1982 Hydrostream Viking Restoration

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Alice Lyons
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1 1982 Hydrostream Viking Restoration Part 1: Discovery Daniel W. Rickey Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Introduction The following photos illustrate some of the work I have performed on my 1982 Viking. Buying a Hydrostream in this part of Canada is fairly difficult as there are very few around. Thus one has to go to the US to get one. This is difficult and one often has to take the seller s word on the condition of the boat. The person who I bought this boat from only had it for a short time: he had bought it for its engine and probably hadn t spent too much time with it. Conditions for viewing the boat were not good. I had very little sleep the night before and the boat was covered in dirty frozen rain. Still, it looked very clean and was obviously well cared for. It included a fairly nice matching trailer as well. The deal was done and we pulled the Viking back to Canada. The photos tell the rest of the story. 1

The floor and bottom of the boat both sound solid. There were no signs of rot in the transom.

2 Figure 1 Here is a photo of the interior. It s about what one would expect for an 18-year old boat. The original carpet had been removed and the interior coated with white gelcoat & blue dribbles. The floor and bottom of the boat both sound solid. There were no signs of rot in the transom. Figure 2 Unscrewing and removing the rear seat reveals a little surprise - a rotted section of floor. 2

3 3 Figure 3 Ten minutes of work using pliers shows that there is a fair amount of bad plywood under the glass floor. At this point it looks like all we have to do is cut out the bad bit of plywood and glass in some new stuff.

Figure 5 At this point I decided to remove the entire floor. Cutting around the edge was quite easy.

4 Figure 4 This is what we find when some more floor is removed. One stringer has a rotten bit. The cores are not looking very good either. At least one stringer needs to be replaced. Figure 5 At this point I decided to remove the entire floor. Cutting around the edge was quite easy. The gelcoat makes it a bit hard to see things though. The plywood has about a 1/4 gap around its edge, so I cut about a 1/4 from the edge of the boat.. 4

Figure 7 With the floor out of the way it is very easy to see all the problems.

5 Figure 6 This is what the underside of the floor looked like. If the floor is coated to prevent rot, it is a very thin coating. Figure 7 With the floor out of the way it is very easy to see all the problems. The stern is towards the top of the photo. There is chewed-up nylon rope left by a mouse. The stringers towards the bow (bottom) don t look very good. The cores are looking a little dark as well. 5

The stringers under the plywood spacer have no glass or resin on them at all!

6 Figure 8 This photo shows the forward stringers (bow is to the right). The fibreglass work is of a very poor quality. Chop has fallen off one stringer. and the tops of the stringers are not glassed. The stringers under the plywood spacer have no glass or resin on them at all! Fibreglass work doesn t get much worse than this. Figure 9 This photo also shows the forward stringers (bow is to the left). With fibreglass work this poor the stringers never had a chance: both are very rotten. 6

The photo shows the condition of the core under the front seats. Note that one stringer has been removed.

7 Figure 10 The glass work over the pad core was also very poorly done with many small holes straight into the core. The core probably got wet the first time the boat got water in it! The photo shows the condition of the core under the front seats. Note that one stringer has been removed. Figure 11 Here s a look at the front of the starboard stringer showing the area where the stringer did not have any fibreglass on it. Note that the port stringer has been removed. 7

The plywood hole has not been coated and water is running straight between the fibreglass and

8 Figure 12 This photo shows the drainage hole leading from the front foot well to under the main floor. The plywood hole has not been coated and water is running straight between the fibreglass and plywood. Also note that the drill has cut into the balsa core. Figure 13 This is a view of where the floor meets the transom. The transom was not properly sealed and bilge water has resulted in rot. 8

Figure 14 Here I have exposed an area of balsa core at the stern (port side). The screwdriver shows one place where the core was not sealed. There were many others.

9 Figure 14 Here I have exposed an area of balsa core at the stern (port side). The screwdriver shows one place where the core was not sealed. There were many others. Discussion and Conclusion From the above photos it is obvious that every piece of wood in this boat needs to be replaced. Keep in mind that this boat sounded solid and looked very clean. The reason for its poor condition is that the the original construction was shoddy. If this example is typical of early 1980 s HydroStream construction, then one should approach an older boat with caution. If you are planning on buying a boat of this vintage, it would be wise to plan on replacing a lot of wood. If you own a Viking, I recommend that you install a few inspection ports under the rear seat. This would allow a proper examination of the wood under the floor. In addition, removing the cover would allow the area to dry properly. Keep in mind that if you install an inspection port, you may not like what you find. What s Next? In part two of this document, I will show how I replaced the wood in my boat. 9

1982 Hydrostream Viking Restoration

1982 Hydrostream Viking Restoration Part 2c: The Rebuild Daniel W. Rickey Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada daniel@cancercare.mb.ca 2000-09-22 Introduction Part one of this report showed how the shoddy manufacturing