new member with a 78 viper

[aaron78viper]

hello, im new to the hydrostream world, and i picked up my first stream this weekend.. boat needs a floor, paint, gas tank, rigging, gauges, and i gotta get it running at some point. the motor is an 85? merc 115. my first question is this. someone previously painted the entire boat black, but now its in need of a new paint job. but the entire hull is painted also. i was wondering if it is better to keep paint on the hull or not?? is there a performance difference there? and im looking for some input for a gas tank, battery location, seat location, and motor setup to start out. i am 23 years old and have been boating for a long time, i feel like i want a fast boat that will be scary but not going to hurt me. and i want it to be pretty of course. any help or ideas to get me started would be great!

[aaron78viper]

a couple pictures for you

[265mercman]

first of you want to make it suggestive to the hull as battery up front gas tank in the rear cause if its in the front when the bow comes up and your on the pad the gas well move its wait making the chine walk harder youll want to run some kinda jack plate 3inch 6inch ect the paint is a good thing to know what kind is on it now a good rull of thumb is this lea laquer enamel acyrilic you can mix them together in any one...one on top of the other but not with urethens or any or kind of paint rigging dual cable or hydraulic is the best

[265mercman]

center steer would be good if you dont plan on two many ppl in it maybe center steer and a bench in the back for 2 more ppl paint will not hurt your performance as far as i no someone else my chime in on it but good luck what year is the boat looks like a vector

[aaron78viper]

i was just reading about the jacking plates on these boats and it seems that i may not have enough power to get the desired relult from the setback. i suppose your saying the prop shaft height would be worth it in this case??

[YDOC462]

Welcome aaron and congrats on the purchase! everyone on here will have their couple of cents to give ya to help with whatever you need on your project, majority of us have been through it. The viper with the 115 will be a fun ride, you want scary fun, hang a v6 on it. But most importantly!!! Check the core. you mentioned floor work, most definitly you will need to replace the core. Paint is just cosmetic issue, core and structure is safety issue.

Feel free ask away if needed and someone will chime in. cool boat and best of luck getting her lined out and water ready.

[ Post made via Android ]

[aaron78viper]

Welcome aaron and congrats on the purchase! everyone on here will have their couple of cents to give ya to help with whatever you need on your project, majority of us have been through it. The viper with the 115 will be a fun ride, you want scary fun, hang a v6 on it. But most importantly!!! Check the core. you mentioned floor work, most definitly you will need to replace the core. Paint is just cosmetic issue, core and structure is safety issue.

Feel free ask away if needed and someone will chime in. cool boat and best of luck getting her lined out and water ready.

[ Post made via Android ]

i dont really want to change the motor yet.. i do have a nitrous kit that i was gonna put in my mustang, i may try and see what that will do once i get the feel for this rocket. and when you say the core, what exactly is in there? anyone have a good pic to show me specifically what to check?

[YDOC462]

If it's an original core it will be balsa wood. Go to the project section on the forum and browse some projects you'll see what we are talking about.

Short cut to mine posted below.

Mine was a pile of turds when I started but theres also boats that seem pristine that have core just as rotten. Not trying to discourage just giving heads up. You can prolly get away with alot more while you use that hp. Obviously the faster you wanna run, the more precatiuos you wanna be

[ Post made via Android ]

[aaron78viper]

If it's an original core it will be balsa wood. Go to the project section on the forum and browse some projects you'll see what we are talking about.

Short cut to mine posted below.

Mine was a pile of turds when I started but theres also boats that seem pristine that have core just as rotten. Not trying to discourage just giving heads up. You can prolly get away with alot more while you use that hp. Obviously the faster you wanna run, the more precatiuos you wanna be

[ Post made via Android ]

thanks for the heads up. if it seems bad ill be looking into doing a good job on this.. i believe a boat like this deserves a quality resto. it wont be my first floor so i have a small idea, but my first boat had solid stringers. i only did a floor and fiberglassed it in. thanks for the link and info about balsa.

[YDOC462]

Best advice, just read everything you can on here. You'll figure it out.

[ Post made via Android ]