"Bad Influence", A Jet Boat Project

Well, I've made a questionable decision and brought home a 70's Jet boat.

I definitely didn't need another project, but it kind of fell in my lap. I bought this car for $350 that was turned into a figure 8 racer for the fair.

Well right after I bought this I found a better engine donor for my project, and put this up for sale. I was offered a trade for an 01 dodge ram. I was a little curious why someone would want to make this trade, but the truck seemed to be fine, just rusty.

Well, I ended up trading this dodge ram for the jet boat, maybe not my  best decision, but I guess here we are.

Which leads me to the present. It's a 1978 Colorado Custom. It came with a 455 olds, but currently has a bad olds 403 in it, with a "good" olds 403 that came with it.

Unfortunately it looks better in pictures than real life. Luckily though, there aren't too many parts to a jet boat. I had a chance to start working on it today. We pulled the bad engine, pulled the interior, and now I'm to the point I need to start asking for advice.

I was thinking the the floor was plywood, however after I pulled the carpet it appears to be fiberglass.

You can see where the framing for the seat is. All that is fine,  But the floor in the middle and front seems to flex. It doesn't feel soft, as if water logged, but it flexes underneath weight. It seems like it could be fiberglass covered plywood, but I'm not 100% sure. Any ideas?

Luckily the stringers feel/sound solid, and don't show any signs of rot.

The plan is to get it on the water on a tight budget. I want to make sure I/We enjoy it before I put any extra money into it.

However, assuming I can get get it running on the water, I'd like to make it look nice. The paint needs work. It's sun faded and beat up. I know boats normally have a gel coat, but I believe this one was painted at some point. The clear coat is failing.

What's the best way to make this paint look good? Can I just go at it with a buffing wheel? I've cut and polished my miata with good results, but the clear coat was still good on that car. Any advice here?

The other thing is the interior. All the Plywood seats are falling apart and trashed. The vinyl is not much better. I'm not sure what the best plan of action here is. Try and restore the vinyl with new plywood? New seats all together? I'd love to hear if someone has experience with marine seats like this, or if someone could point me in the right direction here.

I've put a bit of a list together of the things it needs. 

1. Fix the floor ( if it needs fixing)

2. Replace all cables for steering/throttle etc

3. Tune up the engine. Rebuild the carb, new plugs/wires etc.

4. Go through the pump, make sure it doesn't need anything.

5. Fix the interior

6. Fix the Paint

7. LS Swap it.

I built a boat once.  You can buy a lot of marine seats from catalogs (Overton's, Bass Pro, etc) Probably easier than trying to rebuild custom plywood jobs. If you go custom, it helps if your mother can sew. By the time you invest in marine-grade plywood, foam and vinyl, and you suffer the agony of seat-making, the store-bought seats start looking pretty good.

The hull looks like its fiberglass with stringers and some plywood. If its been outside for years, its probably pretty shot. If you want to go cheap, I would lay some plywood over it to box it in and call it a day. Once you cut into it to repair one stringer, you will end up doing the whole thing.

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

I actually looked through your thread for inspiration and help. 

I'm not sure if I could DIY the seats or not. I certainly can't afford to pay someone to do it, but two buckets and a bench would seem pretty simple. I have found some bucket seats for under $200 which are probably the answer, but they just come in white.

I haven't decided how deep I want to go on the hull. I want to make sure the engine I have runs, and if so, i'll probably end up fixing the hull the right way. 

I have some experience with fiberglass, I feel pretty confident I could figure it out.

Watching, I live by a lake and don't have a boat, and bunch of local friends have jet boats. 

That vinyl looks to be beyond help.  If you have access to a sewing machine, sewing new covers isn't really all that difficult but practice with some scraps first before diving in.  Get a seam ripper (available for a couple bucks at any fabric store), pick apart the threads on the old covers and use the pieces as patterns for the new vinyl.

It can most likely be buffed out with good results.  There are different products for paint or for gelcoat surfaces. 

Finnegan's Garage on YouTube has been on a jet boat kick recently, you can watch his videos for inspiration but the boats they've been working on are definitely not low dollar.  

No real comments on any of the advice thus far.  Its pretty much what you need to hear.

For my stalled Lonestar project, I went with 3/4" Aqua-Ply for the flooring.  It is dried before shipping, so you should be able to apply epoxy and fiberglass to it without it trying to separate from the wood.