1990 Sunsation Rocket project
 

I love everyone's restoration threads and they all give me inspiration and motivation! So I thought I would start my own thread! I bought my Rocket in July 2010 knowing I needed to do interior and trailer work on it, but I blew the rebuilt engine at 13 hours:poopoo: so then it began! I don't have a big budget for my toys so I have to do the work myself and I would have not been able to do the work and keep this boat going without all the help and advice from everyone on OSO! I wanted to do new external steering this winter, but now I'm moving to VA in June so I need a new trailer for the salt water and steering might have to wait. (just got painted steel trailer now). Below is the link to my photobucket on the boat but I promise I will post new pictures as they come directly to the thread! And better pics (most are from my phone, need a camera)

http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/emspjay/

wow! a lot of work there!!! keep posting!

Thank you! Will do!!

You also can see in the pics the house and garage went from white to yellow, I bought a fixer-upper house on the Clinton River with boat docks! During this time I did a complete renovation on that house and did the work on the boat! And the pictures of me doing work in a nice garage are from my girlfriend now wife's house. She let me turn her garage into a shop after a few months after dating! We got married back in September. Back in June I got the Clinton River house done so we live in it and have hers rented out! So got to give my girl some credit also for putting up with me!!!

Great Project! I also have a 24 Sunsation. Mine is a race hull, 606 Lock'd Up Bandit. I didn't restore mine, but did put a new engine and seats in it.
The one issue I had was my battery box was not through bolted and pulled out during a rough race. My boat was not rigged by Sunsation-so it's NOT their fault. This might be something you can easily check and fix-if needed.
Good luck and keep posting pics!
Bob

Thanks! Good info! Got pics of your Rocket? I shifted the original battery location slightly 2 years ago but it is not through bolted, and I bought a second battery and switch but never installed the second battery yet just the switch I have been looking for better battery locations.

Great work. Sorry to see ya move.

Thanks! Don't really want to go but that's my job. Was nice to be home in MI for the last three years. Got just nine years until I retire and then we will be back, or possibly sooner if next time I transfer I can get back to the area.

Videos are always fun on a super cold day like today!

At idle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRvOSifp1NE

Idle to cruise around 40mph (wife don't like to go fast it scares her)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqxsMmAR26M

Fast Shafts are you guys running the race circuit this year? Would be nice to see a sunny at the races this year!

Let me get this straight...You bought a Go Fast boat but your wife doesnt like to go fast???? How did you get the thumbs up to buy the boat in the first place?

LOL! She wasn't my wife when I bought the boat!

Eventually I have to get her a cruiser but I can still have a fast boat. I hope when her parents step up to the 40ft cruiser they want they will sell me their 32 sundancer for a good price:drink:

Unfortunately I'm not going to race much this year due to hurricane Sandy totaling my house. :mad: I am hoping to race in Atlantic City -since that is only 50 miles away.:)
Your project is turning out great!

Man that is horrible to hear, my thoughts and prayers still go out for all affected by Sandy.

Well only one update so far been out of town so much for work. Today I picked up my new aluminum trailer for the salt water in VA where I will be moving to at the end of June, paid for it back in February but never had time to pick it up. Its a 7200lbs Load Rite (overkill for the 24-7). Found a dealer 3hrs away from me that would take my old trailer on trade, so gave him my old trailer and $1500 cash for the new Load Rite. I think I got a good deal the trailer is fully loaded with all options. I put the boat back under the cover it will be a few more weeks before I un-winterize it and put on all the new goodies I bought for the boat over the winter. I really need to get a camera and not take pictures on my phone.

I passed you twice today on the express way nice looking boat.

Thanks! It's a labor of love with this old boat! Today was the first long trip I made with the boat and I was happy with how both the old and new trailer handled at 70mph!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]501442[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]501443[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]501444[/ATTACH]Well I got the boat in the water this weekend! It was a great weekend on the water! But I found out my transducer is leaking slowly and needs to be pulled and resealed. I left the boat in the water overnight and had some water in the bilge. I was thinking... maybe it was from the threads in the drain plug but no such luck. I got the boat on the trailer and there was a small drip from the transducer and not the plug. So I will be fixing that soon, hope I can do that without pulling the engine again! I only have a picture at the boat ramp Friday and then some of the Gil manifolds I am refinishing for the boat. Didn't think anybody would care about the new trim pump or hydraulic ram for the hatch I installed since they are just direct replacements so no pics of that. I bought a used pair of Gil manifolds and a used pair of risers, (I can't afford new). The manifolds I got have had a little salt use and the factory finish in some areas is just flaking off really bad as you can see in the pictures (I was able to start pulling it off with my bare hands. The risers I got are like new. I will get the manifolds refinished in the next week or so when I have time and then get it installed in the boat! I am so excited to get rid of the stock exhaust in the boat!! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Thank you to all the Veterans!!!! And thank you to all current Active or Reserve Military Members!!!

Well it was a great day today I wanted to get the boat on the water but needed to fix a problem from late last season. My seats are lag bolted to the floor and then side bolted to the side of the boat. Last year I hit a big cruiser wake wrong and ripped the driver seat out of side of the boat, it also did a little damage to the floor lag bolt holes. I just fixed the side bolts last year and noticed two weekends ago when we had the boat out all the lag bolts on my driver seat were loose. So how do you fix stripped out or rotted lag bolt holes in your floor when the boat is small and no way to through bolt them? Here is what you do.
1. Remove seat
2. Enlarge lag bolt holes until you have good wood.
3. Clean up the area and the new enlarged holes.
4. Mix up some resin thickened with filler until it is like peanut butter.
5. Fill and pack enlarged hole with thickened resin.
6. Drill and tap the thickened resin
7. Bolt the seat back in.

This took me just over four hours this afternoon including drying time for resin (and I got a late start because I went and saw the Red Hot Chilli Peppers last night at Orion Fest)

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The boat is looking great ! the seats in my baja had similar problem. What I did was cut a port hole in the floor between the two seats so I could reach under the floor and through bolt them. Put a nice looking floor cover in and now I always have access. One piece of advice, if you didn't put some kind of silicone or sealent under the seat base and in the bolt holes you should prob do that. That is the reason decks rot out, water get in around all that stuff.

Thanks! Yep everything I have removed or replaced has been re-sealed. I am finding out since the boat is so old the original sealant has gone bad on a lot of stuff I havent removed or replaced yet. So I'm going to do a complete tear down and re-rig of the boat after this season.

I finished the re-finishing of the Gil Manifolds and got them installed today! That was a big project but I think it came out great! And the boat sounds SO GOOD! I think the engine is now breathing properly and will make the HP it did on the dyno!

I want to give a big thank you to Wayne272 and Sick Stinger for giving me a great deal on the parts! I'm just a poor Enlisted Military Man and without their help on parts I would not be able to afford this exhaust. I can't find money all the time but I can find the time to re-finish some manifolds!

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Jason, glad everything worked out good. Looks great and by the way, thank you for your service to this country. Be safe and have a great season.

Thanks again Wayne! I appreciate the great deal you gave me so much! I wish I had a picture of my ear to ear grin when I fired the boat up today! It sounds soooooooooo goooood!

Well its time for another tear down and a re-rig! I have a transducer leak and the steering pin is worn. The boat is 23 years old and needs a lot of other things done to it, tab pump, carpet, side panels, dash is breaking apart again, etc,etc,etc. Here are some pics before I started to take it apart today. Got a lot of rot in the side panels and the sun pad, I should have done those when I did the seats 2 years ago.[ATTACH=CONFIG]510323[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510324[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510325[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510326[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510327[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510328[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510329[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510330[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510331[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]510332[/ATTACH]

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The guy I got the boat from had the sun pad redone the year before I bought the boat, about 5 years ago. As you can see the wood was not sealed and only 4 of the blind nuts were still holding the sun pad on. The screws are stainless but you can see the blinds nuts are not and rusty.
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Tear down is going good! I put the Gils on about 10 hours. The brand new turbulators are already getting very rusty, they have about 4 hours of fresh water use and about 6 hours of salt water use, and I flush the boat for 15 min after salt water use!

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Painted the original Merc cover, can you guess what color the engine is going to be this time? And some pics of my $100 8x8 paint booth. It works great! II used the blower motor from the boat and run it out the side door of the garage. I painted some furniture for the wife and will be painting all the boat parts in it.

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I got the engine out today. I expected some soft core around the transducer leak and I knew from the last time the engine was out that the blocks for the bilge pump were wet. I did at least 30 test drills in the transom and stringers and they are dry!!! So I only need to cut open and replace about a 8x12 inch section in the bottom of the bilge! Very Happy!!! I did also find that the ply behind the gas tank is wet, but that was just tabbed in. So I will be cutting that out also and putting in a new properly sealed piece there.

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Almost completely torn down now! Just got to remove the switch/radio panel, rest of the harness and the cabin interior! I think I will be cutting glass tomorrow after work! Need to get the glass work done before it gets cold!

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It's coming along nicely! It's easy to get a bit discouraged by the shear amount of rework these older boats really need, but seeing all of these builds is inspiring. I feel like I have a thousand projects to complete, but thankfully spring is a ways off. I like your makeshift paint booth. Thinking about doing that myself!

Thanks! Yep it truly is a labor of love! Plus I plan on keeping this boat until I move back to MI so I will have it for a long time so all the work will be worth it. The booth works well, the blower could be stronger. It keeps the dust down and stops overspray from getting on everything in the garage. It works perfect for small parts, etc. The biggest thing I sprayed in there was the new king size headboard I built for the wife. That was too much for the blower to keep up with, but I had brand new cartridge for my respirator so I was ok. The door does not fully seal so you get some fresh air being pulled in.

Slowly but it's getting done! Got the new core in and new back panel made and completely sealed with two coats. You can see the old one was never sealed before install.

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So been making some progress but work, weather, etc, has got in the way a bit. All the fiberglass work is done. I have everything sanded and filled and just waiting for better weather to high build prime and then do final sanding before final paint.

So in the mean time I have been working on getting the engine and stuff ready for some paint inside the warm heated garage! Got the engine basically torn down and on the work stand to start the refresh of paint and bling!

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Here is the pics of the Pro Sport dampener I purchased when I built this engine 3 years ago. It started rusting after the first year and I was in fresh water until late this season. WTF? At least the sticker is still good :lolhit:

Good thing I haven't needed to time the engine lately? Can someone give me a recomendation on a dampener that will not rust so fast? I don't care if it is black I just want to be able to read the timing marks.

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Got primer down! Now got to guide coat it and back to more sanding! I love sanding :lolhit:

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Looking waaay better!

Thank you! I can't wait to get paint on it! I hated the splatter paint it had from the factory. I think it will look better all white!

Project looks good a friend up in Northern Va used to have one like yours they're fun boats.

Thank you! I love it! It has been a lot of fun! And I always wanted one and I'm not sure if I will ever sell it! I want a bigger boat with twins eventually and this one might turn into a Class 6 raceboat when I get a bigger boat:)