Vector Hulls

[BOTTOMS UP SERVICE]

HERE IS A SNEEK PEEK AT THE DECK FOR THE BROCHURE BOAT. VECTOR PAT WAS NICE ENOUGH TO RESIZE MY PHOTO'S. HATS OFF TO HIM. BROCHURE'S GOING SLOW BUT I WANT THEM RIGHT. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR PATIENCE.

BILL/PROWLER

[vector mike]

Can you post a pic for those of us that don't have the capability of unzipping those files? :(

[boataddict26]

Has any one be able to open this? My win Zip says that it is not a reconizable arcive.

[VectorPat]

Here it is

[VectorPat]

Another...

[thumper]

but how much does it weigh??????

[VectorPat]

They are not copies...He said he has the original molds..

[Doubledog]

After taking my foot out of my mouth , I'll say that those are some great looking hulls:) Impressed none the least. How do I get on your mailing list for a brochure?

[175checkmate]

Very nice.
If they are from the original molds, what has been done to adress the delamination probem the vectors seem to have?

[BOTTOMS UP SERVICE]

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
DELAMAINATION IS ONLY CAUSED BY MAJOR IMPACT OR A LAMINATION PROBLEM WHEN THE BOAT IS BUILT. A FRIDAY SKINNED BOAT IS BULKED ON MONDAY AND THE ADHESION WINDOW IS LOST. DO YOU THINK THEY GROUND? NO WAY, I HAVE BEEN DOING FIBERGLASS REPAIRS FOR 18 YEARS FOR MANY MAJOR MANUFACTURERS, AND PRODUCEING CUSTOM BOATS SINCE 1992 AND THE ONLY WAY THAT A BOAT DELAMINATES IS IF IT IS LAMINATED WRONG OR IN AN ACCIDENT, OR RAMMED ON A TRAILER 95 TIMES, ETC. ETC.

ALL OF THESE BOATS ARE PRODUCED CORRECTLY AND WILL NOT DELAMINATE.

BILL/PROWLER:D

[175checkmate]

Then I guess the problem was addressed. There was no intention to offend you or the boats you build. Sorry if it came across that way.

[nelsoncat]

Do these decks take the original windshield?

Nelsoncat

[vector mike]

I still havn't seen a price on this yet and where do you have to go to get one? :)

[boataddict26]

Very nice looking!!

[sho305]

Are these the ones talked about a couple months ago for $4k & change for a bare hull? Can you post info here?

[woodco]

Would like to know price , wieght and availability ??????

As for the delamination ...... I have never had that problem or
had a customer address that issue . So I don't think it's hereditary
to the Vector hull. But I may be wrong ....... Would like to hear
more feedback on this issue.

Definately a great lookin hull !!!!!!! ;)

[rong56345]

I owned two origional Hydrostream Varmit bass boats. These boats were great to drive, and never had any de-lamination problems. I put some pretty good power on them. Merc 2.4 with nitrous, and 2.6Liter OMC Big block. They ran in the 90's . Great little boats. Switched to Allison 2002. Ron Green.

[Instigator]

boat boy is correct about its cause.
As a Vector owner ('77) I can tell you from first hand experience what makes em delaminate and this is true for all Streams not just Vectors.
They were pcs of ****!!
This guy is exactly right.
Here's what happened. The original Streams had good mold work and therefor good decks and hulls but that's where it stopped.
When I re-cored mine, I pulled the plywood battery tray out and found it setting on bare balsa core!!
Some of the laminate on top of the core was totally dry, as in no freakin resin!!
Pipkorn (oriiginal Stream co. owner) put all his time and money into design and mold work.
Then he hired some drunks to build the GD things.
If done properlly and taken care of, they should last for ever.
The second part of what BB said is also true.
An impact that fractures the outter skin will also do it.
The outter hull on mine was very, very thing and you could see many of these previous impacts from its earlier life.
What happens is then the water penetrates the hull and starts to saturate the core. That was the majority of what happen'd to mine. Problem with this is too, you never even know it's happening since happens very slowly and over years.
Also BB alluded to the "adhesion" window. What this means is you only have I think (??) two days to glass to glass you already put down. If you do it within this time frame it is a "chemical" bond meaing that it becomes one with the previous glass you put down.
If you miss that time window (as I do while fighting the weather here in Ohio) , it is only a "mechanical" bond. That's why you have to grind some texture into the earlier laid glass and the new resin attaches to these groves/teeth that you made with the grinder.
But, it remains as two pcs. You are basically glueing to the earlier laid glass vs making it a "part of" as you would if you did it while that resin was still curing.
As far as weight I am curious to see my self. Being a custom/low volume builder I would guess he could build you a napkin weight boat if you wanted him to.
I know one thing for sure.
If I had it to do over again, I'd buy a new boat. For the time and money I have in my pc of **** out in the garage, I could have bought one of these new boats and picked it up when it was done!
Kinda funny too cause Brad Collins was at my house and talking to BB on the phone when they both hit me up about buying a new boat from him.
If I did'nt already have a bunch of money and a bazillion hours in mine, I would have done it.
The deck looks great by the way. Keep up the good work and keep us posted as to your progress.
I was serious about you bringing it to the Rumble, would be the perfect place to show it off.
Thanx
Gary

[MirageBts]

Boat Boy & Instigator are both correct.

Actually with todays resins, you only have a 24 hour window that you should continue laminating. If a boat sits in the mold a few days and then they continue to build it, it does not mean it will delaminate or be a pile of crap -- as long as before they begin to laminate on it again they scuff the entire bonding surface very well. With todays resins, many of the resin makers use surfacing agents (to help reduce styrene emissions) and use less styrene ( which helps resin to etch into the previous laminate.

[Fl Boy in ILL]

I am a survivor of a Vector delaminating, a little history. I bought the boat used, it had always been overpowered, it had always been driven hard with big HP motors(for those days) the boat was ~13 years old when it came apart it came with no warning as I was stesting for a race the next week running very hard with a 2.4 BP as I bumped the trim down it came apart very hard. I am lucky because 1. I was wearing my Lifeline jacket with all the straps on place. 2. there where others around to pull me out of the water and take me to a hospital, 3. GOD was looking out for me!!!!!!!

When it happened I didn't know what or why it happened I was just feeling lucky to be alive, when I looked at it later that night it looked like a bomb went off on the left side of the boat.

From what i can tell as I bumped the trim down the boat came back into the water and opened a crack just behind and to the left side of the drivers seat, I was running close to 100 or just over, this ripped the whole left side of the boat out causing the water to rush in and hit the transom stopping the boat while I continued to travel at close to 100, I was thrown over the dash through the windshield and skipped across the water quite some distance from the boat braking ribs on the first impact with the water.

Whos fault MINE and who knows who elses, yes they will delaminate. I drove a Vector several months after this happened and didn't think about it, when I got back in after running 90 with 2 of us in the boat I realised i was OK and started looking for another boat. I wish I had a scanner to show the pictures it truely looks like a bomb did the damage.

Just my story but a true one.

Rick

[woodco]

I remember you posting about that .... Do you still have the pic's
of the boat ???? From what I remember it was nasty lookin !!!

Glad yur still here with us ..... :)

[sho305]

I suppose the things could break down after all those pounding miles, and years and years of it. Then they are a light layup to start with. Anything that flexes only does it so many times... then it breaks.:rolleyes: Guess we need to keep an eye on those older hulls, or ones of questionable quality.

[B.Mac]

it took a while to learn to drive it....and I could'nt wait to find somebody to challenge in the Sarasota Bay. I happened upon a an Action/ 2.4 BP and pulled up along side him and gunned it..:eek: I was a very novice high speed boater (actually an accident looking to happen) Well we both ran neck and neck in the flat (ICW) water at mid 80's and he was gaining on me in my peripheal vision.......then we hit the open bay chop with 1'- 2' chop and I was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog to beat SOMEBODY....ANYBODY and I would not back out of it. I thank God the Action guy was an experianced boater and decided not to push the envelope.....he backed off after seeing me launch 4'-6' out of the water......

Well the Action guy waved me off and me and my stupid-as-I-was-friend came down off plane heading for the Public Boat launch (two miles away) feeling like I had nads of titanium. Well I was broadside to the wave pattern and got picked up by a three footer and dropped into a trough right on my potato chip thin skinned Starboard bow and it cracked open like an egg......water was gushing in this two foot long crack.....I instinctively gunned it to get her up on plane and the nose out of the water.......I had zero flotation and made a bee line for the normally very crowded saturday public launch...... as usual there were dozens of boats being launched and trailered while everybody is cursing each other out and shaking fists at each other about "courtesy" when me and my bud come flying through at 50 MPH right through the middlle of 'em all and six feet up onto the concrete ramp:eek: :eek:

Nobody said a sigle word :eek: ...... all activity ceased :confused:

Moral of the story......
1.) Vectors are great lake boats but do not abuse the hulls at all.
2.) How the heck did we all live long enough to learn what NOT to do? I think I know........:D
B.MAC:D

[tdogcarter]

How can we get a brochure, and some contact information.

I am located in the Chicagoland area?

Where are you at?

Trey Carter