Hydropimp911
06-27-2003, 01:20 PM
Saved from the Junk Pile!
By "Boatmender"
Part I: Damage Assessment
Webmaster's note: For the first time, the I.H.R. is bringing you a complete restoration of a hull from start to finish. This Viper was literally thrown away and it will now be brought back to a condition that will be better than new. Chris Brabender, along with help from his brother Paul, will be performing all the work from the initial dismantling to the final paint job. Chris has to his credit over 15 major boat restorations - some much worse than this one - of various make and size boats ranging from small pleasure craft to large offshores to full fledged race boats. The I.H.R. is indebted to Chris for agreeing to document this restoration and sharing his expertise with the rest of us. It gives us all hope for some of those projects out there!
Let me start off by saying that I am not claiming to be an expert on any of the following ideas I will be writing about through out this undertaking. However, I have restored four HydroStreams and a few other types of boats for fun over the years. There are many different ways to skin the Stream; these are some of the methods that have worked for me. When tackling large projects, I break it down into groups of smaller projects and treat each as a goal to finish. Setting small goals makes it much more palatable than trying to tackle the whole concept at once. At the beginning of most of my ventures most people say "what the hell are you going to do with that hunk of crap" only later to chew on those very same words when the job was complete (which by the way is my favorite part).
This 15' viper was given to me off of a junk pile by a friend of a friend. Over the next six months it will be completely restored to better than new condition. Right now I am still in the investigation stages of determining exactly what she needs. But I have a pretty good idea of what we will be doing. So far here's the plan. 1) Strip the hull. which includes removal of the deck, floor, foam floatation, transom, core & stringers . 2) Replace the transom, stringers, core and floor. 3) Replacement of the dash backing & some minor changes 4) deck & hull cosmetics 5) reattaching the deck 6) Refinish (5 color paint job) 7) rigging and interior..
Here are a few pictures of this beauty sitting on the junk pile and some quick observations. In the next part, you will see some good pictures of the deck being removed and other necessary dismantling on our way to attacking this project.
1) Rotted deck (raised floor) which needs to be removed to investigate the core.
2) Deck rot as the result of poor glass coverage and unsealed screws.
3) Unrolled chopped strand matt. All over the hull. One of the main culprits for core failure.
3A) A poor core repair and a close-up of the rotted floor.
3B) The underside of that repair.
4) This picture shows the area of greatest concern. The light green indicates fractures created by a hard hit into a piling during a nor'easter. the blue indicates secondary bond failure, this was only to hold the foam in place. This foam will be removed to reinforce the hull and for the suspected recore.
5) Transom damage.
Pictures of side damage.
Saved from the Junk Pile!
By "Boatmender"
Part II: Stripping the Hull
This installment will reveal some detailed pictures and dialogue discussing how we will go about stripping the hull. I am using a tent purchased at the local Cosco to do most of the prep and glass work. This is a great prep area because the grinding can really mess up any garage or shop!! Removing the hull from the trailer was first on the agenda. I blocked the outermost strakes and allowed the center to hang. I then used an 8' 4x4 fence post to support the pad. This is all the support for now because the hull moves around quite a bit in the demo process. For now, we will be performing all of the work from the outside. Additional reinforcement will be added before climbing into the hull. Finally each strake will be individually supported just before the recore begins.
The previous owner was kind enough to remove the molding on this hull. For anyone removing the molding, I recommend clamping each section in two foot intervals to prevent any kinks that may develop as it hangs under its own weight. Use the smallest drill bit necessary to remove all the rivets. Avoid enlarging the holes if you plan on attempting to reinstall it. After all the rivets are drilled, carefully remove the molding. Great care should be taken to retain the original shape. I would even screw it to a sheet of plywood or two. Reinstalling, although difficult, can be accomplished. Originally, the molding was first fastened to the hull except for the transom area.
Note: the rivet head should be on the hull side
The deck was then placed on the hull slightly aft and slid forward into place, sliding the deck as far forward as possible until it fits under the lip of the molding. When the deck was aligned and glassed, the transom portion of the molding was fastened to the hull. {from the bottom up}.
Back to our Viper, once the hull was supported I grabbed my favorite tool, a sawzall with a 10" 14tpi (tooth per inch) blade. I started cutting across the seam at the hull and deck joint, being careful to stay in the seam. The lip on each half will be important when we reattach the deck to the hull.
This picture shows some areas of the lip that will be repaired later.
Since I will be changing the design of the motor well area I did not hesitate to cut down into the well along the transom face, indicated by the yellow line.
My friend Joe came over to help lift the deck off. It is placed on the trailer and wheeled away to be worked on later. Removal of the deck took about 30 minutes.
Sat. afternoon my brother Paul (15) came over to give me a hand. Our goal today is to remove the foam, the perimeter core & floor. We began removing the foam floatation on the port side by peeling the fiberglass skin from the hull (blue arrows in first picture above). It was quite obvious why previous repairs were unsuccessful once the foam was removed. Failure to investigate the cracks in the floatation skin (as indicated by the green arrows), a sure sign of trouble, was a big mistake.
As expected, the core skin along the seam on the outer edges of the core had split. This created many problems because it allowed water to continually enter the core. As the saturated core began to rot, it no longer provided support. In the picture on the right above, 1) shows the removed floatation foam. 2) the floatation fiberglass skin. 3) the roven core skin. And 4) the core skin pulled back to reveal some rotted balsa. This area, with the foam floatation removed, exposes cracks in the roven core skin (indicated by the two blue arrows) created by the impact to the side.
A large crack in the hull developed adjacent to the passenger seat base, just below the seam as a result. They attempted to repair this but were unsuccessful due to the split above.
It appears closed cell foam was not used to repair the core that time!!
The foam is cut out first followed by the core skin and then the core. The port and starboard foam were each cut along their outer perimeter and removed whole. We then began removing the perimeter core by cutting the fiberglass core skin along the outer edges of the coring. I like using a sawzall for this type of work because it gives good control over the cut and creates very little dust. This skin is removed in large sections as outlined in colors in the picture on the right above, beginning with the yellow, then the red, and finishing on the blue side. The green line indicates where the damaged area is. When we were through removing the skin, a 20 lb. pry bar was used to scrape the core from the hull. This required some effort but went rather quickly. Note, scrape back and forth with some "elbow grease". Trying to pry it out WILL only make a hole in the bottom!! With the perimeter coring removed, we simply lifted the rotted 1/2" plywood floor out.
The only cut required was along the transom seam.
Sunday's goal is to finish removing the core. This will be broken into three sections, leaving the center for last. Paul with some quick instruction provided the muscle today! Note the angle of the sawzall as he makes what I call a "tip cut". Holding the saw parallel to the bottom he cuts along the perimeter only allowing the tip of the blade to make the cut {Note: Always wear a mask when working with fiberglass, as Paul should be}. With some practice he is able to feel when the blade hits the glass under the core. He is being careful not to cut through the bottom.
When the perimeter cut was complete we lifted the skin, sliding the pry bar under the tough spots, removing the sections in sheets. A tip cut along the side of the stringer was required after we peeled it up.
As before we used the pry bar to SCRAPE the core out.
The main stringer is all fiberglass with the exception of the last 10" before the transom. That portion was glass wrapped plywood. I cut at the seam between the core and outer layers under the stringer. This seam was exposed when the perimeter coring was removed. Cutting as close to the bottom as possible also being careful not to go through the bottom. I tried to keep the fiberglass portion of the stringer in tact to preserve its dimensions for later. Once the stringer was cut out the core in the center came out rather quickly. Over 90% of the hull coring was rotted. This is also the result of a poor skin, which was composed of a light layer of chop and roven.
The plywood portion of the transom was exposed by cutting along the edge.
A pry bar was used to peel the fiberglass on the inside of the transom. I was careful not to damage the outer layers by working small areas at a time.
As expected, the plywood was completely waterlogged. This unfortunately was not all accomplished on Sun. That was the goal! So far I have about 10 hours invested. The next addition will deal with preparing the hull for the recore, removal of the transom plywood, the "grind", and a better look into the damaged area. I welcome any suggestions or feedback.
Saved from the Junk Pile!
By "Boatmender"
Part III: Transom Removal & Grinding the Hull
These articles are written as the work is completed. After removing the deck, stringers, core, and transom, this hull has become very flimsy. The need for some serious structural support has become extremely evident! The first step of this whole project prior to removing anything from the hull, should have been to construct a jig that would support the hull sufficiently to ensure its original shape. Fortunately my brother has a viper. Making a jig now is not a problem, but it would be for anyone who doesn't have that option!!
With the grinding complete, I have become increasingly concerned about the damaged area of the hull. So I have opted to cut the repair out and start over. While my brothers viper is upside down (for the jig) I will be casting a mold for this section. Ron Pratt's “Baby Virages” gives a good description of the mold process, for anyone interested in making a mold to perform repairs. (See topic archives below).
While constructing the mold for the bottom section to be removed, I kept staring at the big hook in the pad of my brothers viper. With no experience on what works on pad modifications, I decided to call someone who would. Ron Baker and Garret Armstrong of Baker Marine were both extremely helpful! (Thanks FELLA's!) This is my interpretation of what was discussed. 6’ forward from the back of the pad needs to be as flat and straight as possible. This includes filling in the concave pad and removing the tremendous hook, and making sure all edges are sharp and true. (I removed the hook in my brothers hull using gorilla hair, two layers of glass, and then re gelled those areas.)
This jig has three functions. 1) to support the hull and keep it in the correct form. 2) to hold the mold in place. (for the side repair) 3) it holds a mold I made for a new pad, Rather than fill the hook I have opted for a new one!! Plus a ¼ inch in pad height. (Note: this part is just an experiment). With the mold complete, I started on the template for the jig. I laid three pieces of 2x6 scrap across the bottom and screwed them together.
Using pieces of cardboard I worked a strake at a time to get a perfect fit. Then stapled the cardboard to the 2x6 and moved on to the next section. Once the template was complete I traced it out on a ½ “ sheet of plywood. I made a template for the front and the back of the hull , cross braced it all together and anchored the two molds in place. The jig was then lifted off that hull and transported back to my house, where the project viper fit into it perfectly. The last picture on the right shows some channel iron that was added to the 2 x 4's to help reinforce them. This ensured that they would not bow or warp.
OK ... Back to the prep. To remove the transom plywood I cut it into three sections. Working layers at a time, the plywood was peeled back using my trusty pry bar. Taking great care not to fracture the fiberglass or create additional stress cracks in the outer gel coat while prying the wood from its skin. Removing the plywood took about an hour using this method. The picture with the ruler shows the thickness of the transom being 1-1/2" (excluding the outer layers of glass).
Prior to grinding, I try to remove as much extra material as possible. Using the pry bar, any loose glass is peeled away a layer at a time.
The grinding arsenal is as follows: a fresh air system, full tyvek suit, gloves, hood, ear protection and a full face shield, a gear drive angle grinder with 24 grit pads, (10) and a mini angle grinder. Grinding is a dirty, nasty job, take a lot of care in protecting yourself in the process. Trust me, you’ll be sorry if you don’t! Working in 2 hour intervals I was finished in about 4 days. While grinding, keep the surface as even as possible. I tried to take the same amount of material away in all areas, without digging in.
Prior to placing the hull in the jig, I cut out the old repair area and prepped it for the patch. The next article will cover the patch, the new transom, and some final preparations before the recore (still debating what to do with the pad). Stay tuned!!
If you have any questions, please contact Paul at Pjbray10aol.com
By "Boatmender"
Part I: Damage Assessment
Webmaster's note: For the first time, the I.H.R. is bringing you a complete restoration of a hull from start to finish. This Viper was literally thrown away and it will now be brought back to a condition that will be better than new. Chris Brabender, along with help from his brother Paul, will be performing all the work from the initial dismantling to the final paint job. Chris has to his credit over 15 major boat restorations - some much worse than this one - of various make and size boats ranging from small pleasure craft to large offshores to full fledged race boats. The I.H.R. is indebted to Chris for agreeing to document this restoration and sharing his expertise with the rest of us. It gives us all hope for some of those projects out there!
Let me start off by saying that I am not claiming to be an expert on any of the following ideas I will be writing about through out this undertaking. However, I have restored four HydroStreams and a few other types of boats for fun over the years. There are many different ways to skin the Stream; these are some of the methods that have worked for me. When tackling large projects, I break it down into groups of smaller projects and treat each as a goal to finish. Setting small goals makes it much more palatable than trying to tackle the whole concept at once. At the beginning of most of my ventures most people say "what the hell are you going to do with that hunk of crap" only later to chew on those very same words when the job was complete (which by the way is my favorite part).
This 15' viper was given to me off of a junk pile by a friend of a friend. Over the next six months it will be completely restored to better than new condition. Right now I am still in the investigation stages of determining exactly what she needs. But I have a pretty good idea of what we will be doing. So far here's the plan. 1) Strip the hull. which includes removal of the deck, floor, foam floatation, transom, core & stringers . 2) Replace the transom, stringers, core and floor. 3) Replacement of the dash backing & some minor changes 4) deck & hull cosmetics 5) reattaching the deck 6) Refinish (5 color paint job) 7) rigging and interior..
Here are a few pictures of this beauty sitting on the junk pile and some quick observations. In the next part, you will see some good pictures of the deck being removed and other necessary dismantling on our way to attacking this project.
1) Rotted deck (raised floor) which needs to be removed to investigate the core.
2) Deck rot as the result of poor glass coverage and unsealed screws.
3) Unrolled chopped strand matt. All over the hull. One of the main culprits for core failure.
3A) A poor core repair and a close-up of the rotted floor.
3B) The underside of that repair.
4) This picture shows the area of greatest concern. The light green indicates fractures created by a hard hit into a piling during a nor'easter. the blue indicates secondary bond failure, this was only to hold the foam in place. This foam will be removed to reinforce the hull and for the suspected recore.
5) Transom damage.
Pictures of side damage.
Saved from the Junk Pile!
By "Boatmender"
Part II: Stripping the Hull
This installment will reveal some detailed pictures and dialogue discussing how we will go about stripping the hull. I am using a tent purchased at the local Cosco to do most of the prep and glass work. This is a great prep area because the grinding can really mess up any garage or shop!! Removing the hull from the trailer was first on the agenda. I blocked the outermost strakes and allowed the center to hang. I then used an 8' 4x4 fence post to support the pad. This is all the support for now because the hull moves around quite a bit in the demo process. For now, we will be performing all of the work from the outside. Additional reinforcement will be added before climbing into the hull. Finally each strake will be individually supported just before the recore begins.
The previous owner was kind enough to remove the molding on this hull. For anyone removing the molding, I recommend clamping each section in two foot intervals to prevent any kinks that may develop as it hangs under its own weight. Use the smallest drill bit necessary to remove all the rivets. Avoid enlarging the holes if you plan on attempting to reinstall it. After all the rivets are drilled, carefully remove the molding. Great care should be taken to retain the original shape. I would even screw it to a sheet of plywood or two. Reinstalling, although difficult, can be accomplished. Originally, the molding was first fastened to the hull except for the transom area.
Note: the rivet head should be on the hull side
The deck was then placed on the hull slightly aft and slid forward into place, sliding the deck as far forward as possible until it fits under the lip of the molding. When the deck was aligned and glassed, the transom portion of the molding was fastened to the hull. {from the bottom up}.
Back to our Viper, once the hull was supported I grabbed my favorite tool, a sawzall with a 10" 14tpi (tooth per inch) blade. I started cutting across the seam at the hull and deck joint, being careful to stay in the seam. The lip on each half will be important when we reattach the deck to the hull.
This picture shows some areas of the lip that will be repaired later.
Since I will be changing the design of the motor well area I did not hesitate to cut down into the well along the transom face, indicated by the yellow line.
My friend Joe came over to help lift the deck off. It is placed on the trailer and wheeled away to be worked on later. Removal of the deck took about 30 minutes.
Sat. afternoon my brother Paul (15) came over to give me a hand. Our goal today is to remove the foam, the perimeter core & floor. We began removing the foam floatation on the port side by peeling the fiberglass skin from the hull (blue arrows in first picture above). It was quite obvious why previous repairs were unsuccessful once the foam was removed. Failure to investigate the cracks in the floatation skin (as indicated by the green arrows), a sure sign of trouble, was a big mistake.
As expected, the core skin along the seam on the outer edges of the core had split. This created many problems because it allowed water to continually enter the core. As the saturated core began to rot, it no longer provided support. In the picture on the right above, 1) shows the removed floatation foam. 2) the floatation fiberglass skin. 3) the roven core skin. And 4) the core skin pulled back to reveal some rotted balsa. This area, with the foam floatation removed, exposes cracks in the roven core skin (indicated by the two blue arrows) created by the impact to the side.
A large crack in the hull developed adjacent to the passenger seat base, just below the seam as a result. They attempted to repair this but were unsuccessful due to the split above.
It appears closed cell foam was not used to repair the core that time!!
The foam is cut out first followed by the core skin and then the core. The port and starboard foam were each cut along their outer perimeter and removed whole. We then began removing the perimeter core by cutting the fiberglass core skin along the outer edges of the coring. I like using a sawzall for this type of work because it gives good control over the cut and creates very little dust. This skin is removed in large sections as outlined in colors in the picture on the right above, beginning with the yellow, then the red, and finishing on the blue side. The green line indicates where the damaged area is. When we were through removing the skin, a 20 lb. pry bar was used to scrape the core from the hull. This required some effort but went rather quickly. Note, scrape back and forth with some "elbow grease". Trying to pry it out WILL only make a hole in the bottom!! With the perimeter coring removed, we simply lifted the rotted 1/2" plywood floor out.
The only cut required was along the transom seam.
Sunday's goal is to finish removing the core. This will be broken into three sections, leaving the center for last. Paul with some quick instruction provided the muscle today! Note the angle of the sawzall as he makes what I call a "tip cut". Holding the saw parallel to the bottom he cuts along the perimeter only allowing the tip of the blade to make the cut {Note: Always wear a mask when working with fiberglass, as Paul should be}. With some practice he is able to feel when the blade hits the glass under the core. He is being careful not to cut through the bottom.
When the perimeter cut was complete we lifted the skin, sliding the pry bar under the tough spots, removing the sections in sheets. A tip cut along the side of the stringer was required after we peeled it up.
As before we used the pry bar to SCRAPE the core out.
The main stringer is all fiberglass with the exception of the last 10" before the transom. That portion was glass wrapped plywood. I cut at the seam between the core and outer layers under the stringer. This seam was exposed when the perimeter coring was removed. Cutting as close to the bottom as possible also being careful not to go through the bottom. I tried to keep the fiberglass portion of the stringer in tact to preserve its dimensions for later. Once the stringer was cut out the core in the center came out rather quickly. Over 90% of the hull coring was rotted. This is also the result of a poor skin, which was composed of a light layer of chop and roven.
The plywood portion of the transom was exposed by cutting along the edge.
A pry bar was used to peel the fiberglass on the inside of the transom. I was careful not to damage the outer layers by working small areas at a time.
As expected, the plywood was completely waterlogged. This unfortunately was not all accomplished on Sun. That was the goal! So far I have about 10 hours invested. The next addition will deal with preparing the hull for the recore, removal of the transom plywood, the "grind", and a better look into the damaged area. I welcome any suggestions or feedback.
Saved from the Junk Pile!
By "Boatmender"
Part III: Transom Removal & Grinding the Hull
These articles are written as the work is completed. After removing the deck, stringers, core, and transom, this hull has become very flimsy. The need for some serious structural support has become extremely evident! The first step of this whole project prior to removing anything from the hull, should have been to construct a jig that would support the hull sufficiently to ensure its original shape. Fortunately my brother has a viper. Making a jig now is not a problem, but it would be for anyone who doesn't have that option!!
With the grinding complete, I have become increasingly concerned about the damaged area of the hull. So I have opted to cut the repair out and start over. While my brothers viper is upside down (for the jig) I will be casting a mold for this section. Ron Pratt's “Baby Virages” gives a good description of the mold process, for anyone interested in making a mold to perform repairs. (See topic archives below).
While constructing the mold for the bottom section to be removed, I kept staring at the big hook in the pad of my brothers viper. With no experience on what works on pad modifications, I decided to call someone who would. Ron Baker and Garret Armstrong of Baker Marine were both extremely helpful! (Thanks FELLA's!) This is my interpretation of what was discussed. 6’ forward from the back of the pad needs to be as flat and straight as possible. This includes filling in the concave pad and removing the tremendous hook, and making sure all edges are sharp and true. (I removed the hook in my brothers hull using gorilla hair, two layers of glass, and then re gelled those areas.)
This jig has three functions. 1) to support the hull and keep it in the correct form. 2) to hold the mold in place. (for the side repair) 3) it holds a mold I made for a new pad, Rather than fill the hook I have opted for a new one!! Plus a ¼ inch in pad height. (Note: this part is just an experiment). With the mold complete, I started on the template for the jig. I laid three pieces of 2x6 scrap across the bottom and screwed them together.
Using pieces of cardboard I worked a strake at a time to get a perfect fit. Then stapled the cardboard to the 2x6 and moved on to the next section. Once the template was complete I traced it out on a ½ “ sheet of plywood. I made a template for the front and the back of the hull , cross braced it all together and anchored the two molds in place. The jig was then lifted off that hull and transported back to my house, where the project viper fit into it perfectly. The last picture on the right shows some channel iron that was added to the 2 x 4's to help reinforce them. This ensured that they would not bow or warp.
OK ... Back to the prep. To remove the transom plywood I cut it into three sections. Working layers at a time, the plywood was peeled back using my trusty pry bar. Taking great care not to fracture the fiberglass or create additional stress cracks in the outer gel coat while prying the wood from its skin. Removing the plywood took about an hour using this method. The picture with the ruler shows the thickness of the transom being 1-1/2" (excluding the outer layers of glass).
Prior to grinding, I try to remove as much extra material as possible. Using the pry bar, any loose glass is peeled away a layer at a time.
The grinding arsenal is as follows: a fresh air system, full tyvek suit, gloves, hood, ear protection and a full face shield, a gear drive angle grinder with 24 grit pads, (10) and a mini angle grinder. Grinding is a dirty, nasty job, take a lot of care in protecting yourself in the process. Trust me, you’ll be sorry if you don’t! Working in 2 hour intervals I was finished in about 4 days. While grinding, keep the surface as even as possible. I tried to take the same amount of material away in all areas, without digging in.
Prior to placing the hull in the jig, I cut out the old repair area and prepped it for the patch. The next article will cover the patch, the new transom, and some final preparations before the recore (still debating what to do with the pad). Stay tuned!!
If you have any questions, please contact Paul at Pjbray10aol.com