1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

Look at that shine!

 

They look way cool - and easier to fit in the garage too at only 12 feet long.

 

So I put my new bunks on tonight, I need 2.5 inch x 5 inch square u-bolts.... yeah, thats not a easy size to find it seems and every online retailer has horse shit descriptions of the bolts they sell. I got some 3 inch ones, they kinda work for now, there is a half inch gap between the top of the bolt and the top of the beam. Im going to try putting the bunk mounts at an angle and see if there is enough space between the hull and the fenders.

EDIT: just tried out the bunks, yeah, too low. Guess the 12 inch bunk mounts are what I need. So tomorrow I will go grab six 12 inch bunk mounts, do a quick swap and then I can place them in the correct spots while I have the boat in the air.
Also, the bunk mounts need to be angled in the rear and kinda straight in the front to get the bunks to line up right with the hull.

 

Alright, bunks are on and mostly adjusted right. I will have to redo them again when I paint the trailer, but with the boat back on the trailer I can start prepping the topside to spray on saturday.

 

Came across a little problem, but I am glad I caught it now as its easier to solve. So I need to spray the transom and the nose with black gelcoat before I can do the top side. Boat has to be on the trailer for this, but the bunks sick out of the back of the boat a few inches. If I were to just gelcoat it now, I would end up gelcoating the bunks to the bottom of the transom. So, since I still have the transom eyes on, I will be lifting the back of the boat and scooting it back far enough that the bunks are not near the transom. At the same time I can put some plastic sheeting on the bunks to keep the trailer from getting sprayed with gelcoat too.

 

Alright, boat is pushed backward on the trailer, bow and transom eyes are removed, everything is taped off. Going to spray the front and rear in a little bit.

 

Front and rear have now been coated! Letting it sit for about 10 minutes to tack up before I spray on the PVA.

Also, a spider made a home inside my respirator, didnt notice it until I inhaled a few webs.

 

Not real happy with how the transom turned out. Pretty big drips and the PVA caused some issues, so tomorrow I might use the air block and sand it down again and give it another spray. I have plenty of extra black gelcoat, so it should be just fine to have to respray the back again.

But I think I will spray the topside first, get that all done and if I really am still not happy with the transom I will redo it.

 

Topside is all prepped, my son is helping me tape off the bottom half now so I dont get the bottom covered in overspray.

 

Getting closer to the lake every day!

Looking sharp

 

Clear and glitter are on, not sure what the glitter looks like as its a cloudy dull day... so I will have to wait till tomorrow. Waiting on the sides to cure so I can clear the lounge area. I couldnt reach it from the outside, so I have to get inside to do it.

 

Now we let it sit and cure for awhile, then I can start wet sanding the whole thing again... I used a 50:50 mix on the clear coat with duratec, so it should cure without PVA on there. Hoping that actually happens, otherwise I guess I will spray the whole thing with PVA tonight.

 

Alright, nearly 3 hours later and the surface is still tacky.... I just sprayed a bunch of PVA over the whole surface, even though they say its not needed... im not going to be pleased if this shit doesnt harden and im stuck with a mess to clean up.

 

Fresh in the morning, I went out and cleaned off the PVA, gelcoat has cured! I am going to wet sand the whole thing today and get it buffed up to a nice gloss.

 

Ok, so after wet sanding a part of the hull, I have decided I did not put the clear or the glitter on thick enough... not by a long shot. So, I will be wet sanding the whole thing smooth, mixing up the rest of the clear and glitter I have and putting it on until there is nothing left.
But I need to get a new interface pad for my DA real quick first... mine is about 20 years old and just falling apart at this point.

 

New problem, the clear didnt setup right at all, so when I wiped it all down with acetone it turned into a sticky mess. Welp, guess I am going straight black, no sparkle.

 

ok, the whole boat has been painted black again.... but this time I added glitter to the black... not sure what will happen, but the black was not 100% black, it is like a tinted window. So I am hoping the glitter shows through in the sunlight.

 

Its curing! its hard in most places, so looks like we got a working finish on it. Going to wet sand it all out again and buff it tomorrow. Then I get to start wiring and installing gauges and the radio.