1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

No pictures because it looks the same as the picture above, just slightly darker. But today I bed the core down and brushed a layer of resin onto the top today. All thats left now is the stringers and glassing in the floor (upper core gets glassed in with the floor). Then I can move on to sanding the entire hull and building the rear bench seat frame.

 

Small update today, Ground down the edges where the core meets the old fiberglass so I get a good bond when I put the new glass in.
Also found a guy with some 1980s attwood nav lights, he is going to give them to me for free (mine was missing the 360 light in the back)

Otherwise my day was spent cleaning leaves, putting up christmas lights, and putting my winch back in the bed of my truck for ice fishing season (It pulls my heavy ass sled up a ramp into the bed)

 

Upper core half glassed in, stringer is shaped and ready for when the resin comes in.
Whats left is to glass the stringer, put the floor down, glass the floor and upper core. Then I need to pull the motor off and check the transom, it sounds pretty solid, and it doesnt move when I stand on the motor. If the transom is good then I just need to build the rear section of floor.

 

Getting colder out, too cold to glass the big chunk of floor in the driveway so Im on hold until this weekend. Im going to put the floor up on a table, then put my ice fishing house over it and pipe in some heat. I just need to seal the underside of the floor and a strip down the top middle.
But in other news, I found a local guy who had a bunch of 1980s nav light mounts for free. Last owner of my boat took the anchor light mount with them and just left a hole there. I tried to find a brand new one, but they all fit like trash.
So here is the brand new one



And here is the 1980s one I got today. Fits into the indentation in the hull so much better.

 

Little bit of brasso and the chrome is clean on these light mounts.



Final test fit of the floor before I seal it and make it ready for when the stringer is done. Rear section is staying out for now until the transom is sorted out, but the rear is also going to be made from 3/4 inch plywood since thats where the batteries and fuel tank will be sitting.

 

Too cold out today to glass in the garage, so using my ice fishing gear I set up a heated tent. I glassed the underside of the flooring to seal it all up, trimmed it flush, and its all ready now for when I need to put the floor in.

 

While I am waiting for the foam safe resin I started working on cleaning up the front half of the boat. Last owner sprayed rubberized coating on both sides around the silver parts, then they covered it in polyester resin. They even covered the registration stickers with polyester resin.... So I got to sanding and got a decent amount of it cleaned up. Once I get the whole top half cleaned up I will block sand it, put on epoxy primer, block it again, then epoxy it again.

Also started removing the trim panels and the carpet in the front. The carpet was screwed down for some reason, so that was a pain as they all were rusted out and probably were leaking a ton of water into the hull every time it rained. Under the carpet I found 2 more holes cut. The top one will be a easy fix, just going to put some HDPE (plastic cutting board) behind the hole, then using 1808 fiberglass I will build up the area so its nice and fixed.
The bottom hole used to have some plywood under it, the plywood was not sealed so it rotted out. Going to trim the top out to a 10x14 hole, then cut some 1/2 plywood to 10x14. Wrapping the plywood in fiberglass mat and resin I can drop the panel down onto the shelf that remains from where there was fiberglass on the bottom of the wood. Then again using 1808 I can build up the layers till its perfect.

I removed the front tow hook, and need to remove the front cleats, but first I need to figure out how to gain access to the backsides of them. They are both installed before they glue the 2 halves of the hull together. Since I need to paint, I cant put these parts back on until I paint, but I cant paint till all the holes are fiberglassed up. I think my best bet is going to be cutting holes under the lounger areas. There will be a seat on top of the holes when the inside is done, so it wont be open.

 

Minor update today. Fixed one of the holes up front and glassed one side of the front bulkhead to the hull. The hole is backed with HDPE, nothing sticks to that stuff so I should be able to just smack it and it will fall off into the hull where I can pull it out.

 

Clever trick ^^^

Really enjoying this rebuild, I have often toyed with the idea of getting a boat to fix up sit in the yard...

In addition to my never getting it done I don't like the water.

 

Thanks! The backing is actually already starting to pop off just from me walking on the deck around the patch. I got all my plywood cut to make the bottom hole patch, but I dont want to do it until the HDPE backer pops off. So tomorrow I will have that patch done.

Yeah, I have to get this thing done, its costing me $115 a month to store the car that used to be parked in the garage.

 

Just need to block it flat and the front hole is fixed. I ended up having to use some of the filler on some spots I hit with the grinder while cutting the front cleats off. They are bolted from the inside where I couldnt get to the nuts, so we cut them off. Im trying to decide if I want cleats or not, they are handy, but if my kids are jumping off the sides I dont want them tripping or getting caught on them.

Big bottom hole will be glassed in tonight after the top hole is cured.

 

Smoothed out the front part, going to glass in the lower hole tomorrow. I wanted to do it today, but didnt end up having the time. Also I am down to my last 16oz of resin, so I will have to go up to the fiberglass store and pick up a couple more gallons, also might pick up 2 gallons of black gelcoat. Im going to use the "roll and tip" method to apply the black gelcoat to the top half of the hull soon (bottom half is not even close to being ready for gelcoat). The clear/glitter layer of gelcoat will be sprayed, but the black backing can just be rolled since I will be block sanding it between coats to make sure its glass smooth.

 

Did some interior stuff this morning, started pulling the vinyl off some of the panels that are still on the boat. This is the wood the last owner used for the backrest of the lounger seats.... its high density fiberboard... thats just compressed saw dust. Well its soaked, its soft like a sponge, the boat has been in the garage for 2 months and this panel still drips water.

 

That stuff rots when it gets humid outside, hard to believe someone would use it on a boat.

 

For real. I question alot of things the last owner did. They put in a ton of work, but all of it was done wrong, with the wrong materials, or just without proper prep work.

 

He was a "do it" guy, not a thinker.

 

I do really wish I had some history on the boat. Who did the last work on the motor, because if it was the same person who did the fiberglass work then im going to give up on the motor right now and buy a new one.

Im assuming the guy that did the fiberglass work is the one who "fixed" the spark plug wires with some lock washers and good vibes. But I want to know who did the ign modules and rewire.

 

Just when you think you have seen it all...

 

You want to see it all, just come take a tour of this boat.... here is their "fix" for bending the winch tower on the trailer. Instead of replacing it, they just booger welded the spots that the metal broke... they didnt even try to bend it straight. The boat didnt touch the front roller, it would rest on the winch so the bow eye is all jacked up. That part is in the trash can now, I will get a new one in the spring.

Trailer is going to take a full refinishing itself to be road worthy again. New axle (its bent) new leafs, new rollers, new bunks (the bunks have box wrenches used as spacers), new wiring and lights, pretty much everything that is not welded to the trailer needs to be replaced, even some of the welded things need to be removed and replaced too.

 

Lower hole has been plugged. 4 layers of chop mat, 4 layers of weave, and some 1/2 marine plywood. Going to let it harden, then I can grind it down a bit, then fill with duraglass filler. and block is smooth.