1979 Viking build

[LakeFever]

Three times a charm so they say. As of today the hull sits bare, cap separated, all core and transom removed. Layup is going to be balsa core set in ATC B72 Corebond with Derakane 8084P Vinylester for resin. Transom, stringers and floor will all be done in Coosa. Transom will also be set in Corebond. Prior to setting the core and transom in place I will be covering the entire inside of the hull and transom with 1708 before using corebond to set in the core and transom respectively after wetting out with resin. Some knees are going in, and four stringers. Core will run up farther than original. This boat is getting a full interior and will be mostly something to cruise in and feel the fresh air at speed. Power is a 98 200efi that will be getting a build thread of its own when the hull is complete. I want the quality to be as high as I can manage and this build to last so if you have ANY suggestions or want to suggest a different tack im open to any and all of that. I read everything I could about doing this and called as many pro shops as I could. I cant thank S&F members for your content here and answers to my endless questions in other threads, and there will be more so I really appreciate the support. S&F is AWESOME!

Heres some pics of its current state. There is some holes and hull damage from the previous owner/s. I did not strip this hull down but now I have to repair it. Plan is to grind the damaged areas to solid glass and use packing tape or cardboard with parchment on the underside of any holes and glass over them. Would I be best to do this with a single layer of 1708 or multiple layers of CSM? I bought 15 yards of 1708 and 10 yards of CSM. Take a look and let me know what you think I should do about repairing the holes and those gouges in the pics below. If you look at the first pic you can see near the front a patch with no gel, and the spot inside the hull from the top you can sorta see it, this was a previously repaired hole I will be removing this repair and starting fresh. Thanks all

[LakeFever]

Okay so new info is already coming at me Critique this layup or give it thumbs up;

After the hull is repaired and a full layer of 1708 is laid up with the vinylester and cured. I will smooth and flatten the 1708 covered hull with a quick scuff then;

Corebond over the cured vinyester
prime balsa core with GP resin timed to kick at the same time as corebond
set core in and let cure
Then back to using vinyester for the rest of the layup.

Do I have to prime the Coosa before using corebond too?

[Capt.Insane-o]

No.

[tnelsmn]

Dang! The last owner did you a huge favor taking that entire hull down to the woven roving! That just cut out the worst part of the rebuild process, putting it back together is fun. Great to see another one of these saved, looking forward to seeing this come together.

I wish I would've added more core in mine. Mainly at the point in front of the floor. That seems like a high stress point, mine even had a repair done at the factory in that spot. If I do another one I will have core come up into the first chine right at the forward edge of the floor and continue along that "body line" until a few feet short of the nose. That way there's no hard edge at the front edge of the floor.

Can't help with the different chemical questions, but the experts will be along shortly.

[XstreamVking]

Sounds good to me....Just scuff and clean the coosa.

[LakeFever]

Thank you both! We just pulled it inside the shop and materials are to be here on Thursday. Order of operations for starters is to make a cradle, clean and degrease the hull first with soap and water and a scrub brush. Follow that up with a thorough acetone wipe. Then we will grind some tooth into the glass and using air and vacuum only to clean, no acetone to aid bond by leaving the fibers fibery for lack of a better term. Then we lay the first layer of 1708 down with VE and leave to cure. Method to this approach sound healthy?

The only thing I go back forth on is the acetone. In auto body work we wipe all the time with reducer/thinner etc to keep surfaces perfectly clean. It feels a bit out of my norm to grind and not use a chemical wash after before bonding material.

[XstreamVking]

Styrene is the only one that will make old resin sticky. It's all I have ever used for wipedown. But it's nasty to deal with fumes and skin sensitivity wise. Acetone just cleans oils and may attract moisture since it has a hi evap rate. Fresh grind is prob the best. Grind, blow clean with good clean air and glass it up soon.

[LakeFever]

In auto paint the surface contaminants can get ground into deeper layers even the the metal and cause bonding/bubbling issues over time so the degrease is to ensure your not sanding any nasties down into the work. I will be careful with the prep, its critical I know this. The derakane is also supposedly the stickiest VE available. Hope it all goes well

As for the core Tnels I had a couple of good chats with one of John Spaeths guys who guided me with materials and process and he said core up to 6" below the bow eye. He also said dont put any wood at all in the bow eye layup, just lots of glass. Thought that a neat tip ive had a few loose ones now.

[LakeFever]

Splashwell delete. Thinking this is the better way. Will tie in the top of splashwell to the transom maybe make a knee brace that the splashwell delete ties into.

aside from that are there any concerns I should know of if I delete the splashwell? Seastar pro steering, seastar Jack plate. Any tilt/trim or fitment concerns?

[tnelsmn]

If you're running a jack plate you won't have any worries about the splash well. My plate is a 4" set back and the SeaStar steering is nowhere near the splash well. My only problem is the steering ram will hit the transom if I trim too high with the plate down.

You'll be able to fit a bigger tank and have an easier time rigging with no splash well.

[LakeFever]

I want to make a huge tank. I like to cruise some distance. I’m planning 4” setback as well I want to keep the porpoising to a minimum. Splash well delete is looking to be a go unless anyone has any negatives to add?

[rjdubiel]

just an example of how I did my knees and tied the top cap stingers into the transom, never were that I know of direct from Hydrostream. Really easy to do with a splashwell delete, but wouldn't be hard to do with keeping the splashwell either.

[LakeFever]

I dig that. I will be doing same/similar to mine for sure. Thanks fellas!

[tnelsmn]

Lake, here is an idea of how everything sits in relation to the splash well/transom. My plate is all the way up and trimmed to the max here. Plenty of room even without the well. Just depends on how you run your steering lines.

[LakeFever]

Perfect thanks! I’m going to run bulkhead fittings to tidy up the steering lines. I picked up the resin, coosa and a bunch of other stuff today. Fired up over this