1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

I thought about that, since my hair is so gray now, I figured the black gelcoat all over it would darken it up, make me look younger.

 

Hahaha Like Just4Men but lasts longer!

 

Man, I am just buzzing with excitement over getting the bottom of the hull done! Not buzzing from the gelcoat fumes, I had a chemical mask to breath through.

 

Alright, I need to make a to-do list now that I can start after the top gelcoat is down. This is the order I plan to do these things in, I feel it makes the most sense. Some of the things near the end of the list are not required items to get the boat on the water, but need to be done

• Carpet

1. 1. Main deck
   2. Stairs

• Wiring

1. 1. Nav light
   2. anchor light
   3. radio
   4. fuse panels
   5. batteries
   6. gauges
   7. bilge pump
   8. aux/usb charge port
   9. main engine harness

• Gauges
• Radio
• Throttle/shift cables
• Nav/anchor lights
• Drain hole/plug
• Rear bench seat
• Side trim panels
• Front lounge seats

 

Alright, the gelcoat is cured, but I want to let it sit over night before I put it down on the trailer, so it is going to stay in the air. Trying to decide if I want to replace the bunks now to put the fresh gelcoat on clean new bunks, or if I should just lay some plastic over the bunks and put the boat on them. I am leaning more to replacing the bunks now while the boat is in the air for awhile. I will have to remove the bunks again later when I paint the trailer, but fresh bolts come off much better than rusty crusty old ones.

Also a couple more glamor shots of the gelcoat (the poor looking finish is actually the PVA that I sprayed on to seal it, that stuff just rinses off)

 

Alright, morning has come and I checked the gelcoat. Rock solid finish. So I am going to go buy new bunk mounts on my lunch break, then go get some 2x4s and carpet after work. Fresh clean new bunks will go on tonight, but before I put he boat down on the trailer I need to wash off the PVA and inspect the gelcoat under it.

Once the boat is back on the trailer I need to pull up my plastic wrap from the top so I can get the transom and bow eyes off and gelcoat the front and rear.

 

Good choice to replace the bunks now instead of later.

 

Speaking of, I got the new bunk mounts, they are about half an inch lower than the old ones. Im still going to try to use them, but they might not work. I got the 8 inch ones, the next step up the store had in stock was 12 inches, so way too long. So if these dont work then I might have to do some driving to find a set that will work.

 

Last owner didnt have the right bolts, but had a bunch of spare box wrenches... Front and rear on the right side had a total of 4 wrenches used as spacers.

 

Looks like at least 1 of them is a USA made Craftsman, not the worst thing in the world.

 

Well, that is ... original...

 

Decided to do a little wet sanding to see how it cleaned up the finish on the sides.... yeah, thats going to look real nice! Took me about 15 minutes with the hand sander and hand polishing, but it should go much faster when I put the power tools to work.
You can see I need to sand a bit more there to get all the spots.

Since I am not going to gelcoat the topside until the weekend, I am going to use this week to wet sand out the sides. Not going to go down under the hull, just going to do the sides you can see.

 

Just spent about 30 minutes sanding on one side with the DA running 1000 grit, got about half of the top edge down pretty good, needs a little more work. Not really sure what happened on these sides, but they have all this solvent pop marks, but the rest of the bottom doesnt have it, just the sides.

But Ive decide I am going to sand down to the second set of ribs. This will give everything above water a nice gloss and everything below water a nice thick coat.

 

Dropped down to 800 grit and hit it with the DA for a little bit. Cutting much better, going to try and see if the rubbing compound can shine up 800 grit, if not then I will bump up to 1000 and try again, then up to 1500, 2000, 5000, until I can get the shine I want.

 

Not perfect, but it looks pretty damn good for my first gelcoat job.

 

NICE!

 

Looking sharp!

First job
From all you have done & the excellent explanations along the way I thought you had done all this before.

 

Ive done everything but gelcoat in the past. But I usually spend 2 days researching and learning each step before I even start it.


I think after I finish this, im going to use the extra supplies I have to build a sweet custom subwoofer box for my truck.

 

....or just buy another project boat.

 

Yeah, there is that thought too....
If I can find a hydrostream hustler, I am going to buy it and make a mini clone of my boat with it.

https://hydrostream.com/pages/hydrostream-hustler