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Hi everyone, finally got up to the new boat to give it a good look and start taking rotten stuff out. Took it out for a test drive first Motor runs great fired right up, not bad for a '71 lol





N E ways, after removing the seats, the floor where the seats were attached seems kind of soft. Also the area where the wall in front of your feet attaches to the floor seems soft.

There was a ski pole plate in the center of the boat near the rear that I think was screwed into the core, the screws that came out of that were clean and the wood under didn't seem soft or soggy. the exposed stringers are in excellent shape, and the fibre-glass is very solid with a few stress cracks but nothing major.

I had a mechanic check the hull quickly and he said the hull was pretty solid, but he did it for free so i don't really know how well he checked.

I noticed that the last owner put an older motor on the boat and I was not confident that both the new and old motor/bolts were sealed up properly and I noticed the top two old holes were not filled at all. So the boat is at my mechanics to have the motor removed and re-installed properly and the transom checked, although it seems fine. This mechanic doesn't do glass work at all so he doesn't know anything about the floor stuff or stringers though.

So what do I do now??

where are the stringers under the floor and how do i tell if they are good without ripping up the floor? Is it possible to fix sections of the floor or should I replace the hole thing? Can I just put a metal plate where the seats go or is this just going to promote rot?

If the floor needs to be replaced, can I rip out the old floor with the motor on and the boat in the water provided i don't drive it? I only have a dock spot and no place to work on the boat as it gets stored in a barn I cannot access until launch and take out.

I REALLY LOVE THIS BOAT AND WANT IT TO LAST!!!

There's only one way to find out. Take the floor up. If the floor is wet, 90% there's more under it. If your going to go that far I would get it out of the water. JMO Those are sweet boats so what ever you do do it right. Get the hull sound and stick a big v-6 on it and hang on!

Well the floor seems fairly solid except where things were mounted like the seats and front wall, the side stringers are in perfect shape. The transom was checked by one person and he said the bolts haven't sunk into the transom and everything seems solid,

What are the risks if i decide to run the boat this year and fix it over the winter?? I am having the motor re-mounted and everything sealed up properly right now, the motor is old but should last the year or more.

Does anyone know a place in Ontario to get this kind of work done?

I'm with Rick, if the floor has any soft spots the core will be a lot worse. The bulsa rots sooner than plywood.

As far as driving a boat with a most likely rotten core it's up to you but I wouldn't want to go any faster than I would want to crash if the hull delaminates.

This is a xt hull that delaminated just to give you a idea of what can happen.

Ok, so if the transom is still good, do I leave that alone or is it best to do it all at once??

As for running it, I would not be going fast knowing the problems with the hull, I just want to get into a plane and get to where i need to go and be able to do a bit of fishing. I'm more concerned about going over wakes of boats etc. Is this going to be a problem?

Is this a job that I could attempt myself?

I have done some glass work but on very small RC boats. I'm also trained as a tool and die maker so layup and fitting of the sections is not going to be a problem. Still a little nervous to take on such a large task, but I do have all summer off from school so I have the time and could consider it a job seeing as how much money i would save.

Wakes and waves shouldn't be a problem if there is some core left but it's more a judgment call.

I think if you have done some glass work you could do it. IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME is the big thing. I thought I could bust my viper core out quick but I know I have over 400 hours into this think, although I went a little overboard. Just take your time and read some recore threads here and on scream and fly and you should be off to a good start. I think it's a good idea to make your own recore thread, that way if you run into a problem or have a question others can see where your at.

Good luck, I hope another cool stream is saved from the scrap pile.

I agree with what chet said. I say fix the core and a stream that age unless you have a way to physically check the wood in the transom I would put money on it that its shot. I say fix it first the right way then enjoy it for many worry free years.

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you may be lucky
boat looks like it had a cover
yea i'd take a look though before i go 90+
i'm in toronto, where in ontario are you ?
i'm also a tool and die maker

Yes the boat was covered most of its life, just recently the cover gave way so it has only partially been covered for maybe a year or so. I have talked to a few people and it seems the thing to do would be to cut out the few small sections of floor that are soft, take a look under and see what it looks like, if its pretty good, then I will simply glass in some new wood and run it for another year or so and collect up some funds,

ok, so i talked to Hydrostream Canada today, not sure exactly who i talked to but they told me to redo the core, transom and stringers would be $10,000!!! Is it just me or does that seem a little out of line? I know they vac. bag everything and use newer techniques and materials but still, that doesn't seem right to me. There are tons of glass guys that could do great work without vac bags for around 1/4 the price!

Also I am hearing that depending on where this boat was made it may or may not have a blasa core. what boats were made where and with what materials??

What were the different locations of the hydrostream factories in the us and canada?

Thanks again

Kevin