1980 Viper Rebirth

[AdamDK]

BUILD LOG SECTIONS:

Hull Deconstruction - Post #'s 1 through to #55.
Hull Reconstruction - Post #'s __ though to ___(soon)
Deck Deconstruction and Reconstruction (TBD)
Re-Assembly (TBD)
Interior (TBD)
Rigging and Electronics (TBD)
Grand Finale (TBD)


Warning: This project will be a slow process. After assessing the amount of work needed to get this boat to how I want it, my estimation of a completion by July 2017 might be too optimistic.

This is my first Stream, and my first rebuild. I have zero experience. I've spent countless hours reading threads here and on S&F about how others have done their rebuilds to all models, not just Vipers. Luckily I know someone who worked for John Spaeth years ago who can help me whenever he can.

Also, my boat is currently stored at my cousin's farm about an hour's drive away from Toronto, so my work will be limited to random Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting of course.

Her current condition:

(minus the engine on the back)



The concept:



She will be reconfigured to centre steering, with a rear bench seat. Power will be an 82/83 150hp Merc XR2 Marathon Magnum if I can get the engine rebuilt; if not, then I'll be on the lookout for a replacement powerhead in the 150-200HP range. My current clamshell cowling will be re-decaled with Merc racing decals if I cant get my hands on a proper race cowl.

The Daredevil colour scheme will be gone. Sorry metalflake lovers, but I'll already be inheriting a 1970 JCraft in Apricot metalflake.

I'd like to get her gelcoated/painted as close to Grabber blue / Voodoo blue as I can.

I'll have to get my hands on some colour chips to try and match as best as possible.

So yeah, that's the intro post.

Day 1 update to follow....

[AdamDK]

Day 1 - Saturday November 19th 2016

Not much actual work, but lots of pics.

While I had some time to kill before my cousin showed up at the farm, I got into the boat to start ripping out the gauges and wiring, I was never going to use them and they were pretty beat up. And took several pics.























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First real thing I needed to do was get the Merc out of the boat. My cousin has a tractor, made its removal a helluvan easy job.



Now that the motor is out, I removed some more wiring and random crap that was strewn about inside.
We needed to get the hull flipped so I could come back later with lumber to build the jig support, but we couldn't get the damn steering wheel off.

Hacksaw solved that problem.



Even with everything out, the boat still weighed several hundred pounds and 2 of us couldn't get it flipped over. We had previously drilled some holes in the port floatbox and they were soaked. It was water weight that made her a lot heavier.
It took a 3rd person, but we got her over.





She's got some nasty gouges in her bottom.













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So that's all for now. I'm hoping to get back up there in a few weeks to starting working on the jig.
If anyone has some tips and tricks on flipping a boat hull with no additional muscle, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

[Hippie459MN]

Awesome.

[AdamDK]

Saturday January 14th, 2017:

70 miles and $450CDN later....my first MAJOR purchase for my Viper.








Slight downward bend in the port rail, but that can be straightened.





The ONLY damage to the plexi. The windshield does have very minor scratches here and there, along with some spiderweb micro-cracking, but we've all seen worse. A LOT worse.

So yeah, now that that's out of the way....

[Hippie459MN]

Dang! That thing looks nice. I need to find me a new windshield too for my Vulture. The one I have is all messed up. Its an aftermarket one and its all warped and was out of alignment. I was thinking of getting a fiberglass one from Scott (AFR) but with how low my seats are going to be, I need something I can see through, I think. lol

[AdamDK]

It almost didn't fit in my car. I had to have one of the rails sticking out the side window about 2 feet.

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[RussF]

[AdamDK]

Got my pilot seat!



Now I'll have to save up $$$ to buy the matching bench seat from Overton's.


With warmer weather fast approaching, hopefully I'll get up to my cousins farm in a couple weeks to start building the jig and rotisserie.

[Hippie459MN]

Nice. You just get the one seat or do you have a second matching one?

[AdamDK]

No just the one. If I had two then I might have kept the Viper as side-steering. But since I have planned on making it centre steer, I only needed one.
My dad has this seat stored in his garage when he was getting his JCraft's interior redone a few years back. But he ended up getting the original back-to-back seats rebuilt and no longer had any use for this seat. But he's a packrat and never got rid of it.
Just my luck he unburied it from his garage a few weeks ago.

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