1977 viper recore

[77viper]

I think I can say the core is done. My plan was to have it done by dec and I guess I made my goal.
I finished sanding any high spots and put a final coat of gel down.


The splash well panel is coming allong. I am using micro bollons to make the resin easier to sand that's why it's white.




I added the transom eyelets so I can pick it up. I will be putting it on a scale tomorrow night.


The transom still needs a little work but it's good enough for now. I hope to have the boat flipped by this weekend.

[Hippie459MN]

Looking good for sure! Making me a bit jealous that I have not started working on mine. Then again its lack of space to do it now and lack of tools being here at the house. There all in storage at my dads cause I dont have a garage at the house and that guy kicked us all out of where I was going to be able to work on the boat due to him selling the property. Take it there letting you rent out the corner of the shop.

[ccrick]

I like the gel on the inside. Looks clean! Keep up the good work!

[Surface Scratcher]

Man, you sure are making great progress. Your Viper will be way tougher than it was new! Keep it up.

Now, I don't to rush you, but would you care to tell us about your current plans for paint and rigging?

[77viper]

Thanks guys. I'm taking tonight off and sitting on the couch with my feet up.

I was worried about overbuilding it and was dreading weighing it knowing how much glass and resin I put in this thing. I went through 16 gallons of resin I will have to look and see how many yards of glass but it was a lot. I know it is build stronger than ever and will feel confident with some big power on it.

Today was the dat for the weigh in. My service manager races cars on a local oval track and has a set of scales that wiegh each corner of the car. I was guessing 600 with the thought of a new one being 550. we weighed the boat on the trailer first and came up with 840 pounds. We then took the boat off the trailer and the trailer was 367 so the hull weighs 473!!!


As far as paint I have no idea of what I will be using I have never painted and I hate body work but I will have to learn. I'm thinking it will be white with some blue accents. That can change if I see something else I like.

It will be rigged with the minimum. I have a digitron tach, egt,water temp in one. I will have a water press gauge and I'm thinking that's it. I might add more if I feel the need but since I have the vegas this will be my primary race boat. I will have a hot foot and turn signal style trim switch.I will use allison style glass
seats in a row down the center. If I go with the 20 I have a bobs convertable jack plate that will be set at 2" setback. My other option is a 15" merc mid witch that's what my gearcase is set up for, or go with a cut down 3 ram set up at 16". If I use a short mid I don't think I need a jack plate and can still get the prop shaft high enough.
The motor is a 92 200 efi that I plan on sending the block out to have the front half cut and some porting done I have a set of 36.5 cc heads so I might have these cut to 21cc and run race fuel. I'm leaning twords a bracato acu with a steem wheel if I can sell a motor or 2.

I feel confident I can have a complete rig under 1000 lbs. We don't have weight resrtictions in our race club .

[ccrick]

Don't use a jack if possible. With that kinda power you don't need any set back. The boat will fly on it's own. Don't want to change the center of gravity. 473 lbs is cool I don't think you'll have trouble keepin up with your race guys next year!

[77viper]

Progress has been slow the last 2 nights I've just been doing pidily stuff. I ran out of gel the other day so tonight I finished covering the entire inside.



I did finish the deck so I tried to gel it tonight with mixed results. I used a brush on the inside and it seamed to work good but that wasn't a flat serface so I tried to brush it on the deck. It didn't turn out good I will have a lot of sanding now.

I also started to fill in the corners that I cut out fot the transom

I have started to fill in all the holes in the deck, this will take a while, there are a bunch of them.

[ccrick]

At this rate you'll have plenty of time to get a engine together. The little stuff seems like it burns up a lot of time dont it.

[Hippie459MN]

I might have to ccome help/watch when ya actually start filling them in as I want to see just what it will take. Reason I say this is I have some good cracks on the bottom of the hull that will need to be fixed some how and I have no clue how to go about it.

Here is the damage - http://www.hydrostreamforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=37&start=30#p419

And I have no clue what is behind that transom plate.

[77viper]

The little stuff seems like it burns up a lot of time dont it.

Isn't that the truth. It seams like all the stuff that makes it look like your making progress goes fast it's all the work getting to that point.

I might have to ccome help/watch when ya actually start filling them in as I want to see just what it will take. Reason I say this is I have some good cracks on the bottom of the hull that will need to be fixed some how and I have no clue how to go about it. :

It will be a couple weeks before I get back to the top. I'm flipping the boat tomorrow so I can start ton the bottom.