| First remove the covers from the sides of the tray, and remove the old mat from the bottom of the tray. Make sure you get it really clean. I ended up using a wire brush attachment on a drill to really scrape all the goop off the bottom of the tray. |
|
| 24-7 provides cardboard templates to use during installation. Just trace them on the ski and cut holes with a dremel or similar tool. Cutting the plastic storage tubing on the inside was the biggest pain of this entire project. Notice I only cut JUST enough of the plastic tubing to insure a proper fit for the footholds. No need to cut anymore of that stuff than necessary!! |
|
Test for fit, and continue to trim and cut as needed. The 24-7 footholds were actually meant for a Superjet, so I had to trim some height off the footholds themselves to make them fit the Kawasaki 750sx. |
|
| Both sides cut out and ready for foothold installation. |
|
| I used West System epoxy and powdered filler to bond the footholds in place. Just mix the resin and keep adding the powder until you have a peanut butter-like paste, I put that down on the bottom and up the front side, then used screws to hold the footholds in place until this hardened. I left it like this for 24 hours to allow ample drying time. Leave holes between the top of the footholds and the sides of the ski, so you can inject foam later. If you want, you can lay down a few strips of fiberglass cloth overlapping the bottom of the footholds and the tray of the ski for added strength. |
|
| Another angle of the footholds, while waiting for the resin to dry. |
|
To inject the foam, I put packing tape over the holes where the storage tubes used to be and taped around the edges of the footholds hoping to hold in most of the foam. I C-clamped the footholds as well for added strength, so the foam would not push them out of place as it expanded and dried. This may not have been necessary, but better safe than sorry. I filled behind the footholds with closed-cell expanding foam (be sure you get CLOSED CELL foam so it won't absorb water). I let the foam dry for a full 24 hours. |
|
| Here are the funky shapes I found 24 hours later. Pretty cool, huh? |
|
| More weird foam shapes. |
|
| I removed the C-clamps and tape, and trimmed off the excess foam. I mixed up more of the "peanut butter" and started filling in the storage tube holes and the holes at the top of the footholds. I let this sit and dry for 24 hours. |
|
| After the resin dries, sand off any bumps until it is nice and smooth. Add more "peanut butter" into any gaps you find. You want the hull sealed up completely to keep water out of your foam on the inside. |
|
Continue this process (fill, sand, fill some more) until you are happy with the results. Give it one final sanding before you apply the mats. Try not to sand it TOO smooth....you want it a bit rough so the contact cement has something to bond to. |
|
| OK, we're ready to 'turf. It's not pretty, but it will be covered in Hydroturf, so who cares. Everywhere turf was going to be applied, I used a wire brush drill bit to rough the fiberglass up, so the turf would bond better. |
|
| Here I started putting on the Hydroturf. Because of all the weird angles in the 750sx tray, it was recommended to me to use the smooth Hydroturf on the tray sides, not the grooved Hydroturf.....so I did. I used the oil-based 3M contact cement available at most hardware stores to bond the Hydroturf to the ski. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THIS STUFF. It says to apply to both surfaces and let sit for 15 minutes. DO IT. It works so much better if you do. |
|
| Another angle of the Hydroturf. |
|
| I used grooved Hydroturf for the bottom of the tray. This was part of the kit I bought. There were "wings" on the sides to fit into the footholds, and this needed to be trimmed a bit. |
|
| The finished product. |
|
| Another shot of the finished project. |
|
