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Gonna try to rebuild the transom of my Hydrostream Vegas XT
After opening the deck to expose the transom, the transom is very thick, sth like 3.5 inches thick....but the edges of the transom where the transom continues to the curved portion of the transom is scary thin, maybe 1/8 of glass skin is all that is holding the transom to the rest of the boat
I'm a weekend warrior so updates will be slow...
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birds eye view of transom
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the transom is very thick, sth like 3.5 inches, but the transom is not connected to the rest of the boat the way I would like it to be, transom is connected with the rest of the boat by a very thin fiberglass skin
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...and no knees
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Won't take much to bring it all together.
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The work today consisted of removing the transom wood. I was always wondering why the transom was so thick. The truth came to light. A secondary transom was laid over the original transom. But when it was done, they left the screws in and was not butted up against the original transom thus having a space between the two transoms somewhere like 1" to 1.5"
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sorry, the caption should say "with the second transom removed,..."
the "second" transom was added later on in years.
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Going to take it right down to the hull , clean it all out start bottom up?
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time permitting, I'd like to do some work on it then go boating during the summer. So this year I want to feel safe about the transom, then go boating this summer.
in 2019 I'd like to re-core the bottom, then go boating again before the summer is over
2020 blueprint the bottom, then put it all back and go boating again that same summer
I don't want to miss a summer (or fall) of boating if I can help it
...but the common goal for each year is to vacuum resin infuse all the composite materials I will be putting in
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the transom of the Vegas XT has some technical angles to it (see the first pic of the first post), what I mean is that the transom does not have 90* angles.
I'd like to put foam on the port and stbd angled portion transom then put coosa on the back transom for strength
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That all sounds like an Oct- May project, one winter. Enough room for knees?
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the boat is very shallow
I'd say 16 inches from cockpit floor to top-of-deck...but I will put knees using coosa
stringers will be foam and carbon
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90% of the wood is out, will continue to clean the remaining wood from the transom
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I ran the saw along the lip to try and remove the lip along with the remaining wood from the transom. The lip area did not want to budge. Someone put an inch thick of resin and called it a day
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the cockpit floor is soft and sagging
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Really nice project your starting there. :thumbsup:
Have you thought about just going all in and doing the complete restore from start to finish, then go boating with it?
If the floor and transom is rotted and soft, the core is likely soft as well. A soft core on any boat, let alone a high performance one could be dangerous.
Really great pictures your adding to this thread.
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I can't see myself not boating this year....this is my year :)
I will not go too fast as I am in the ocean in NJ....I know...proly more so to get it done huh?
I have a couple of trips planned out....inside line in the keys from Miami to Key West or most likely just Marathon...huhahahaha
Plus I want to see how she rides in the waters that I will be playing in...will give me some hints as to what changes I will do to the hull-bottom. I want to change the hull bottom a little bit.
it's a long ride to Key West from Miami...but that's the kind of boating I like. Long trips but not running so fast...to soak it all in (the sun and beautiful waters)
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First of all that bump you're talking about might be a lifting design of the bottom. Think twice before you remove something that doesn't need to be removed.
Also why don't you just rent a boat this year just put gas and go. You should try and complete the hull before snow drops. You might wreck the hull using it not support properly with sealed stringers.
Also are you planning to put an engine right after you did the transom? Ok I'll be here to see the progress I love those Hydrostream.
Technology back then was not as it is today with materials like Vinylester resin or even coosa.
I am all to familiar with the ICW the runs from Miami to deep in the keys. Born and raised running those waters. Had a lot of seat time in a 16' Checkmate with a 2.4 Merc. Spent many a day on the sandbar there at Islamorada. Running that Stream with a possible soft core is not a good idea...jmo and $.02
Lots of boats run the ICW, some big and some not. Lots of pressure crossing large wakes on the hull, more so with a soft core.
Seems like the XT and YT hulls were prone to structural problems anyway. Voids under the core and other questionable construction issues. Definitely fix the core before rigging!
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I'm curious, what speed would a soft bottom hull disintegrate at?
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Warp speed would do it.....
why wait for it to disintegrate just fix it as much epoxy as it will allow if you plan on going over 50 that hull should be as hard as a rock!:D
^^^^ at the rate I', going, I'll proly just do the whole job....muhahahaha
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Today I removed the hump. Uncovered lots of info. The hump (post #23) is pure resin. After I removed the hump of pure resin, I've uncovered the original factory transom, all black and rotting....or should I say rotten to the core?....muhahahaha
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