1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

Sanding sanding more sanding, and more sanding..... Im so burnt out on sanding... but so close to being done with sanding.

Also got to do my taxes this morning... turns out my wife has not been paying her taxes on her paychecks... so my big refund turned into me owing money

 

No likes for that...
I can respect the sanding drudgery - I'm both lazy & impatient, a bad combination for sanding...

Sorry about the tax issue:

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and finally
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This year was better than the other year though. My wife collected unemployment during the pandemic as the schools were closed. Well she didnt take out any taxes for that so my $3000 refund turned into a $5000 bill. This year my $3000 refund turned into a $700 bill... so not as bad But she paid $9.43 in federal taxes this year. When I saw that number I nearly shit myself.

My hands are buzzing from the heat gun and the sander. But the heat gun is making short work of the paint on the underside, ive gotten it down to a science now and can strip just the layer of paint off without hitting the gelcoat under it.

 

ok, left side is 100% done, bottom pad is 100% done, little more paint on the right side to take off and I can finish sanding the right side. Then I get to start mixing up filler to get everything smooth and level. There are a fair amount of nicks and chips in on the ribs under the boat, so I will have to spend some time marking out every bit that needs to be filled. Going to be a long week of filling and sanding.

 

ok, Im done for the day. Not finished, but im done. I will keep going this week on my lunch breaks until I get the bottom done.
My motivation is dwindling on this boat though. Sanding is such a dull thing, you sand and sand and you dont notice any progress. I only have a little bit left to sand, but the unsanded parts look the same as the sanded parts.... at least when I was doing the inside of the boat I had milestones (floor, transom, ect) that showed progress.

The worst part right now is just removing the old repair the last owner did. Fiberglass is incredibly hard stuff and it burns down sanding discs really fast.

I think once I get filler down and start sanding that my motivation will return as I start seeing progress again.

Also, I think I am going to cut open the float pods and finish clearing out the foam from them. I have a bunch of extra resin that wont get used, so I might aswell clear out the pods.

 

Understand about the mid-project loss of energy, then suddenly you realize you are on the short side of the to-do list and the power comes back of full force.

You have seriously busted @$$ on this boat all winter, just a little bit more and you will have it finished on the trailer for the neighbors to admire.

 

Really I dont have much left.
Finish sanding right side of boat
Gelcoat
Install motor

Then its just some misc things that are not needed but I do want to finish. Carpet, rear bench, front loungers, gauges, radio. These things are quick and easy to do since I took the time to get everything ready before hand.

I think first time out I will have everything but the rear bench seat done. I want to keep the rear deck clear so I can get to the motor, fuel and batteries. Also I want to do some fishing off the back, so without the rear seats I have tons of space back there.

 

I always seem to get more annoyed by the little unexpected stuff when I'm in the home stretch of a project. I think it's because you can see the end and just want to get it done.

 

Yep, the end is close, I can see it. Stripping this old fiberglass repair is turning out to be a bigger pain in the ass than the inside was. The inside stuff I was able to just cut out and replace, but this I have to carefully strip out and damage as little as possible.

I also think this is more of a pain because I have to lift the boat off the trailer each time to work on it. The inside of the boat I was able to just hop in, work, then stop when ever I wanted.

 

Agreed. It's always much worse undoing a past "repair" done wrong then just fixing damage that hasn't been touched yet. I had a 1967 Mercury Cougar back in the day that someone had "fixed" the left rear quarter on. Turned out that it was caved in 6"-8" across most of the panel. They used shredded newspaper and bondo to just fill the panel. They never even took the time to try and knock it back out a bit! LOL Unfortunately for me the bondo stew was stuck really well so I had to grind it all out. I think I cursed them the whole 2 days while grinding! LOL

 

They sort of did you a favor, it would be more difficult to repair it properly if they took after it with a 4 pound hammer before the Bondo job.

The early Cougar was a classy looking car.
With hidden headlights, sequential taillights and Thunderbird styled interior it looked way above the price point and Mustang parentage.

 

Good point and beautiful car!

 

Im finally done cleaning off the old fiberglass repair! its all just sanding the old gelcoat now and that should take maybe an hour to do. Then I can lay down the filler and do more sanding! So tomorrow will be filling with what I have, picking up more filler and gelcoat and getting ready to finally spray this thing.

After getting that last bit of old glass off my motivation is coming back, the light at the end of the tunnel is only a few steps away.

 

Since I am getting close to this being done, I have been looking up traditional ways to christen my boat. I found a great write up with all the steps, and even the speech you need to give when toasting the boat.

So, I am going to have a ceremony right there in the street of my neighborhood to bless the boat for its maiden voyage. Going to invite the neighbors to join and get my kids involved.

https://www.hashtagboatlife.com/christen-your-boat/

 

That will be awesome!

 

One picture today, but my DA sander finally kicked the bucket. Not bad for a cheap hart sander, thing lasted nearly to the end. Ill have to go pick up another one tonight from walmart.

Here is the pad after its been all cleaned up, couple of marks that need to be filled and then sanded down. I also found a crack in the trailer, its on the cross beam to the right in the picture where its welded to the frame. Quick easy fix with my welder on that one though.

 

Great idea!! Any chance you could live stream for your virtual friends?

 

Im sure I could do something, I can setup a camera on the back of my truck to film it all.

 

This is a cool idea!

I feel like the neighbor who has sauntered over every night to see what you have gotten done.

This has been a great winter project to follow.

I have learned a lot too!!

 

First layer of filler on the right side of the hull is down. Going to let it cure then I will start sanding again, I am doing the filler in stages, so there are spots that have no filler, spots that have not enough filler and spots with just enough filler. This will allow me to sand the filler, if a spot needs more I can add more to it when I fill the spots that have no filler. Doing it this way results in the least amount of wasted filler as when the filler starts kicking off, I can quickly spread it over a spot with no filler and not worry about being perfect with the application.

So, the spots on the right side that needed filler ended up being 4 screw holes, the patches on the keel, a couple of dock rash marks, and where they loaded the trailer wrong and the fender rubbed the fiberglass pretty good. Also a bunch of misc scratches and chips in the gelcoat.

I went over the whole bottom with 60 grit, when I sand this filler I will be switching over to 80 grit and sanding over the entire bottom again.