1987 Hydrostream Valero YT Project

[skialot2]

I have been sanding like crazy. I have gone through quite a few sanding discs. Another days worth already went with the trash. I only sanded through slightly in a couple more spots. I think it's coming out OK.

[skialot2]

Wet sanded with 600 1000 1500 and then 2000. I have not sanded by the windshield yet. The snaps are in the way. I think I am going to drill the rivets out to get them out of the way. It will be much easier to sand it. Gelcoat is some tough stuff. If this was paint there would be nothing left. Looks pretty good considering what it was and this is dry with no compound or wax yet. Looks like I got back to the original color, You cant really see the outline of the bow light anymore.

[Dain]

Coming along! I think by the time you're done with some polishing/wax/ceramic, it would be sufficient for most people without needing to be repainted or gel coated.

[skialot2]

After a quick compound and wax. Not a professional job by any means. But it's good enough from where I sit. I still have to do the rest of the boat. But the bow was the worst part. I will do the rest after I fix the structure and flip it to fix the pad. That will have to re gelcoated.

[skialot2]

I finished pulling out the floor. That was a pain in the a$$. Especially at the bulkhead where the floor changes height. It was all in very good shape. Not damage at all. The only evidence of water I found was the battery tray mount reinforcements. But nothing in the floor itself. Only under the floor is cored. Except in the front where the floor gets lower. The core sticks out a little there. I cut out one section of fiberglass so I could see what the core looks like. It's mostly rotten. But not completely. I can see the sharp edge where it ends. I cant believe how thin the fiberglass is on top of the core. It looks like one layer of woven roving. Not the real heavy stuff, just one medium weight layer.

[skialot2]

I started cutting out the fiberglass covering the core. The core is definitely shot. There is a couple spots where its not rotten. The fiberglass is still stuck pretty good in those spots. Good thing there is not a lot of them. I got about half the core uncovered and my oscillating tool died. Just stopped working mid cut. Lasted 3 uses 6 months apart. Damn Harbor Freight crap. This will be my third Oscillating tool. I will try Home Depot crap this time. Supposedly has a lifetime "Service agreement". Whatever that is. But, surprisingly enough, I am still using the same Carbide tipped blade I used to cut the floor and stringers out of my Checkmate. It still looks relatively new. Fiberglass has no effect on it. My last post does not really show how thin the fiberglass is over the core. My digital caliper says .0685 thin. I am really curious as to how thick the outer hull skin is.

[LakeFever]

Fiberglass kills electric tools. Dewalt oscillator is a good unit. My outer skin was 1/8” thick. Aint much too these things

[VkingMike]

The Ol' Mulch hauler. A very typical scene once these boats are cut into. They can look ok on the outside, but... Another very useful tool once you get all that core out is one of these. It made getting into corners and tight spots much easier for new glass.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q2FTLY...n_title_1&th=1

[skialot2]

The Ol' Mulch hauler. A very typical scene once these boats are cut into. They can look ok on the outside, but... Another very useful tool once you get all that core out is one of these. It made getting into corners and tight spots much easier for new glass.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q2FTLY...n_title_1&th=1

Yep. So far the only thing bad is the core. All the rest of the wood is just about perfect. Only the balsa is shot. I have that exact sander. It works great. I used it to hog out the exhaust chest and dump on my FF build.

[skialot2]

Got the rest of the core uncovered. There was a couple of difficult spots along the edge of the pad. Especially toward the stern. The last 3 feet or so had a different type of core. It had foam strips instead of balsa. Was just as rotten but had thicker fiberglass that was still doing something. I swept up as much of the mess as I could. Then took the hose and washed it out so I could see what's left. Not much. Almost all the balsa is gone. There are two spots that I went too deep with the oscillating saw. Went through the outer hull. No big deal as they are in the spots that delaminated and need to be repaired anyway. I have been told I am crazy for doing all this in just jeans and a T-shirt. That I should be wearing some kind of hazmat style suit. But the dust does not make me itchy. I only get itchy if I lean against rough fiberglass and force it into my skin. The powdery stuff doesn't really bother me. Of course I don't want to breath it in so I do wear a particle mask when out in the open or a painters mask if I am sticking my head in under the deck. Plus eye protection. I may be crazy, but I'm not dumb.

[VkingMike]

Being this far in, do the transom. On my build I though for sure it would be ok at first, but it was NOT.

[LakeFever]

Yeah I agree. Freshen the hull up. Add some knees. You won’t regret building a better hull but you might regret not doing it. The ol scope creep problem. It’s never easy to draw the line on it but consider resale. A fresh resto with pics and no missing steps will bring more

[skialot2]

I have checked the transom several times and several different ways. Digging in the bolt holes with a scribe, the wood is dry and rock solid. the scribe barely scratches the surface. The hammer test all over the inside fiberglass. Everything is solid. All the fiberglass is bonded solid to the wood. No delamination anywhere. I put a bolt in the lower holes with just a small regular washer and torqued it to 75 ft lbs. It torqued up very quickly, No squish at all. Checked it after a week. Still torqued. I am 100% confident the transom is perfect. If I had any doubt what so ever I would replace it. It is an enormous amount of extra work to change it. I would either have to cut out the splash well, which I do not want to do. Or pull the cap. Which involves building a cradle. That's a lot of work to replace something that does not need to be replaced. I have every intention of adding knees and real stringers. By the time I am done, this boats transom will be strong enough to hold a 500R. Although the boat would probably sink upon launching.

[VkingMike]

The issue is you cannot get into he corners and lower portions to check. I hear you, Mine was solid too until I dug it apart and it was all black an wet. It's a big task, but its even bigger once everything else is built around it.

[LakeFever]

That’s how my last hull was too. Solid around all the bolts but the starboard side was rotten at the top and the bottom. I have no idea how or why moisture got into those two places it was well glassed over because it had already been replaced once but it got in there. That’s the main reason I opted for coosa. Speaking of coosa after I laid mine up there was a thread on here about core materials and apparently many of the big name builders do not use coosa for transoms because it makes too much nvh and vibration being the main complaint. Apparently customers were complaining of the boat shaking them to death at low speeds. So I’m think great, mines already done, my last Vking with the soft starboard transom vibrated like crazy at low speeds so I’m thinking this build while focused on durability and comfort over pure performance is now doomed to be a shaky annoying beast. Well, all I can say to that is I’ve never had a smoother boat. The engine does its typically v6 merc blippity blap idle and the hull does not shake at all. I mean zero. So I’m tossing that up to the vinylester resin as a far superior product to polyester which all boat builders seem to use. Anyways thought it worth the mention. I say again you won’t regret tackling the transom. There are many ways to do this that don’t take tons of work. I wouldn’t split the hull if the deck and hull have no crazing. You can cut the splash well out and reinstall it or do a delete. I promise I will try not to say apparently again in this post either. Ever see that kid at the fair? The one who says apparently he’s never been on live television before? Yeesh