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1977 Hydrostream Ventura II Rebuild & Restore

Posted: Sep 08, 2014 3:05 pm
by Chinewalker
This promises to be a long, slow process, as it will be back-burnered for the short term as I need to refinish the family's antique inboard runabout first (1936 Hacker-design twin cockpit 19-footer). But, that won't keep me from occasionally tearing out an occasional piece of rotted wood, perusing eBay for bits and pieces, stockpiling epoxy by the gallon, and, maybe even just sitting in it and making motor noises.

Here are some pics of it the day we picked it up a couple weeks ago.

Re: 1977 Hydrostream Ventura II Rebuild & Restore

Posted: Sep 08, 2014 3:09 pm
by Chinewalker
This will be the motive power - a modern-ish motor (by my standards) in vintage clothing, as the most of the guts will be from the 1980s, a mix of 140 bubble back bits, capped by a 1976 cowling.

Re: 1977 Hydrostream Ventura II Rebuild & Restore

Posted: Sep 08, 2014 3:14 pm
by Chinewalker
I dug into it a bit last weekend, removing the homemade benches and the buckets, plus the rear carpeting. Revealed about what I expected - soggy, rotted plywood in place of balsa core, a scabbed on transom repair, and one neatly drilled hole right through the bottom.

Re: 1977 Hydrostream Ventura II Rebuild & Restore

Posted: Sep 16, 2014 12:42 pm
by transomstand
Some lovely workmanship there :roll:

It occurs to me you'll have to change your name. Venturas don't really chine walk. Other Stream drivers are always pissed at me because they claim I'm just sitting there holding the wheel, while they are working their *** off driving :lol:

Re: 1977 Hydrostream Ventura II Rebuild & Restore

Posted: Sep 16, 2014 3:49 pm
by Chinewalker
transomstand wrote:Some lovely workmanship there :roll:

It occurs to me you'll have to change your name. Venturas don't really chine walk. Other Stream drivers are always pissed at me because they claim I'm just sitting there holding the wheel, while they are working their *** off driving :lol:
Actually, that "workmanship" might save me some work in the long run as I've seen some posts about spending days removing stubborn balsa coring. The plywood bits are pulling out in large chunks and aren't really attached to much of anything at all.

As for the handle - I've had that since the 1990s when I was racing Stock Outboard.