Unintended restoration - 70s Dateline Striker (Bikini / Sidewinder)

[MikkiJayne]

Hi everyone

I bought a jet boat a couple of weeks ago. Things didn't quite go as expected...

This is it when I picked it up:

and the jet I posted about the other day:

powered by a 2.0 Pinto:

Its a Dateline Striker - basically the same thing as a Bikini as far as I can tell, with a few minor detail differences.

 

[MikkiJayne]

Re: Unintended restoration - 70s Dateline Striker (Bikini / Sidewinder)

The plan was a quick tidy up, and then go play. The front seats aren't original obviously, but other than that it seemed in reasonable condition, just in need of some cosmetic work. The deck was solid too (or so I thought), having been replaced at some point in the past.

I got it home and took the carpet out, as it was a bit damp, and thats when it all started to unravel. I discovered a couple of holes drilled in the deck so naturally poked a stick in them. 6" of brown water was my reward I cut a 2" hole with a hole saw, hoping to pump it out and discovered rotten plywood, waterlogged foam, and what might once have been a stringer floating around :facepalm: "Sold as seen" said the receipt...

I didn't get that many pics of the disgusting mess as I hacked it all out, but I'm sure many of you have seen it all before. Here's a random shot of one of only two stringers in the whole boat:

and one as the deck was coming out:

Two weeks on and all the deck is out, and I'm tidying up the rough edges:

The stripe on the left is where I've been cleaning it up with acetone.

 

[MikkiJayne]

Re: Unintended restoration - 70s Dateline Striker (Bikini / Sidewinder)

There's a weird damp patch that keeps weeping...

There's nothing visible on the outside and it all feels solid. Could this just be an air pocket in the layup that needs time to dry out?

Also there are a bunch of these little warts in the fibre:

None of these are weeping, but some of them do seem to have a lot of dirt in them. Is it ok to leave them, or should I cut them off and glass over them?

Also there is a *lot* of dry fibre. Is there any point in trying to wet them out with fresh resin? My engineering instinct says yes, but I'd value an experienced opinion
This is some of the woven bit round the engine bay, but theres a lot of csm like this too.

I know there is a ton of work here to get this back to a usable state, but inspired by kwik_uk's Bumble Bee restoration I'm determined to restore it back to better than factory. Build quality is pretty poor, so there are a lot of improvements to be made - some stringers to reinforce the hull for a start! Plus a lot of reinforcement elsewhere to stop it being a big wobbly shell.

I'm hoping to use this thread partly as a project log, but also to ask all you experts about stuff I'm not sure about. Thanks in advance!

Mikki

 

[MikkiJayne]

Re: Unintended restoration - 70s Dateline Striker (Bikini / Sidewinder)

So, grinding, reading, grinding, reading, etc... Finally time to start putting glass back in it instead of making expensive dust.

I have noticed that there is a hook in the hull, which from other threads appears to have been caused by it sitting on the trailer badly (and in no small part from the fact that there were no stringers or reinforcement in the hull at all, coupled with the 400lbs of water and rotten foam under the floor). I also read in other threads that such a characteristic is dangerous - why is this?

The red line is where the chine ought to be based on the others.

Is this curable without cutting the hull apart? I'm wondering if I can weight it from the inside and warm it up whether it could be persuaded back in to shape before I put some stringers in?

Thanks guys

 

[MikkiJayne]

Re: Unintended restoration - 70s Dateline Striker (Bikini / Sidewinder)

130 views and not one reply? Did I say something wrong or break some kind of protocol?