new stuff is all in these boxes. amazing how much money worth of stuff can fit in em. this is my first ski, js440, completely stock. me and my uncle painted it, its a metallic blue, thats the paint job were gonna do on this ski. and white hydro turf, and im keeping my aluminum handle pole colored the way it is, not painted, just the silver color that aluminum is.
got the strake mod almost done, its glassing is complete, but i have to grind the front and rear down to an angle. after that its all body filling, fitting on the nose peice, body filling and doing cosmetic glass on that. and primer, then paint! I SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END!!! LOL 
i used 5 layers of 8.5 oz glass. and epoxy resin. Also got 2 layers done on both tubbies.. WERE GETTIGN CLOSER!
i used 5 layers of 8.5 oz glass. and epoxy resin. Also got 2 layers done on both tubbies.. WERE GETTIGN CLOSER!
for the strake mod, there are two aluminum rods underneath it to help support the weight if the ski is tipped on its side a little at shore or something. the weight of the ski isnt on the strakes, they are just about 1/4 in shorter than the mid peice (the flat section in the middle and on the bottom of the hull)
got the engine sand blasted and painted, was pretty easy to do, i got high heat primer and a high heat, orangeish - red color lol. it was just a rattle can job lol, i do pretty good with spray cans though, not a single run on the whole engine. and got the rear railing done, and the nose is on there being clamped down, its held on with epoxy and cab o sil, gonna tie the bottom to the top of the nose from the inside with a few layups. (well i had to fix some symmetry problems with the nose, so it looks like right now, but body filling and everything cosmetic will come very shortly)!
on another note, looks like i may be getting a job at the shop my dad works at, theyre hesitant to hire me because im only 15 right now, but they know about my engineering and mechanical backround, plus my dad runs the 5 axis top dollar machine there so they should know that im not gonna screw around, especially cause my dads there lol. i wouldnt mess around anyway, its a cnc machining shop
right now, but body filling and everything cosmetic will come very shortly)!on another note, looks like i may be getting a job at the shop my dad works at, theyre hesitant to hire me because im only 15 right now, but they know about my engineering and mechanical backround, plus my dad runs the 5 axis top dollar machine there so they should know that im not gonna screw around, especially cause my dads there lol. i wouldnt mess around anyway, its a cnc machining shop
- Location
- Loveland, Colorado
Sweet build! I have a 550/650 conversion in the garage I would like to do the hull like what your doing. The nose on mine broke off by the front hood line. Are you going to reinforce the hull while your at it?
no hull reinforcement needed! just nose reinforcement. IT WILL COST U AROUND $1500 FOR ALL THE FIBERGLASS MATERIALS, SUPPLIES, AND RESIN. its expensive, im in it too deep to give up now, but if i knew about what i was in for at the start, woulda bought a decent mid 90s 750sx or superjet lol, and just kept this 550 a usual 750 conversion. BUT theres a flip side, nobody else has this hull cause u built it, you get the lightness of the 550 hull (even with all the glass and filling my hull and hood arenot yet over 90lbs, which is very good because a carbon/ kevlar 800sxr hull weighs 105lbs, so im doin good on weight), and it will handle as good as the 800 SXRs in the turns from the tubbies and the strake mod, and will be more stable, and with the 650 pump cavity, i can run a nice 650 or 750 pump in it (they are pretty much the same thing), and the rocker nose helps get the ski i the air quickly. so go the route u choose, but let me tell ya, its a HELLA lot of work! and u could buy an average mid 90s superjet for what u will spend. but hey, IMO !!! this thing will own a superjet when im done.. any year superjet, as long as its not built like this, then i should be able t whip any superjet with this. superjets at least the ones ive owned, mid 90s to late 90s, theydont have a fast top speed, i think its cause i never pulled the rev limiter from em, but they had the best bottom end hit, better than an 750 sxi pro with a factory pipe (yes i had both and raced em, 750 won in the longshot, but my stock 91 superjet had it at the line, no doubt about it)
well $1500 for all fiberglass materials, resin, fiberglass, and the paint job. then not to mention the cost that I still need to pickup for the engine.. got some more parts im going to throw in this
r and d air filter
JRE intake spacer
JRE angled intake spacer
boyeson reeds
boyeson stuffers
timing advance plate
MIGHT have #zero lighten my flywheel...
the hydro turf is gonna be blue camo, diamond cut
and a finned ocean pro ride plate
r and d air filter
JRE intake spacer
JRE angled intake spacer
boyeson reeds
boyeson stuffers
timing advance plate
MIGHT have #zero lighten my flywheel...
the hydro turf is gonna be blue camo, diamond cut
and a finned ocean pro ride plate
yeh I did, but nothings perfect, and it holds up as good as it needs to. that was from the first job, im still not great at fiberglass, but yes, I put too much resin there.
Well the sides break easy to. Towards the bulkhead and bond line. The front sides break If you ride hard. The Pole is weak to.
that's what I said, lol the bulkhead section. and I have an aluminum handle pole, no need to worry about the old fiberglass pole. lol I got mad at my ski at the end of the summer and since I knew I was buying an aluminum one, I beat the
out of that pole with a sledge hammer, LOL it relieved a lot of stress!!!hope not! this is an answer to ur response, and an update! but im pretty much done with glassing. might do reinforcement on the nose, tie both the top and bottom together with glass, but wont be doing any major reinforcement. its slow going now, at my uncles, heres an expert car body guy, knows his stuff, its what he does everyday for a living in his garage and his job, hes got some really good, thin, body filler to use on it that will get a nice consitancy and finish, and leaves behind no air bubbles, once weve done that as good as we can, hes got primer/filler (hi build primer, sorta like body filler/ primer in one) for the finish, than sealer, than primer, sand it down with 400 grit, then primer again, 450 grit, than paint. hopefully it looks just as nice or better than the 440 paint job. Its just that its gonna be so much body filling and sanding I just don't see it getting there with the perfect finish, but ive seen some miracles pulled off on the other hand!I wasn't referring to the bulkhead itself. But never mind. I I can find a pic I will post. Otherwise you will find it soon enough