'78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

[bbodin]

Hello everyone! I purchased a '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Bass Boat this summer. It was in terrible shape when I purchased it. For the price I couldn't turn it down (not to mention that I felt it needed to be brought back to life).
Here are some of the issues that I have found so far:
Pointed out by seller:
needs to be buffed out, gel coat oxidized
new seats
carpet needs to be replaced.
Here's what I found upon inspecting it:
gel coat trash
seats trash
carpet mostly dust
deck rotten then almost fell through to find the stringers rotten and foam soaked and mush.
No telling what I'll find next.
The motor is in great shape however. It's a replacement as the original was stolen off the boat. It's a '84 Evinrude 90hp.

I am planning on totally restoring the boat this fall and winter. I have never done this before so it will be a learning experience for me.
I do have some skills and plenty of tools. I will have plenty of questions so I ask(beg) for help from the experienced here.
In the next couple of weeks I plan on putting it in my workshop then removing the outboard and the teardown begins.
I have been reading the posts by Oops about his rebuild and it has answered alot of questions. There are some things that I am undecided on. One being will I just pain the hull or re-gel coat is. And how in the heck is color added to gel coat, is it just mixed in prior to spraying? So far, I know nothing about gel coat obviously.
Another is, what's the best(economical) way of removing and storing the outboard during the rebuild.

I will be posting pics when I start the teardown.

Any advise prior to starting is greatly appreciated.

Brian.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Welcome to the iBoats Dry Dock!
This link will show you how to make a motor stand for your motor.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=266008

Gelcoat is similar to painting in the application, but then the work begins. With Painting, all the work is in the prep.

This provides some basic gelcoat information.

http://www.evercoat.com/imgs/pis/GELCOAT.pdf

Welcome Aboard Brian!!!



General Pics on How to fabricate stuff.

Click the Pics to Enlarge.

Stringers



Transoms



Decks/Soles

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Great! Thanks alot!!!!

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Here's a couple of questions right off the bat:
Once I seperate the top from bottom, do I need to support the outside of the hull somehow to keep it from flexing? For now it will stay on the trailer while I do the inside work, then I'll make a better support to do the outside/hull work.
Second can I apply a paint over the gel-coat or do I have to sand down to bare glass then paint. I've seen posts either way. But I am leaning of re-gel coating the boat.
Thanks.

 

[Hydra-sport_Road-kill]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

There seems to be two schools of thought on this. Some say yes and (wait for it . . . wait for it . . . ) some say no but all will agree that you have to be able to get the top and bottom back together again. To that end, making sure your hull does not change or deform is a very good idea. Take some measurements across the beam and check that it stays that way. My H-S has a strip of wood around the top of the hull as a backing for the rub-rail. Seems to keep things steady for me. I'm really looking forward to your pics and project updates.

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

There seems to be two schools of thought on this. Some say yes and (wait for it . . . wait for it . . . ) some say no but all will agree that you have to be able to get the top and bottom back together again. To that end, making sure your hull does not change or deform is a very good idea. Take some measurements across the beam and check that it stays that way. My H-S has a strip of wood around the top of the hull as a backing for the rub-rail. Seems to keep things steady for me. I'm really looking forward to your pics and project updates.

Thanks, I put the boat in the workshop yesterday. Today I will be Preping the outboard removal.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Here's what I found upon inspecting it:
gel coat trash
seats trash
carpet mostly dust
deck rotten then almost fell through to find the stringers rotten and foam soaked and mush.
No telling what I'll find next.

I think your next find is going to be a rotten transom when you remove that motor.

 

[Hydra-sport_Road-kill]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Unless you have exactly the right tools for the motor removal and because that would be boring and make all the rest of us jellous, feel free to share your technique. A good many of us are working out of our backyards, garages and carports, seldom do we have just the right tool ie. a Cherry-picker or fork lift.

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

As far as the motor removal, I'm thinking my kids swing set as the lift point. After all it will hold me and my two kids hanging from it. Then using a heavy duty pulley and the winch on my truck. That should do it. It will only be suspended for a few minutes then it will be on a stand. I've got everything disconnected and ready for the motor removal.
I'm gonna try to post some pics tomorrow.
I dug down to the center stringer and it is soooo rotten that in places it is not even there. That boat was probably holding a hundred pounds of water just in the rot!
Still debating on whether to paint of totally re-gelcoat. In some spots the gelcoat is gone and is down to the fiberglass. I'll try to get pics of that. I want to stick with a metallic flake color. I love flake jobs!!! White bottom which it has now and a deep dark blue top and stripe. I'm gonna try to keep the color layout like it was new. Just updated colors to my liking.

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

I have no doubt that the transom has some rot. Can't see any yet but the motor installation was a hack job. Some idiot really did a number on this boat in places. Just plywood and carpet over rotted wood. Good thing I knew to look before I bought it.

 

[Hydra-sport_Road-kill]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

As far as the motor removal, I'm thinking my kids swing set as the lift point. After all it will hold me and my two kids hanging from it [snip].

Please take due care with that method. The weight of you and the kids hanging is spread out over the structure rather than focused on one spot. Now I'm thinking about the cheap tubular steel model my dad put up in the backyard for his kids to regularly risk life and limb on some two score and five years ago. Now-a-days they may be better able to support a 454 Chevy Big Block with little effort.

It sounds like you're prepared for the worst when you pop the cap. My experience with my own Hydra-Sport was to find all the wood had long since passed into something more resembling potting soil than ply-wood. This made removing the stringers and transom somewhat less of a chore because I used my shopvac. It's partly why I'm looking forward to your rebuild.

Be careful about getting a paint vs. gelcoat discussion going. There are two schools of thought on that topic as well and those fellas are rivals.

 

[produceguy]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Pics are always welcome.

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

hopefully posting pics tonight. I will be finishing the motor stand today.
Also, how in the heck do I remove the steering cable from the motor? I got the nut removed holding the cable in and it slides out about half ways and stops dead! What's going on? Is there something else I need to do?

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Well, I got the engine stand finished. Those plans listed above are great! The measurements are dead on! That made building it easy. Still no pics yet. Tomorrow hopefully I will be reviewing on how to post pics. It's been a while since I posted some. But! Tomorrow is college football day so I will be watching Bama play without a doubt~ ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Motor ready to remove except the steering cable, still hung up. I removed the rub-rail today in between ball games. Someone has without a doubt been into this boat before and knew nothing about what they were doing. There is no sealant in between the top and bottom~ just a few screws every 20 or so inches. Terrible.
Good thing I got this and doing what I am before someone sunk it, got hurt or killed in it!
Got picks ready to post in the morning. I reviews on how to post them but I'm just too tired. I am working tomorrow so I should have plenty of time to post them in between Ambulance calls. (I'm a Paramedic)

 

[Hydra-sport_Road-kill]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Glad to hear you're a proper southern gentleman. I'm not sure we could abide by the likes of an Auburn fan. I lived in Alabama for a couple of years back when George Wallace was Governor.
I might have had the same issue removing the steering cable from the motor on my Hydra-Sport. I had to turn the steering wheel to retrieve as much of the steering arm as as possible and pull the steering cable from under the gunwale as much as possible and once the motor was unbolted from the transom I was able to move the motor to the port side the last inch or two needed to free the cable. I'm really looking forward to the reconnect, NOT!

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Okay trying to post some pics, here goes.
View attachment 113087View attachment 113088View attachment 113089View attachment 113090

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

Tomorrow I plan on removing the motor then lifting the cap off. What fun~
Ps. How did the pics turn out?

 

[Hydra-sport_Road-kill]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

The pics suck . . . no just kidding . . . the same thing happened to you that happened to me the first time I tried to upload or post some pics ro this forum. Review the sticky on the main forum list of Boat Building blah blah Hull Repair for how to post pics. Do it step by step and you'll be all set. The problem for you is the same as for everyone and why there has to be a how to do it on the issue.
I spent a good part of the afternoon grinding fiberglass from the hull of my own Hydra-Sports nightmare. Seems from your progress report you too will know this pleasure soon enough.

 

[bbodin]

Re: '78 Hydra Sport 168vee Restore Project

The swing set worked like a charm~! Perfect. I added a 2x4 across the top then two 2x4's screwed to it supporting the top to the ground. Hopefully I'll have time to post pics tonight.
I used the winch from my four wheeler and a Pulley on the swing set to winch the motor up slightly for removal. Then I lowered it down and onto the stand. Oh! I forgot my wife is gonna be pissed when she gets home. I stole the casters off of her computer chair to use on the engine stand. I go with the theory that it's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. The answer would have been NO.

The steering cable was removed prior to removing the motor. The sleeve that the cable runs through was just dry and needed to be lubricated really good. Came right out. Good morning so far.
Let's see what this afternoon brings when I work on removing the cap.
I may not be of much use later. I was up most of last night due to Ambulance calls. Nothing to any of them just the usual BS - I can't get no ride to the er or I ain't got enough gas money or I don't want to wait in the waiting room like everyone else.