Ski locker/hull repair
 

Just picked up a 1998 Shabah 210 that has some hull damage. Looks like it slipped on the storage rack and fell 8-10" on to the support beam which cracked the hull about 6-8" from the center of the V of both sides in the front only.. This looks like it has happened before because the ski locker has a 12-16" wide x 4' long sheet of plywood glassed in in the same area, and the old owner remembers them doing some "free" repairs 10-12 years ago for him in that same area... The rest of the floor and stringers are all fibreglass and nicely finished with . Does any one have a pic or can describe the inside of their ski locker? I'm going to remove the wood and make my repairs but would like to have it look as OEM and clean as possible..

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

I have a 98 202z, ski locker is pretty basic, slopes to the rear drain hole and is carpeted. Not sure what you're really looking for?

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

Is the bottom of the locker flat because they installed a board or do they carpet the V?

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

Carpet the V.

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

My Z210 had a piece of plywood installed from the factory that was fiberglassed into the hull. The fiberglass cracked on mine where the plywood rested on the hull and I ended up with a lot of water being trapped below it. I cut this all out and then had a local shop apply a gel coat to the inside of the hull. I decided to leave the flat board out to have more locker space. I have some pictures of the damage and of the repair that I can upload once I get on my laptop.

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

Mine cracked where the wood was glassed to the hull... Ended up removing the wood and glass, which just pealed off as if it never bonded to the hull. Ground down the areas where the cracks were and laid 3 sheets of 18oz glass in then carpeted the locker area. Also I removed the center floor sections and found the balsa core was rotten and thus caused the floor to sag a little which made the glass in the walk through area bind when opening and closing it. So I recored it which made the floor level and now the glass section moves freely.

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

The carpet in my ski locker always seemed to stay "wet" and never really dried out like it should. I had my suspicions so I decided to pull the carpet out and take a look. Here is a few pictures of the floor in my ski locker after I pulled the carpet off. The plywood floor of the ski locker was only glassed in around the edges. The fiberglass had pretty much cracked all the way around this piece of plywood and had started to peel back from the plywood from being wet for quite some time.

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

Here are a few pictures from the removal process. I basically took my pneumatic cutting wheel and just scored through the fiberglass at the edge of the locker floor panel. I then removed the plywood floor panel and discovered what I had suspected...the hull below the locker floor was full of water.

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

I used a shop vac to remove all of the standing water. I then lowered the tongue on the trailer to see if any water would seep back into the locker area. Sure enough, water continued to saturate the buoyancy foam. I removed the foam and more water carried into the locker area. I then drilled a small (1/2" diameter) hole in the stringer at the back of the locker near the bottom in the "V" so that water would continue to drain from the fuel tank section.

It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but the last picture shows the amount of water that drained out from behind the back wall/stringer and into the locker area after another day of sitting with the tongue down. I would estimate that it was at least another gallon or so of water.

Re: Ski locker/hull repair
 

Here are a few pictures of the ski locker area after the shop cleaned up the hull and laid down the new fiberglass and gelcoat. I just went with a white gelcoat since I plan to cover it back up with marine carpet. The shop left the small passage open at the back of the locker so that any water that finds its way in will eventually drain back into the rear of the hull to be removed either by the bilge pump or the drain plug when out of the water.

I now have a much lighter boat, more storage space, more functionality, and much better peace of mind. I hope this information is helpful for anyone else that may find themselves in the same predicament.

:wink_thumbup: