1980 HydroStream Vamp resto-mod

Probably, you can see the top half of the glass is still there, the bottom half just popped right out from under it.

 

First layer of transom is now a pile on the floor, next layer will require a little more finesse so I dont crack the outer hull. But I should be grinding and cutting the new transom this weekend.

 

"... now a pile on the floor..."
That sounds like so many of my projects - rust in my case.

So the plan is to remove the rotted wood leaving the outer skin attached at the sides & bottom and then bond the new wood to said skin?

This should be interesting, it seems it would be important and difficult to get a tight 100% bond over the surface probably around 60" wide and 24" high.

Are you going to need to make some kind of giant clamping system to press both sides of the transom?

 

So the plan I have in my head is going to rely alot on the colder temps that we are having right now. But I am going to cut the two sheets of 3/4 inch plywood to fit, from there I will mix up some resin and seal both sheets of wood on all sides, once cured I will then mix up thickened resin (cabosil and resin) and a bunch of normal resin. I will put a layer of chop cloth soaked in resin to the inside of the outer skin, then I will spread a bunch of thickened resin along the bottom edge. I will put 1 sheet of wood onto the transom, then roll out another layer of chop mat onto that wood. I will add the second sheet of wood onto that mat (making a sandwich). I will smooth out the thickened resin along the bottom edge and apply it to the sides too.

While its all still wet I will put clamps and 2x6 beams of wood to squeeze the parts together. I need to get some big clamps that can go down far enough to make sure I have equal clamping. Some people use long wood screws and just run them right through the outer skin into the 2 layers of wood to pull it all together, but I would rather not add more holes to the outer skin for me to fix.

So it will be outer skin -> chop mat -> plywood -> chop mat -> plywood -> 1 layer of 1808 fiberglass (very heavy duty cloth). The 1808 will go on after the whole thing has cured so I can clamp it without the clamps sticking.

I will add another layer of 1808 when I put in the rear part of the floor to bond the floor to the transom.

 

Excellent explanation!

Seeing as you mentioned colder temperatures first thing I'm assuming that you can slow the reaction down some with the catalyst type but there isn't a way to get say a 2 hour working time.

I had to go back and look at the first pictures -- that motor well looks to be about 18" deep, this must be a pain in the @$$ to get to the transom wood.

Part 2: It is going to be a pig to clamp too, needing both long reach and deep throat clamps. This is going to be interesting.

 

I should be able to get about 1 hour of working time with the resin, that should be enough time for me to get the parts on and the clamps tight. Once the part it all set though, I will want to get the heat onto it so it will cure correctly. Without the first heat up it wont ever set and you just end up with a gooey mess that needs to be pulled out.

 

Well this is disappointing, while getting the transom out, I ended up needing to remove the back half of the float boxes as the transom goes further than I had thought. Well, there is core under the float box (despite there not supposed to be). So guess Im going to pull some more core out to do some more core. Im going to start in the back, and only cut as much as I need to for the float box.

But float foam is not fun to get out, its a long time consuming job.

 

Ok, this is stupid, but its working.... The transom goes all the way to the sides, so I cut off the back half of the boat to get it out. Looks like there is a 3/4 sheet that goes the full length, then a 3/4 sheet that does just the middle.

 

WOW...

I just can't like those last two posts...


Cutting the shiny side apart :

I could work 500 hours and never have it looking right again.

 

The folks on the facebook group are skeptical that I can get this up and working without the hull cracking. But after inspecting all the support beams that hold this stuff together, the parts I cut off are not structural, but there are support beams that were under them that I cut off, they all say that those support beams are what are going to hold the transom near the top, what they dont realize is that I would have to cut and replace those beams even without removing the caps like I ended up doing. I will be replacing those beams all the way up to the mid point of the hull and actually fiberglassing them in (factory only fiberglassed that back part of the support beam to the top of the hull, and they didnt even fiberglass it to the transom).

So first order of business is to finish removing the foam from the rear float pods, the foam on the under side of the top hull, and then clean up the transom and floor where the transom mounts.

After those things are done I will be cutting the transom and start glassing it in, using ratchet straps to pull the assembly to where the top caps will line up. Once the transom is bonded to the hull I can cut and remove the forward support beams and measure the new ones. I need the new ones to be bonded right to the transom then to the top of the hull (this is the part that the facebook group is concerned about cracking). Then I can rebuild the rear sections of the float pods, these need to be bonded to the transom also.

After I have the transom 100% glassed and bonded to the support beams and float pods I can start putting the corner caps back on, I will just be tabbing (small strips of fiberglass) the caps on for now, I will bond the support beams to the caps once my tabs are cured. Then all thats left is to rebuild the splash well and the top cap of the transom.

Now onto more carnage!

Here is the left side of the transom that was under the cap.


Transom all removed




Here are the forward support beams that I need to cut out and replace to bond to the transom, you can see they only fiberglassed a small part of the beams. I will also be replacing the cross beams and actually fiberglassing those to the hull and the forward beams.

 

I made a video to explain my repairs to the haters on the facebook group, Ill share it with you all too as it has some good info on how I am doing my transom and why I did such a unconventional way of removing it.

 

Good video, it makes the plan easier to follow.

When you really dive into a boat like this it is amazing how many times you say things like "barely attached" or "poorly glassed".
Then you start thinking how much force is on the transom when you crack open the throttle on a big engine.

 

Most things have amazingly poor build quality. If you have ever worked on a motorhome or camper, you will see those things are held together with the scrap bin from the local hardware store.

Boats are built to last just long enough for it to be paid off and out of warranty.

 

All cleaned up, going to make my template tonight and get the transom cut and fit tomorrow.

 

Campers & motorhomes = "Sticks & Staples"

At one point I was interested in buying one:
1) I read up on all the issues, they fall apart just sitting in the driveway
2) On a scale of 1 to 10 Mrs Greens interest in camping is a negative 7

In the interest of harmony I decided it was smarter to waste my money elsewhere.

 

Making the transom template, I used cabinet shims, they are long thin pressed cardboard strips. Then transfered to some wood, then I used the router to copy the master onto 2 more sheets. I test fit everything and to make fun of some jackass on facebook I put a 4hp motor on there

 

The large void areas in the corners will be filled with foam?

 

Yes'ish. Stock they come filled with foam, but they are not sealed so when you stop the boat, water would flood into them through the bump rail leaks, this then caused the water to migrate into the transom and help the whole thing rot out.

So, my plan is to grind and cap them with fiberglass so they are water tight, then I will drill a hole in the top and put pour foam inside. Once the foam has done its thing I will put the 1 inch hole I cut out back in and fiberglass it over. This should make sure those never collect water again.

But before I do any of that, I am going to reinforce those areas with a few layers of fiberglass, I will be putting a swim platform on the back, and there is a chance I will need to mount it onto that. I am hoping I can do the swim platform just with the transom and some creative welding of the mounts.

 

I looked at some pictures of the rear of the boat, that void is just byproduct of the style I guess.


Erik this summer:

 

Got one of the lateral support beams out today, it was held on in only a few places, but it was swamped in 6 inches of pour foam.

New beams will be cut once I get both sides out and the surfaces cleaned up. The new version of the beam will the same as most boats use on the floor. Its called a knee, and its pretty much just a giant L shaped beam, the long side connects to the hull, and the short side connects to the transom. So the factory version only had 4 inches of contact with the transom, the new version will have way more of contact.

Here is a picture of some scrap I test fit in there, and how the cap just sits over it.