1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

Jets and everything inside the carbs are clean, just need to hose out the carbs themselves tomorrow with some carb cleaner and put them back together. I did have to drill out one of the jet cover screws, so I need to find a replacement for that. But also these are my spare carbs, so I will be pulling apart the carbs that are still on the motor and seeing if the parts in those are in better shape. Out of the 4 carbs, I should have at least 1 more good jet cover to use.

 

Boats flying! Real simple to roll it from side to side too.

 

Holy shit this repair is on a new level of crack head... like this repair makes your corner crack head look like a fucking rocket scientist.... There are 2 cracks in the keel, their repair was not to grind them out, but rather to cover them in bondo, cover the bondo with 4oz cloth with no resin, then more bondo, then chop mat with resin, then more bondo, then oil based house paint.... The repair smells like wood glue, the bondo is still soft, bondo is like a sponge, it soaks up water and should never be used on a boat, especially below the water line.

I dont think the human race has much time left to live is this is the type of shit people are doing for repairs... like how have the last owners lived this long without killing themselves or others.

Fuck this is going to set me back some time to get this cleaned up.

 

Wow! That is a mess!

 

Alright, took me about an hour to fix it right.... took longer to clean up the old repair than it did to repair it right the first time.... 7 layers of chop, 1 layer of 1808 structural, 3 more layers of chop. It will get ground down to about 5 layers worth of glass on the edges and the full 11 layers in the repair cracks.

 

I really can't like that -- but I did laugh pretty good at your presentation of it.

 

Since there was no evidence of damage on the inside that should mean the structure of the boat isn't compromised, correct?

 

Right, it should be just fine. Also, the fact that the old repair was working just fine despite how terrible it was, makes me think I could of just spray painted some duct tape and been good.

 

Fiberglass is mostly cured, I put a layer of duraglass over it so it cures all the way over night (have to block off air from the surface for the resin to cure right). Tomorrow I will hit it with the grinder until its close to where it should be, then I will get back onto cleaning off all the glass the last owner put on so I can get the rest of the bottom cleaned up and ready.

After finding the first bit of damage, I was thinking this is going to put me way behind, but looks like it only set me back about 2 days.

 

After spending some time investigating and looking for clues on the hull and trailer to this boats past, I have determined that these "repairs" were all done sometime from 2005-2006. There is resin drips on the trailer frame, they have been covered up with brown spray paint that the trailer was painted with. There is a registration sticker from 2005 that is spray painted over, and a lake sticker from 2007 that is on top of the brown paint. Now there is also a little bit of brown spray paint overspray on the boat.
So this leads me to believe that these repairs somehow lasted nearly 20 years.

 

Scary discovery, for sure. Glad you handled it in 2 days!

 

Then your repair, should last 40+ years!

 

Got to make sure this thing is ready for summer. I told the neighbor wives when I got the boat in october that we are having "a hot girl summer" when I finish it up.

All I need is 10 years out of it, after that the kids will be old enough that I dont have to pull them around in tubes and stuff... then I can get my real fishing boat. I will probably keep this boat for the kids to use when they are older.

 

Pics, or, invitation please.

Hmm, I wonder if I'll be looking for a boat in 10 years?

 

lol, Im sure there will be tons of pictures for the first time out with people.
First time out by my self will be lots of pictures and videos too. I might invite my buddy from up north down for the weekend to give me a hand, he is the only other boat person aside from my dad I trust to be on the water in a untested boat.

I'll tell you one thing, I will never buy a boat thats been "restored" without seeing pictures of the process. I have a album of 351 pictures so far documenting everything I have done.

 

I have been academically looking at boats for sale (remember I don't go anywhere near the water ) and have seen listed "new floor" several times.

After following this build/rebuild, learning quite a bit about boat construction along the way and seeing what is actually involved I would be very suspect about just what is under that "new floor" without a lot of pictures.

 

If you ever want to see what kind of train wreck is under those "new floors", check out the facebook group DIY Boat Builders & Repairs Page. People get a boat, start pulling up the floor and see what horrors are under there and quickly cut new wood and screw it down and cover it with carpet.

 

I was just looking on the DIY facebook page for the most recent train wreck, looks like the person deleted their post, then posted to another group without the offending pictures to make it look like a good repair.

But it was someone replacing the floor, but their stringers were rotten, cut up and falling apart. But they just wood screwed a new sheet of plywood over them. The person didnt fiberglass the wood before screwing it down either, just layed it down and put carpet over it. The floor is going to rot out within a few years and its going to be a nightmare to remove as the screw will of all rusted up.

 

Since the Rapture didnt happen, I'm back on the boat. Grinding out the repairs I made the other day and hitting it with the air block. I need to get the boat back up in the air to finish and get the shape better, but with the rain I cant move some of the things out of the garage to lift the boat up. So, doing what I can now. Im going to see if I can find a thin chisel or something that I can start peeling the old glass off with. Its got just enough of a bond on the hull that it doesnt want to come off by hand, but not enough bond that it wont peel off with a chisel.

 

Agree, 100%. Excellent documentation Erik!