1978 Viking resto-mod

[Hippie459MN]

Looks awesome! Hopefully we will be in the water together this spring!

[ Post made via Samsung Galaxy S5 ]

[tnelson77]

Everything has been removed from the deck and its all been ground down and scuffed with a 24g DA. Still a few little things to touch up with the grinder before new glass goes on. I'm going to fill in every hole and start from scratch when rigging.

[tnelson77]

All rigging holes have been filled, core laid in the bow, core mat laid in the wings, dash board and rear board bedded and tabbed in, and side panels spliced to length. I'll be bedding in the side panels soon. I used some foam insulation board to make a template since its cheap and so easy to work with. Just need to transfer that to the wood and make finial fitment.

This boat will be used a lot to pull skiers and as a lake cruiser, not a 800' drag racer. This is why I added the core to the bow, it will inevitably get walked on, now it's not a problem. I was able to use left over balsa for all of this, I obviously bought too much to start. Also, the 1708 was left over from the transom work. So this step didn't add any cost other than the resin.

As for the core mat in the wings, this is about the best spot to climb back in the boat from deep water. The deck had a lot of flex in this area and I could see some spiderweb cracks in the gel. The core mat gives a lot of rigidity while still leaving some flex and didn't add much weight overall. Looking good for getting in the water summer of 2020.

[Hippie459MN]

This thing is looking amazing! I can't wait to see it done and in person.

[tnelson77]

Thanks, Kevin! Hope to see you on the water this year.

[tnelson77]

Side panels, upper stringers? I don't know what to call them, but they're bonded to the deck. CSM was laid up and the boards and clamped to the deck. I also added some Cabosil/milled fiber resin putty below the board and a generous amount along side of the splash well.

I added some 1/4-20 T nuts in these as well so I can bolt on hose clamps for the wiring and steering hoses. With the threaded insert I can remove the clamps and change things without threads becoming a problem.

It's all been cleaned up and prepped to be tabbed in next week.

[proprider]

Very, very nice work. Great job!!

[tnelson77]

Thanks, PropRider! I'll say it agin, your Viper was a great inspiration!

[tnelson77]

The deck is completed and bonded to the hull!

I added an extra brace in front of the dash due to how much of the dash board will be cut out for the gauge layout. I also added some speaker mounts to hold 6.5" speakers.

3M 5200 was used to bond the seam. I will also tab the inside of the seam with 2" CSM and 4" 1708.

The end is in sight!

[Hippie459MN]

Looking great. I love the speaker mount idea. Outta sight for sure and probably stay good and dry tucked up under there.