be careful with how dark you go I went with as dark as I could find and because your sitting down you have to look through it to drive and sometimes its tough to see through esp with sunglasses on.... as soon as my upholstery guy is done ill install it and post some pics and I took my swim platforms off they were the same way just lagged into the transom I used 5200 to fill the holes and cleaned them smooth and you should be fine through bolting them... and as for the old school building techniques they have me a little upset with the cap that's used in the engine bay I want to mount my trim tabs but because of the cap I cant through bolt them I have to 5200 them and use stainless lags to put them on it should hold as long as the wood is good down there....my new dana swim platform comes with backing plates and is meant to be through bolted I just haven't installed it yet....and my winter project will be coosa stringers and a coosa transom with no cap if I decide to keep the boat

[ATTACH=CONFIG]525165[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]525166[/ATTACH]

new gauges showed up and the interior should be done tomorrow hopefully I can have it in the water this weekend

Nice boat, I had an 86 with a 400sbc w/blower. 540hp bravo pkg. ran 84mph. Loved that boat. I installed Mayfair steering got rid of chine walk. Also I had removed swim platform made the boat much cleaner

[ATTACH=CONFIG]525208[/ATTACH]yeah I removed mine and bought a dana 24x14 aluminum swim platform but idk if I want to install it and I have a cone for my bravo but didn't want to install it until I broke the 70mph mark and then get external steering im hoping not to have to much chine walk with my trim tabs that im installing but I guess ill find out soon...finally get her back home tomorrow

Any new progress?

yeah turns out motor stringers and cabin stringers and transom all had rot I'm in the process of rebuilding it now and all with coosa board I have it all torn out and sanded but with the weather I haven't had much time to het anything done hopefully this week ill have the pieces cut and then glassed in the following week but I do live in Maryland and it'll probably snow lol

Yeah....these things weren't friendly to moisture. I am just getting right to get on mine after winter storage. Last year I did a ton of cosmetic upgrades and my interior wood was all good, no rot or soft anywhere...couldn't believe it. Didn't have to replace and seat/frame wood anywhere on the boat. Built the lower, new sound system, and just basic maintenance stuff. I am doing all the small detail stuff now, replacing all the stainless cover snaps on the boat, going over trim and all....taking it to the shop here soon to redo all the stripes. Its clean enough gel wise I think I am gonna keep it all like it came.

Damn must be nice lol...there's another guy on here his boat was up north from me he had rot also...and after sanding all the way through my gel coat yesterday down to glass I didn't realize how thick it really was ...could def wet sand and buff it back out but I didn't like the old 80s colors...and are u going to have the stripes repainted or just have them refresh the gel?

The stripes on mine are old school tape, I am going back with vinyl, but am not going back with the factory style. Gonna try and update it some and do something with those crazy red stripes just above the rubrail back of where the windshield stops. I don't really know what to do there except removal and buff it back out and follow the lines where the different colors of gel meet in a red stripe.

Hey guys who did you use for your upholstery work . Thanks