1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

Yep, there is a ton of wood in these things considering its fiberglass.

Speaking of wood, I just ordered a test piece of teak wood, its the right size for the teak that goes on the boat, and it will be used to test my idea of putting teak on the splash well area.
Also ordered battery on/off dials, I forgot that I should probably have them so I can turn the power on and off right at the battery.

 

Do you have to bolt or screw the teak or can you bond it on?

 

Its screwed on from the factory, and I could glue it down with some marine adhesive, but if the wood cracks or breaks and needs to be replaced then the gelcoat can get damaged pulling the wood off. So I will be screwing it down again, but with some silicone glue where the screws meet the hull... also stainless screws so they dont rust out on me.

 

I remembered I wanted to put a fish finder on the boat. Not a super fancy one, but something that will give me depths, water temps, and just basic info for the water I am in. I have a bunch of these garmin striker 4 units laying around, two are normal striker 4s, one is a striker 4+ and the other is a striker 4cv. The 4+ and 4cv are both taller than the normal 4s are, the 4cv has much better resolution than the 4 and 4+ models, but it has a massive transducer that sticks off the back of the boat. The 4 and 4+ have small transducers that wont get in the way of anything on the back of the boat.

These units also have the ability to be semi-flush mounted, so I want to mount one into the dash to the right of the steering wheel. Im not going to use the 4cv due to the size of the transducer, so I get to choose between the 4 and the 4+. The 4 fits really nice with ample space on the top and bottom, the 4+ fits perfect into the allotted space, but im not sure if the space on top and bottom will look funny. So, I am going to make a template for the 4+ and see how the regular 4 fits into it. If the smaller unit fits the bigger units hole and still cover the hole then I will probably just cut the bigger hole so I can swap them to see what version I like better.

Best to do this stuff now before gelcoating, if I end up hating it then its quick and easy to fill in the hole.


Striker 4


Striker 4+/cv


Backside of striker 4+/cv


This is how the last owner had a striker 4 mounted just on top of the dash.

 

Showing how semi-flush the unit sits on when mounted. Also looks like the 4 model in the 4+ hole is a no go as the screw holes are on the inside of the cuts so screwing it on securely would be a bit of a pain.

So, I guess I need to decide what version I want in there. I did order the flush mounting kit for both units. They were $10 each, comes with template, screws, and gasket. That should be here in a few days.

The 4 and 4+ are functionally the same, just one has a slightly larger screen. So I wont gain or lose anything by choosing one over the other.



Striker 4 in a 4+ hole


Striker 4+ in a 4+ hole

 

Just ordered my radio! I got the fusion panel radio, nice and simple, no speakers to install, no wires to run, just put in the glove box hole and hook up power.

That was pretty much the last of the parts needed, I still need to make the rear bench, front loungers, and trim panels, but those shouldnt take much to do.

 

Got some more of my power distribution system today, now just waiting on the giant on off switches for each battery.

Left 4 are all grounding blocks, right side are all fuse blocks. So in the back there will be 2 big fuses, and 2 big ground blocks. The 10 screw ground and 8 screw fuse block will be under the dash, and the 5 screw ground and 4 fuse block will be in the back

I do need to figure out where I can mount some of this stuff in the back. I dont want to screw it into the transom or support beams. I might fiberglass a wood panel back there that I can mount all this stuff to.

 

And I fell off the boat.... I mixed up a plate of filler, started climbing up over the transom to get back in. Lost my grip and landed back first into a 3 ton floor jack.
But I finished filling the more spots before coming back inside. Think im done for the day here, we will see how I feel tomorrow. At 40 years old, my body just doesnt recover from falls as easy as it used to.

 

Can't like that, hope you get lucky with no damage.

You aren't kidding about slow healing, it just takes longer & longer.

As I got older falls have developed into my biggest fear.

 

Just got shipping notification for my radio! Should be here sunday. So, I will get ready to cut the dash hole for the radio when it shows up, I also want to test it out see how it sounds. Thinking I will make a quick video demo/review for the thing as there little to no info/pictures of the radio online.

Flush mount stuff for the sonar will be here next week so I can get to cutting that hole too.

All unwanted holes are now filled on the boat and ready. Just need to get the boat pulled out so I can finish sanding the sides of the hull and need to put another layer of filler down on the splashwell and also block the backside of the transom. My air sander also showed up today, so I need to warm up the air compressor and get that running.

 

Welp, looks like my air sander is DOA. Ill have to drive it down to northern tool where I ordered it from for a return. If they dont have another one, Ill swing by harbor freight and grab one of theirs

EDIT: Took the side panel off the sander to see whats going on in there. Its got a broken tooth thats jammed up in the gearing. So yeah, its toast right out of the box.

 

I did put another layer of filler on the splash well in anticipation of having the sander going, but I screwed up by mixing the filler right there on the splash well, so it ended up giving me a 5 inch square blob of uncured filler. I scraped out the bad filler and blocked the whole thing by hand, then mixed up another batch of filler, I put a skim coat on the whole thing, then using my large putty knife I was able to fill in the remaining low spots I found after blocking. I've got the heater running right at the splash well right now, hoping to be blocking it tomorrow afternoon then finishing the sides going up the splash well.



This is the floor jack I landed on, there was a tub of fumed silica (cabosil) right next to it. Just glad I didnt land on that as it would of made a cloud of toxic particles around me.


And a bonus picture of one of my succulents thats blooming

 

Well a couple of bruises have shown up, but feeling surprisingly spry for falling 5 feet on a floor jack. So, heading off this morning to return my sander and pick up a new one. Then getting the splash well done today.

 

New air sander working great, I blocked out the whole splashwell pretty level, still some low spots, so I will continue blocking it until I either hit fiberglass or its all flat. The less filler the better, so I dont want to add anymore at this point.

 

Blocked down to fiberglass, still some slight low spots on the left and right sides. So I will fill those along with filler on the sides of the splash well to smooth that out. I blocked a little bit of the rear corners, those were actually pretty wavy from the hand blocking, but that makes sense as its hard to get perfect lines with the hand block. You dont have as much control with the hand blocks as you do with the air powered one.

Im excited to get the whole boat blocked with this thing, if the lines are perfect, the gelcoat can be buffed to a mirror finish with no waves in it.



Checking the straightness with some aluminum extrusion, dead on straight!

 

You have really paid your dues on this project doing all the heavy crap work.

Now it starts getting exciting when you can see it getting closer to finished every day!
I'm excited too - and all I did was follow along.

 

Its taking so much restraint right now to not just go pick up black gelcoat and spray it down to see the top done. I know the longer I wait to gelcoat, the better I can get the body work, resulting in a better gelcoat finish.

 

Splashwell is done to my satisfaction. Its not perfect, but every time you fix one thing you end up messing up another. So I feel it has the least amount of flaws that can easily be covered up with slightly thicker gelcoat layers.

So now I just need to finish sanding the outer sides of resin, then block those areas. I already blocked most of the top with the air block, once its all blocked I will be putting down a guide coat. Its a fine powder that sticks to the surface, as you sand the coating goes away but will stay in low spots until its been sanded. This should help me get the surface perfect and flat.

Since it looks like I will be wrapping up the sanding a little sooner than the weather will be good enough to spray gelcoat, Im going to start building the rear bench seat and side trim panels.

 

"every time you fix one thing you end up messing up another"

^^^^^^^^^^^

Story of my life in twelve words right there.