The flex seal and raptor lining is a bad idea. It won't soak into the plywood and adhere well. Do it right - buy some polyester resin, coat every side of the wood in resin, then encapsulate the plywood in a layer of CSM. The materials aren't that expensive (I recommend shopping at US...
If you spend a couple of hours with that ski locker cover and it will look amazing. Just make sure you don't throw that out thinking it's rotten. I disassembled mine and skimmed the boards in a planer, then sanded all the sides and edges. A couple of coats of teak oil and it went from that...
Well, as stated there is no manual with any useful info for the rebuild. Make Scott eat crow and finish the project, and post lots of pics here. He's not far off on pricing and timing, though. It looks really rough with huge patches of missing gelcoat, so you're going to have your work cut out...
I just use automotive power steering fluid on my 87 Mercruiser 260. It's all automotive parts in the PS system anyhow....no marine magic going on there.
China is a country, not a company. There are thousands of companies in China with the capabilities of making these parts. These companies are different, have different business models, and therefore different quality control standards. Just because something is made in China these days doesn't...
Spend the money on a dust deputy, a long shop vac hose (mie is 13ft, I think), and a remote control outlet. The long hose allows your vacuum to be out of the boat, giving you space to work. The remote outlet lets you control the vacuum that is now out of your reach, and the dust deputy means...
For my teak, I disassembled and ran parts through a planer and/or hand sanded to remove the heavily oxidized layer of wood - didn't have to go very deep. Now I just oil twice a year with Watco Teak Oil, then during winter storage, remove the swim platform from the boat and store it in the engine...
That's how mine was....just a little too flexible around the ski locker. Turned out large swaths of the floor, most of the stringers, and some of the transom was rotten too. If it's flexible, the wood has already turned to mulch. The parts that feel solid now are likely also at an advanced stage...
You'll have to build one or have someone else do it. Talk to a local upholstery shop familiar with doing boats - they can probably help. My upholstery shop built my rear bench seat, sun pad, and one side panel from scratch.
