TFreeman

I knew the day I decided to replace the old Nautique that this project was coming. We spent all last season dealiwith the old deteriorating, smelly, wet carpet. I ordered 3 long sheets on ebay at the end of summer last year and and had enough to go from driver feet/ observer compartment to the v drive and under the rear bench seat. Did not do anything in the bow, and went a different route under the sun pad. So on to the floor...first few steps were to remove all the items and stuff in the boat. Pull out and store the cushions. All the seat bases in my boat are removable and screwed down in to the floor on top of the carpet. Pull those to store as well. I didn't really take any pics up until this point except this one. When I received the foam last year I pulled the 2 removable floor panels and added the foam. I did so because, in my head, it was the majority of the carpet and would go quick. In my opinion, DO NOT DO THIS. I had to tip-toe around the finished panels while cleaning the glue out. At this point with the interior out I could measure and estimate where my seams would fall. And I used a straight edge and sharpie to mark where the eva lines on those panels needed to fall on the carpet templates once removed. 6-8" forward of the panels is an access door, carry the lines on to that as well. Those sharpie lines became vital while templates the carpet. I very very slowly cut the carpet where I believed the seam should be (turns out I was a stipe off but it was easy to fix with the clean cut) Pull out the carpet. Goo gone gel worked better than 3m general purpose adhesive remover, and much cheaper. Use the old carpet as a template, trace and cut. Clean the floor really well, and stick down pieces. Removing the backing on the big pieces was tough, due to size. Most of my seams and edges are not visible. Hidden in the back of the compartments, or under seat bases. The ones that are in visible areas i carefully lined up the stripes and stuck it down. Where the foam folds down between panels, I added some stainless staples. For ease of service I added a pull handle on the front corner of the removable floor, no prying on the new foam... Re install interior. Clean carpet before they go back in. I added vents to the seatbases as well to hopefully cut down on some moisture. For the vdrive compartments, I did not like the thought of buying more foam to sit, wet, under ballast bags. I park on a bit of a hill and always end up with water sitting in those compartments. I pulled the carpet, cleaned the glue, removed about an inch of the vertical carpet around the bottom of the compartment to hopefully keep it dry. I hit the raw floor and walls with black rattle can paint and placed in these rubber drain through mats. They piece together and give maybe a quarter inch gap under it. We are very happy how it all turned out.

I've been eye-balling the surf platform projects for a while now but my wife wasn't on board because she appreciated the rail around the old platform when it came time to get out of the water. Well after seeing the user on here add a ladder to their platform, she was convinced. What better way for project approval then to sell it as a mod for her? So I got started. I came across the dimensions below on the supra/moomba Facebook group and went this route. I began by making two cardboard templates. This ensured i could fit 2 cut outs on a single 4×8 sheet. I used a sanded ply wood. Not marine grade (as I cant locate any nearby), not pressure treated (epoxy doesn't adhere to it as well). Just one with an exterior glue between layers. Next step was to cut out the two 3/4" layers, screw together and sand the edges to fit together. I also added a 3rd layer of rectangle blocks at the mounting bracket location for a bit more height over the water. Add hardware and test fit. I went with a 4 step ladder over 3 steps just for delivery date reasons. 3 is probably plenty. Also standard on my boat is the grill mount on the platform. Not pictured. Also not pictured is the corners were routed and once I was happy with the location of all the hardware, I drilled the holes out a good bit larger for epoxy. Next step, pull everything off and separate your layers. Laminate the two main layers of the platform, reinstall screws with epoxy and do the same for the lift blocks. During the first coat of epoxy I used the excess to start filling the over sized holes for my mounting hardware. I chose to add black dye to the epoxy, that way its permanently black in the event of scratches or the like. I went for 3-4 coats per side then did some sanding hardware location: Then did a layer mixed with filler and sanded smooth. Lacking good pics I did an additional 3-4 coats of epoxy over that as well. I then Re-drilled the pilot holes for my hardware. Kinda ugly. Since the epoxy isn't really uv stable, I did a gloss black rattle can paint job, prime and paint. Basic... I reinstalled all the hardware and did the 3m 4200 (I think, the semi permanent sealant). To finish it out i had the absolute perfect amount of leftover eva foam from my floor project. On the boat: EDIT: at this height, the platform does not touch the wave and appears the ladder only gets a little splashufrom the FAE. Also when anchored the bottom of the ladder bracket sits about even with the water line. Then to combat the sun as well I sewed up a cover for it. Included a small pocket for the drain plug when parked.

Ultra basic muffler deletes to go with fresh air exhaust. I bought a pair of 3.5" stainless 60* exhaust elbows on Amazon. Remove factory muffler. Cut off about an inch off each end of the elbows. Probably could have gone up to 2" off each end. Then install elbows in place of muffler. 222485321_VID_20201024_1322580372.mp4

The factory installed cooler on this boat was a cool idea, really a huge space for more than enough cold storage than I would need but it warmed up quickly. Even on a cloudy 65* day it couldn't keep ice for more than a couple hours. No pics here but I pulled out the bin they call a cooler and it's only about 3/16" fiberglass bin with a layer of carpet around it and a 3/4" drain that dumps in the bilge. I installed a ball valve on the drain is rather keep the cold water in than have nothing. I then got a roll of the bubble insulation and tape for about $30 and wrapped the bin. I then used a piece laid over the top of our items to insulate the top. (Sorry about that awful pic) I used it like this for a couple months now with vast improvement over the original set up. Today I decided to use the leftovers and lined the inside of the compartment around the bin with an additional layer of insulation. I reinstalled the bin and added two layers of insulation to the bottom of the seat cushion over top. I'm expecting great results. We do use cooler shock ice packs so I can't speak for straight ice but the beers stay cold all day.

This project takes the rear facing 2 person seat out from behind the drivers seat and flips it to the full wrap around v drive configuration. Increasing floor space tremendously. Puts the drivers seat on a pedestal. Start by tearing out the factory bases. I trimmed the factory seatback piece to roughly about 12 inches I then trimmed up the factory seat base. I think I removed 3-1/2" from the long side. Then when I got the right amount off the short side it got in to the curve causing it to be short. Fixed it with a little spacer Mounted the pedestal for the drivers seat. For me this was a major upgrade. My eyes were dead in line with the top of the windshield before. This gave me a 4" increase in height at the lowest position. It raises as well as the bolster. Also, now it can swivel with out contacting the panel. I didn't take any pics but the cushion was notched out to clear the back rest and I filled in the factory spot with extra foam and HDPE from notching the base. The panel beside the drivers seat has been loose at the bottom since I got this boat. Makes a lot of noise in rough water. I trimmed the bottom so I could finish it out with 90* angles instead of having to think. Best pic I have of it is below, three screws straight down in to the base secured the bottom. (Not pictured) Next I cut out behind the back rest to make a storage cubby mimicking the original just tiny. Then Frankensteined the original backrest to finish out the project. There was a courtesy light inside it originally that may find it's way in to the boat somewhere. Overall I'm very happy with it. UPDATE: so after a full season and two half seasons on either end of that, this needs to be noted. The lag bolts holding the driver seat in are not entirely the best option. Maybe because of my lake being so busy on the weekends we are constantly getting pounded by waves if we aren't in the cove, and repeatedly crossing our own waves to pick up riders, the lag bolts and the fiberglass floor don't get along too well. There is a wiring/hose pathway that runs from the fuel tank, under the driver seat and up toward the helm. If you orient the seat pedestal correctly to begin with you can likely get 3 bolts in that path way. I however only had 2 in there. I took a strip of 3/4 hdpe as a plate and through-bolted the pedestal in there. You have to get creative with the locknuts on the bottom as I could only fingertip reach the rear bolt. But after bolting the seat down it seems to be good to go.