Supra Sunsport Floor Rot

Greetings,

I know there have been other really good Supra Sunsport threads, but they've been archived and were large, so I figured I'd start a new one.

I've found a Sunsport that sounds really good... rebuilt motor/trans, good interior, newer (1992 Nautique) trailer, new bimini top, carb, battery etc. Not sure what "rebuilt" exactly entails, but I'm finding out from the owner. He's asking $5800 CDN, which seems good. Only problem it's about a 14-15 hr drive from where I'm located and it has a soft spot in the floor in front of the spotters seat. He said the stringers are solid (motor mounts don't turn) and there are no external cracks on the hull. Therefore I'm thinking it's probably not very extensive yet.

Have any of you experience rot in that area? If so, how much did it cost to replace the floor and/or stringers and bed. I'd do it myself, but I don't have the time or shop for it anymore.

Thanks in advance for any info!

teak rails in the back and teak around the windshield frame...1985? looks like someone's done some work to the interior.

soft floors are a tough call. odds are that the flotation foam is wet which means it has to be removed. how much depends. if the foam is wet, it's a safe bet that there are rotten sections of stringers. supra notched their stringers back then for the cross-supports that held up the floor....it's also a safe bet that each stringer is rotted where it's notched.

if you were to pay someone to do the job right...meaning fix whatever they find, you're looking at $4-5k. that boat most likely needs more than a soft spot fix. you're talking a bunch of hours to get it done...all depends on what you find when you rip the floor up.

That is a beautiful boat. I have always loved the older Supras. The Teak is sweet.

Hey guys,
thanks for the info. I'm posting a few more pics of the boat... as you can see, it needs some paint. Anyway, on the "stringer" pic, have any of you experienced fiberglass cracking / the exhaust pulling away from where the exhaust pipe enters the stringer area? Is this something to be concerned with or is it fairly common? From what I've been told the motor mount support bolts don't turn, so I'm assuming that the stringers are fairly solid.

Your thoughts?

Looks like you got your work cut out for you. Sure you couldn't find something a little more finished. Thats a long drive to find out its not what the seller says it is. Maybe have him bring it to a shop and have the shop give you a detailed report. Even if you pay for it it might save you some time and worry. How many hours on the rebuild? The air filter looks dirty and none of the gaskets look new. Is that cooling hose on the front wrapped with electrical tape. The hose looks bad. The boat fits on that trailer? Wow tight fit. Good luck

i posted in your other thread too.

this is a buyer's market...RUN! this boat needs a big overhaul.

Supra Sunsports are hard to find within a 12 hr radius of Nova Scotia. Good idea with the surveyor. Not sure if it's feasible at this time of year or not, but I'll look into it. Motor has 2 summers (approx 100 hrs total). Head gasket was shot when the current owner bought the boat. New heads and rebuilt bottom end. Trans was rebuild before the previous owner sold it. Good point about the air filter. Not sure what's up with the electrical tape - just noticed that myself this afternoon. What gaskets are you referring to? The riser gaskets?

I can see the rot around the motor mount in the picture and the cracking is from wet wood expanding and pushing on the floor.
That boat has been left outside and is bad shape.
Pass pass pass.

I agree with Brock. I paid 8,500 CDN for my COMP that came with a tower. That boat is in some dire restoration and would highly advise to pass on that. Spend the extra money you would on this boat on a boat that is already in good condtion.


(Message edited by bigkitch on November 10, 2008)

"New heads and rebuilt bottom end." HUH???

Yea, like others have said, pass. If for no other reason than this little statement. A blown is head gasket is one thing. New heads are another thing, and "rebuilt bottom end" is something else entirely different. I can guarantee, the bottom end wasn't rebuilt as a result of blown head gasket (means pulling the entire engine, instead of slapping a new gasket on it and buttoning it up). New heads aren't needed either... Also, anyone who would rebuild anything when it's not needed wouldn't wrap that hose in electrical tape. Not to mention the floor, which will only get worse with use...

Look how Grahams boat actually fits on the trailer unlike the boat you are looking at. The other boat looks like its on the fenders and the nautique trailer is well under the boat. I question whether the boat is safe to haul on that trailer. That can't be safe! Find something else.

here you go....91 SNOB with tower for $7900 US

This is not my boat....but looks like one heck of a deal!

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/bar/909542134.html

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info. Greatly appreciated. I decided to pass on that boat and wait for something else to come along in the spring. As it turns out the stringers were shot as the bolts could be turned and the cracks were larger that thought - good eye Brock.

Graham, your Comp looks pretty sweet. Good to know that deals like that can actually be had in Canada. The boat selection in the maritimes is severely lacking at best. Guess I'll just have to do a little driving in the spring to find what I want.

Nacho, he had the receipts for the engine work. Heads were cracked and/or warped (I don't remember). Put new heads on, ran it and discovered that it didn't have much compression.

Salty87, are you the same Salty87 from the Supra forum? If so, how do you like your Saltair for skiing / wakeboarding? Any issues with the low bow / swamping.

Thanks again,
Jaak

Have any of you seen anything like this before...



Not sure what caused it. I can only assume that water got in the hull via the bolt holes (looks like some are different sizes and caulking has been applied and/or there was too much weight on the swim platform at one time or if the supertraps leaked a little and water got it there. Any idea if something like that would be a big repair?

Do any of you have problems with your electronic choke on your 650 Holleys?
Ie. do you need to adjust them iot to have the boat idle at 600-700 rpm as the season warms up? The previous boat that I was looking at had a new carb, but it required tweeking throughout the year. I wasn't wasn't sure if it was a common problem or not with those carbs or not.

Have any of you rebuild an engine and/or upgraded to GT40 heads and/or a cam? Did you notice any big / worthwhile performance gains?

Thanks.

the saltare is a great boat. plenty of room, sits higher in the water than most older boats do...very dry ride. i've swamped the bow before but it's not easy. you'd have to have the right conditions, weight up front and a roller coming at you.

that said, it's a gas hog. it needs a bunch of weight to get a good wake. if you're not too worried about loading it down with ballast, it's great. if you're looking for a the biggest wake for the buck, there are much better hulls.

i've seen that before jaak.

the transom glass is thin, the gel coat has flaked away exposing fiberglass. the spider cracks are from stress and not that uncommon, not pretty but that looks like an old supra to me.

rusted bolts and washers, ugly caulking job,...the exhaust is leaking into the hull. the foam is saturated and the wood is mush. wet foam never dries, it needs to come out. its a safe bet that this will be a big job. rusted bolts means someone who couldn't use stainless hardware has been in there. no telling what else has been done.

So.... where is the exhaust on the above boat???

Jaak, fair enough. Just sounded really sketchy the way you listed it out on previous post. now that you have that info, that makes sense. Save for what he did to fix it. Also makes sense that the block was black, tranny silver.

I have done a cam and head upgrade on my boat, same engine: 351W. Night and day difference. The GT40 heads are damn good heads and flow a lot of air. The right cam can really wake up an engine, especially in the 2-4000 RPM range where you need it getting on plane with a big boat full of ballast. The main problems with these Ford engines are the poor head flow, followed by a restrictive intake manifold. I estimate my engine at over 300hp, it was 240 when I started. I wouldn't say this is a popular upgrade, as its more than most want to tackle. But its definitely the first place to start when modding a Ford engine.

Did you find one that was modded or you looking at doing it yourself?

Salty87, how's the ski wake on a Saltare? The pics are from an '87, not the '86 pictured above. I've been told that it would cost approx $400 to fix the exhaust.

Is it possible to look at the inside of the transom on a Sunsport w/o having to remove the gas tank? Anyone have any pics of that area in their boat so I can see what it looks like?

Nacho, did you notice a substantial increase in fuel consumpution with the GT40 / cam upgrade?

Haven't found a boat yet, was just considering options if I were to find a higher hour, but clean / solid boat that may need a rebuild. I'd mainly be using it for 1. skiing 2. wakeboarding w/o much ballast 3. cruising with family. I'm big (6'3" 240lbs), so I'd be looking to improve hole shot and/or re-prop to gain a little speed iot barefoot. If I were to find a boat that needed a rebuild I'd have a machine shop do the bottom end / heads and I'd put the intake/heads/carb back together myself.

the problem with those transom shots is that the caulk tells me there was probably a leak. the rusty hardware says someone who didn't know enough to not use anything but SS hardware worked on the boat. it's possible that the platform was leaking, it's more likely that the exhaust was leaking. either way, water is in the foam if there was a leak. it can't get out from under the floor to the bilge. it's a roll of the dice to see how bad the damage is.

saltare ski wake is pretty good. i'm about 6'3" and i love all the room to spread out. for the priorities you listed, you might like it.

here's a pic of the inside of the transom with just about everything removed.


if you look at where the exhaust attaches to the transom, you'll see there isn't much there. the supratrapps are just screwed in. the sealant, if any was used, breaks down. i dragged the hull down to the ramp like this and they leaked like shower heads.

even with the gas tank out, the stuff you want to look at is mostly under the floor. you can see the line where the floor used to be in that pic.

It's pry using slightly more than before. But I haven't had a chance to run it all day with ballast to really get an idea. The engine responds immediately and jumps out of the hole, so it might do better over the long run b/c it doesn't take forevet to get on plane.

FYI I had my stock heads ported and ended up with comething close to GT40 head flow numbers. So if you have a good machine shop, that is an option too. Also, bottom end doesn't need to be touched for this upgrade.

Nacho, thanks again for the info. Interesting to know that you were able to get numbers close to the GT40 heads with ported stock heads. Definitely something to keep in mind.

Salty, thanks for the pic. Definitely worth a thousand words! ;) Was the foam really waterlogged? ie. did it add a lot of weight to the boat? When I redid the floor / stringers in my Sidewinder I was barely able to lift a garbage can 3/4's full of the stuff. I guess what I'm getting at, if one were to know the weight of a stock Supra / trailer and took it to a weigh scale, would you be able to tell that the boat was significantly heavier than it should be, and therefore had water saturated foam? Just something that popped into my mind while getting sand at a local quarry the other day.

that's a great idea. my foam would squirt water out when you jammed a pry bar into it.

nadaguides.com lists weights for boats but i don't know how accurate it is. skier's choice owns supra now, they didn't back then and don't usually have info like that. can't hurt to ask.

i hate to say it but with an old supra, you're kind of looking for a needle in a haystack to find one that doesn't need alot of work. they weren't built to last forever. from having seen more than a few that need at least partial floor repair, i think it's just that time for late 80's supras that weren't given better than average care over the years.

They were never THAT common of a boat. Be patient it could take a year for the perfect one to roll through your area. When I drove 6 hr to get my 87 SS, some WW peeps found another 87SS for $2.5k cheaper than me only 40 mins from my house a couple months later.

Also keep searching multiple sites. Try iboats.com. They are out there!