1987 Hydrostream Valero YT Project

[VkingMike]

Ever see that kid at the fair? The one who says apparently he’s never been on live television before? Yeesh

Classic lol

[skialot2]

Ok. I will quadruple check. I will take a drill and drill into all four corners of the transom on the inside. I will also drill where I am going to put the knees in. If I find any black or wet wood, I will change the entire transom. But I highly doubt I will. Aside from the core, all other wood on this boat has been perfect. No signs of water al all. Of the four boats I have redone, this is the most solid to start with.

[skialot2]

Apparently when i took the floor out I exposed the bottom of the transom. Looks like the floor was installed before the inside of the transom was glassed in. Then they glassed both in at the same time. The wood looks great.

[tnelsmn]

Doing great work, can't wait to see how this turns out!

[skialot2]

I haven't done any work on this for a while because I hurt my shoulder pretty badly again. Been in an isolator sling for a little over a week. But it's feeling a little better and I am going stir crazy. So I am back at it basically with one arm. The core went further up in the bow then I thought. But I got the rest out. In the back there was a big gap where the floor covers the sponson in the battery area big enough so I could stick my finger in the sponson. It felt wet. So I cut a hole on both sides to take a look. They are filled with water. One side is half filled with foam with 2" of water on top. The other side is filled with foam up to the top. I chopped out some foam and the water is a few inches down. I guess I have to cut the tops off the sponsons and strip the all foam out. I drilled 1/4" holes in the back of the sponsons to drain the water. I am thinking of adding drain plugs. Probably should have had them to begin with.

[skialot2]

I opened up the sponsons and started pulling out the foam. I only did one section. I still have a lot to go. But it coming out easier then I thought it would. It's not stuck to the fiberglass. Because my arm is hurt I improvised and sharpened up a spade shovel to cut through the foam and dug out the middle breaking it up into pieces using mainly my legs. Then just pulled the rest out by hand. I am only taking the foam out that is below the floor. Everything above the floor is dry and in good condition. I am going to cut it off clean and leave it there. At the bottom of the sponson there is about a 4 foot section that is cored. I still have to get that out. I can see it is black through the fiberglass so I am sure it's rotten also. I am debating if I should replace the foam when I am done. There is no way to drain the sponsons if they are filled with foam. If I leave the bottom empty and add a drain plug. There will still be enough foam in the boat to keep it at the surface if it sinks. But I will be able to drain any water out that gets in.

[LakeFever]

I wouldn’t bother with the foam. It’s a Mickey Mouse way to add some rigidity to the sponsons that always seem to soak up water. Every boat I’ve ever worked on that has foam beneath the floor has been soaked. My thoughts are core more, not less, when in doubt. I cored my entire hull from bow to stern under ever square inch of floor. No regrets.

I have seen a few resto threads of yt’s and hst’s and adding some bulkheads seems common but my thoughts are core the entire sponsons, both sides and bottom is the best way to go. It’s low cost and high return. Labor intensive but otherwise a premium upgrade. The bulkheads are an option but imo at least you really need to lay glass up in a special manner to make bulkheads perform properly or you just create a hard break point. Due to the time this would take and the difficulty glassing around them as well as the ruining of useful space? Makes coding the easiest and best option

[skialot2]

Pulled most of the foam from the other sponson. Still need to get a couple feet further under the bow. I could leave it there because the water is draining out of it now. It will dry up eventually. But I will probably take out everything that is wet. It had to be about 50+ lbs. of foam/water in each side. I most probably will not be putting it back. I don't think it does anything for structural rigidity. But it definitely does some sound deadening and makes it sound solid.

[LakeFever]

The foam is supposed to add some structure. It’s also used on v hulls in boxes sort of like stringers on the rear sides. I’d be Leary leaving that foam up front. This is where you need a young skinny helper to get to those tight spots. It is right under there that’s for sure

[skialot2]

My checkmate has those boxes of foam by the transom and under the dash as well as a layer of foam along the sides. I could be wrong, but I think that is more about USGC regulations for required floatation then for structural rigidity. The boxes the foam is in are not very rigid. Really kind of flimsy. The foam I pulled out of the sponsons definitely was not adding anything to the rigidity. There was about a 1/8" gap between the foam and the fiberglass. Kind of like the foam was floating in the water. The fiberglass itself is in great condition. It's nice and thick where there is no core. I will replace the core where it is. But I am not going to add any core to where it wasn't before. Seeing how these boats were built originally and knowing myself, by the time I am done, this boat will be twice as strong as it ever was.

[skialot2]

I did some more work today. I finished cutting open the sponsons and pulled out the rest of the wet foam. I got it all except the very tip of the sponson. I got far enough forward that the sponson turns up enough so the foam that is left is above where the water was. It's dry and still stuck good to the fiberglass. It would be an awful lot of work to get out the final foot or so. So it is going to stay.

[skialot2]

I got the rest of the core out of the sponsons. The fiberglass covering the core was micro thin. It was wet but only so rotten. Mostly came out in big pieces instead of dust. Broke my multisaw blade with about a foot left to go. I have had that blade for a long time. It outlasted 3 saws. I used that blade to trim moldings around doorways to install around 1200 sq ft of flooring in a couple units of my apartment building. I cut the floor and stringers out of my checkmate and the floor, stringers and core from this Hydrostream. Along with numerous other small tasks. All that and the teeth are still sharp. But the blade broke in half. So I started grinding with a 120 grit flap disc. I only did the section where the floor and port sponson meet. I got the rest of the floor wood off along with any fiberglass that was not laminated properly and sanded the area smooth. Lots more grinding to go.

[LakeFever]

What brand blade was it? My oscillator tool eats the teeth off those blades like crazy. Hulls looking good man, you’re about to get to the fun part. Laying up glass is very satisfying

[skialot2]

Nothing special about the blade. Just a Dremel Carbide. The regular steel blades last about 5 minutes. I have learned anything that cuts should be made of Carbide or it doesn't last. I have a lot more grinding to do. But grinding is a hell of a lot easier than trying to cut out the core. But hopefully I will start laying glass within a week.

[skialot2]

I have been doing a lot of research about how to put this boat back together. This is the fourth boat I am redoing, but it is my first re-core. I got a lot of opinions from a lot of different people. I even went to my friend Jimmy DiResta's "Maker Camp" at Blackthorne resort in upstate NY. Thousands of people who can make things. Blacksmiths, Leatherworkers, Metalsmiths, Woodworkers and more. All kinds of venders and sponsors. Even TotalBoat was there. Unfortunately is was the woodworkers that were there for the epoxy's. Not for Boat building. But I got some good info. Opinions vary widely.

Most people do almost the same thing. Remove the old core. Put down a new core. Then stringers. Then floor. Materials differ but most basically the same. i.e. Polyester vs Vinyl ester and Coosa vs plywood. My original plan was to put a couple layers of 1708 over everything. Then put down a new core. Then cover the core with a few more layers of 1708. Then put in new stringers and a new floor. But after talking to one guy my plans changed. He seemed to know what he was talking about. He got kind of technical. According to him I am going overboard. According to him, if I am going to put down 5 layers of 1708, I should forget the core and just put another layer or two of 1708. Every layer of 1708 will and .044" thickness. 6 layers of 1708, applied correctly will be .264". That is over 1/4" thick and that to the original hull and the fiberglass will be more than 3/8" thick. That is more then thick enough for a hull. He said if I want to core it, just put 1 layer of CSM over the old hull. Then core it. Then a layer of CSM and a layer of 1708 over that. He said that will be more then enough.

Then there is the fact that most people put the core in first. Then bond the stringers to the core cap. This relies on the bonding of the core to the outer hull. I don't like that. The stringers that came out were loose. They were only attached to the core skin. Which was no longer attached to the core. I think the stringers should attach to the actual hull skin as well as the core skin.

So what I think I am going to do is put down a layer of 1708 in the pad area to about 5 feet from the transom. Then a layer of 1708 in the pad area all the way from transom to the bow. That will reinforce the pad where the delamination is. Then another layer of 1708 over everything. Side to side, bow to stern. Then put in the new stringers with knees. Double tabbed to the actual hull. Then put in the core everywhere else incasing the stringers. Then cover everything with 2 more layers of 1708. That should be super strong.

What do you think of my plan?