Super Jet Square Nose Tray Warped and Cracked : ( Need Advice before the build!!

K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
Just pulled the old turf off my 91' SN to reveal a bubbled up "warped" tray that's cracked on the edge. I was planning on doing foothold but now I know for a fact the foam is wet. I'm not the most experienced with fiberglass but I'm a quick learner and like to do things on my own. I figure this is going to be a great winter project and I'm excited to learn a little more about performing glass work.

After reading all day today I was able to figure out what I think is the best process. Only issue I feel I'm running into is the fact that I think I read to much into it so I want to make sure I'm taking the right steps.

Cutting the tray I plan on cutting the gunwales along the top inside curve and work my way down into the tray. The warped portion is just above the pump where they lay the glue or whatever it is down.

Should I cut the tray out in one piece and then re use it when I piece it back together?
Will I be able to lay the warped piece flat again or will it be best to cut that area out?

What is the best glass and resin to use? Nothing crazy expensive.

I plan on using 2 part foam. What's the best to use?

Recommendations for places to buy everything I need?

How hard would it be to cut the hull back 2 to 3 inches? Being a newb to glass work would this be something I shouldn't attempt?

I'm planning on starting the project within the next month or so. I'm going to start buying material and pulling everything out of the hull in the mean time. I'lll keep the thread up dated with pictures of the process and I'm sure I'm going to have questions. This forum has been great so far and I hope it's gong to be the best resource. Thanks to everyone's help.
 
Last edited:
tom21

tom21

havin fun
Location
clearwater FL
If it were me I would only cut the bubble out and lay 2 layers of 1708 in the cut area and one more over all using epoxy. I would stay away from the sides as this presents more work and cost for no benefit. also a lot of people are convinced their tray is cracked and foam soaked when in reality its just hairline stress cracks and the foam is not waterlogged. sometimes this is not the case but so many people make a huge fuss about it that its usually accepted as fact without actual inspection. cut for footholds, check your foam and do what needs to be done. but thats just me. im quirky like that.
 
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
Thank you Tom that's great advice. I am able to stick a putty knife through the crack into the foam. This was kinda what leads me to believe that the foam is wet. I'm looking to install footholds as well so the least I cut the better off I am when glassing it back together. Still shipping for footholds not to sure what I want ones I want to go with.

Will cutting the back half of the tray still give me good enough access if I need to replace the foam?
 
tom21

tom21

havin fun
Location
clearwater FL
it will be tight but can be done if you really want to. I would also cut the holds area away too for more access.

the foam is closed cell meaning solid little bubbles, usually the water is just around and on top of the foam. you can drill small holes on the back of the hull and see if you get a lot of water out. it sometimes does soak into some of the foam. takes a very long time to do that. but it happens.
 
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
Well that is where I think I will start then. Ill do the cut away for the holds and if I feel there is a lot of water inside I will move forward from there. If I can get away with just having to do holds and the back of the tray that would make things much easier. I will drill a small hole in the back and see what happens as far as draining water out.

When I carve the foam out for the holds I'm sure that will be a good judge on how much water the foam may have in it.
 
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
I was thinking about getting into a RN but cheapest I can find is about $3500. I like the look of the SN and I found a VXR with a 701 that's cheap, I'm going to pick up and do the swap. I like the way the SN rides and I like a little project so why not build the SN.
 
Quinc

Quinc

Buy a Superjet
Location
California
The foam in my 91 SN was soaked all around the bond line and along the exhaust. So it might be leaking in more places then just the cracks. If anyone knows exact numbers you could probably weigh it to see how much water is in it. I ended up pulling 38lbs of foam out of mine. :(

http://www.x-h2o.com/threads/138755-Is-this-everything-I-need-to-reinforce-and-add-footholds
e90kXm6.jpg
 
Last edited:
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
I cut the bubble out of the tray today to find saturated foam. So I decided to cut into it more and see how bad it really was. I started poking away and got down to about 2" of standing water and foam. It was soaked to the point I had to take a towel and soak it up so I wasn't reaching my hand in to water to pull out foam chunks.

I managed to get the whole left side of the bottem of the hull cleaned out. I still have the right side and both gunwales to do. I weighed what I took out and I was at 15lbs in th bag. I'm curious to know what the record weight of foam pulled out of a Superjet cuz mine might decimate all by the time I'm done.

Here are aome picture or how I went about the cutting. I'm hoping to keep a skeleton structure to help with the rebuilding of the try. I'm going to get into the gunwales I'm just trying to decide if I want to just cut the holes for footholds and try and get it all out or if I want to cut a bigger area of the side out and just glass it back together.
image.jpgimage.jpg

No clue why the pictures are upside down I'm on my phone right now. Anyways that's the update it's gonna be a long winter project but she will be ready for the spring if not early summer.
 
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
Oh and the cooling tube I found the seal was no more so water was coming in there. Also I found a hole drilled into the bulk head that wasn't helping. And I'm sure I will find more as I continue along.
 
Roseand

Roseand

The Weaponizer
Site Supporter
Location
Wisconsin
It's much easier if you cut a bigger area on the sides to defoam. Use a drill with a wire wheel for the tight and hard to reach spots, it makes it much quicker and easier.
 
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
I just got done cutting the footholds out and clearing out enough foam to fit them in. Foams frozen solid so it's making it difficult to clean the rest out. My question is it worth clearing out the rest of the gunwales? The wettest part of the foam is near the bond line but I've cleared most of that out.

Should I keep the rest of the 2 part in there and full the rest up with the pink foam?

Or do I just need to break down and try and get the rest out? I'm trying to keep the fiberglassing down to a minimum so that's my thought.
 
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
Here is the progress. It's not much but I'm diggin these footholds. I picked up a cutting bit for my dremmel and it cut through it like butter. Still pondering the foam but maybe it's just being stubborn cuz it's frozen!!

Fiberglass is on its way so it needs to warm up really soon so I can start the process.

Any suggestions on how to get the footholds to lay flat on the tray? They seem to be sitting up a little to much, maybe cut them down a little?

PS: I'm procrastinating about pulling the old turf off, so far I think that's the hardest part lol.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    123.8 KB · Views: 113
K

KyFritz

Location
Grand Blanc
Made a lot of progress today. Got the solas prop installed and pump seal in the mail this week. My old pump seal was blown half way out so I'm sure that was causing some cavitation. The original prop was actually in decent shape considering the age. I ripped out a lot more saturated foam, and ripped out a lot of old seals to start the re-seal process. I'm going to seal the bond lines, cooling/bilge lines, driveshaft tunnel, bulkhead, and anything else I can see. Also gonna once over with the as seen on TV "flex seal" as an added bonus and see if it really will work. I guess it can't hurt anything, at least I don't think it will.

I also got a chance to clean up the rest of the old turf. I honestly think this has been the hardest part so far.

I do have a question about the old glue. Is it really necessary to get it all off? Any tricks to getting it all off?
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    123.7 KB · Views: 82
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom