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  1. #1
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    Hydrostream Vandal Restoration

    I've been waiting a long time to start this project (and this thread).

    We've had this Vandal since 1983. I (and my brother and sister) grew up with the boat. We took it on family vacations all over Florida. It was ridden hard and put away wet, and now it shows.

    Its a 78 model in red/orange metalflake. It had back-to-back seating, single teleflex steering, and a 1400 I6 Merc when we got it. Most of its life it had a 90hp OMC V4. It would run in the high 50s, although it spent most of its time towing us around the lake on skis/tubes/wakeboards/whatever.

    Between shoddy construction, salt water, outside storage, and use by a bunch of teenagers, the boat is completely shot. Every piece of wood in it is either soaked or completely rotten. It has a big crack in the dash from when one of my fat friends sat on it while we tried to plane off. The death knell was heard on a trip I took from Stuart to Sebastian and back on the Intracoastal to visit the grandparents in ~2003. Hit some big chop on the way back, and inspection on the trailer found that the transom was coming apart.

    I've finally gotten my house and other projects in order enough to start the restoration. This will be a long term project, I want to do it right, and in the mean time we have my fishing boat and my dad's (Little Toy) Eliminator to use.

    This post will be a running journal of pictures as we make progress. We'll have lots of questions along the way, as neither Dad nor I have done a composites project of this magnitude (at least with modern materials).

    I'm starting with stripping all the hardware. This weekend I'll be working on a jig to support it while we do the core/stringers/floor.

    A few of the things that are pretty much decided:
    -All wood comes out of the boat
    -New transom, stringers w/integral knees, core, floor, paint, rigging, engine
    -Cut out splashwell to access transom (keeping transom skin), deck over splashwell, possibly add a small cowling
    -Center steering, rear bench configuration

    Many more items are up in the air:
    -Power (probably some version of V4, we have a Yamaha 115)
    -Materials. I'm leaning towards no-wood, mainly divinycell & renicell.
    -Process. I'd like to at least learn to vaccuum-bag the core.
    -Rigging, particulary which type of steering, and fuel tank layout
    -What to do about floatation

    Usage will be 90% lake boat. Maybe some recreational drags, but the classes don't look too favorable for this type of rig. I'd like to target 90mph, I'm not sure I'd feel too comfortable in a v-bottom boat this small much faster than that.

    Enough rambling, onto the pics. Day 1. last weekend just brought it up from my parents' place:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails DSC01277 (Small).JPG   DSC01278 (Small).JPG   DSC01279 (Small).JPG  
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

  2. #2
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    You can see the cobbled together shift lever above.

    Here is a view looking up from the bottom of the dash, completely delaminated. Even the patch from a few years back was falling apart.

    The deck started separating from the hull at the upper corners of the transom, that's when we finally put her out to pasture.

    As I work on stripping it the floor can barely support my weight. Ants came out of the transom bolt holes when I pulled the jack plate.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails DSC01294 (Small).JPG   DSC01290 (Small).JPG   DSC01292 (Small).JPG  
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

  3. #3
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    Finished stripping hardware today. Only things left on the boat are the bow/stern eyes (may be helpful moving around), the rubrail, and some mounts for a ski pole that I may have to cut off.

    I started on a cardboard template for the support jig (picked up some 2x8 lumber) but I don't like how it fits so I'm going to have to do that again.

    Found probably the best sample of original gelcoat under the VIN tag. Does anyone know how to get a replacement VIN tag? This was riveted on, but at this point was just a thin foil of aluminum and disintegrated as I removed it.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Hardware_stripped 001 (Small).jpg   Hardware_stripped 002 (Small).jpg   Hardware_stripped 003 (Small).jpg  
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

  4. #4
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    Question for anyone who's taken apart a Hydrostream. How did you get the rubrail off?

    It is an aluminum extruded channel. It appears to have been riveted to the hull prior to the deck being installed. The heads of the rivets are above the hull and under the deck. The back end of the rivet pops down through the rubrail.

    I tried drilling them out from the bottom but they just spin, or the drill bit falls off the rivet. I ran out of time to try some more options. Cutting with dykes didn't work either. Maybe a hacksaw or cut-off wheel?

    I guess the heads of the rivets will always be in the boat, I don't plan to pull the deck off.

    Any ideas?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails rubrail 002 (Small).jpg   rubrail 003 (Small).jpg   rubrail 001 (Small).jpg  
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

  5. #5
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    wow...

    Matt, we've emailed before, you have my first Vandal. I wish you the best with it...it's been a long time coming! I had many years of fun with that ol' 'Stream. I bought it new in early 1978 from Garden State Boats in New Jersey. It originally had a Johnson 75 Stinger on it, then a 135 Johnson, and finally a modified 140. It was a great boat. The bottom was repaired at HydroStream in 1982 as it delaminated.

    The weathering on the gelcoat is incredible; you can hardly tell what color it originally was.

    You can't find CG plates for those anymore--at least not like the original.

    As for the rubrail, that's a nasty job. You probably shouldn't pull it off if you're not going to pull the deck off. I would consider installing the rubber from Spaeth's Canadian style rubrails right over the top of it.

    Keep posting on the progress...I love those Vandals.

    JT

  6. #6
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    Good luck with the project.. When it's all done it will be well worth the hard work.. What color will it be?
    Thibodaux Racing..

  7. #7
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    Matt, that looks like a great project. Keep the progress and photos coming!


    Facebook | YouTube | Vintage Outboard Catalogs
    Photo prints available of your boat - click here


  8. #8
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    Well I guess its better to know now than never that the bottom came apart. We beat on it for 20 years and it stayed in one piece. I'll know better when I get the floor & core out.

    I've seen the rubrail that Spaeth uses, on a boat this small I think it would make it look like a bumper-boat. Also we have a few sections that are missing (docking incidents) in the rear corners. I found some relatively low profile rubber rub-rail on the internet, looks to be the right size, but I still have the problem of how to remove the old stuff.

    Not sure on colors yet, that is a long way off. I really like the way Clyde's Venom came out, was thinking some combination of a red/maroon with some silver or anthracite accents. It has a similar deck style to the Actions, and I like the simple striping on the raised portion of the deck.
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

  9. #9
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    Mea Culpa

    OK, John, I admit that I did that to your Vandal. Fifteen years of being kept outdoors with no cover, and any gelcoat will fade. I was a little shocked when I was recently looking at some old pictures of her to realize how bad she has gotten. Of course, she was also sitting sad and powerless in my yard for about three years with sprinklers spraying her, etc. after the transom gave out. Matt's note does bring back a lot of memories--I am looking forward to the resurrected Vandal, but she was a great thing for me and my kids.
    Per Rock:

    "Once I bought my first Hydrostream boating changed forever for me."

    Per my hero Instigator:

    "I try not to let common sense interfere w/my boat buying decisions."


    Pat Gent
    cell 954-249-3246
    '78 Hydrostream Vandal (being rebuilt)
    '86 21' Eliminator Daytona, 300 OMC V-8 (Li'l Toy III)

  10. #10
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    rubrail

    I may have enough straight sticks of black-anodized vinyl-insert rail (and rubber) to do your Vandal. Hell, I'll never use it on anything (I like Spaeth's version better). If I can find it, do you want it? Trouble will be getting it to you (it won't go UPS).

    That ol' girl was fast with a 135 Johnson. Stock, it went 77 mph on my old X-band Decatur radar gun turning a 27" OMC cleaver at 6400 rpm. With a modified 140 it went 82 mph @ 7100 turning the same wheel (you made me go look that up in my old notebooks).

    JT

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by JWTjr. View Post
    With a modified 140 it went 82 mph @ 7100 turning the same wheel (you made me go look that up in my old notebooks).
    JT
    Insert picture here of Homer Simpson drooling.

    Need to hear more stories of V4s going over 80, preferably with a fat guy driiving.

  12. #12
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    any pics of the said rubrail?

  13. #13
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    OK John, quick question. How did you get those tie-bars into the transom (or were they factory)?

    Best I can guess they came in through the back of the boat and an epoxy puck held them at the transom end. I had to split them with a cut-off wheel to get them out without gutting the transom first.

    There were about 3 sets of holes in the transom, each epoxy or silicone filled. The worst offender appears to be the splashwell drain hole. Maybe the epoxy wore away or something but all the wood within a few inches of it is completely rotten.

    I was working up under the deck on Sunday pulling out the old floatation foam. I had thought about just leaving the little sub-floor up there alone since it is well away from the running surfaces, but it is soft too. And getting the foam out is a major pain. I need to recruit an 8 yr old to get up there and tear it out.

    If we do pull the deck it will be much easier to get at the fwd hull, and also all the supports under the deck & gunnels. It appears to be glassed in place, at least most of the way around, and I thought if I pulled it the boat would potato-chip and I'd never get it back into the same shape. Gotta think about that one.

    One funny thing I found under the gunnel was the rigging/wiring guide. Its a 2" cardboard tube fiberglassed in place with mat, but only from the outside. The tube came out from the inside relatively intact.
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

  14. #14
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    rubrail and tiebars

    Matt, I didn't put those tiebars in. The guy who bought the boat from me must have done so.

    I don't have photos of the rubrail. It's stcok HydroStream rubrail...I don't think it would even show up well in pics.

    JT

  15. #15
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    Here's the rubrail I had my eye on. Its 1.25" on the long side and 1" on the short side. Pretty low-profile. Haven't contacted anyone about ordering or shipping yet.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails rubrail.JPG  
    78 Hydrostream Vandal - under restoration here: VANDAL RESTORATION THREAD
    86 21' Eliminator Daytona
    17' Badetta sandbar skiff

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