I bought this 1964 Hydrodyne 1500 two years ago and am trying to get it ready for the water this summer. The boat looks worse than it actually is. There are two areas that I am not sure what to do about. The first one is common to many posters of the forum. I have a fifty-cent sized hole in the fiberglass floor back near the stern (red circle in attached pic). The hole is directly over some wood (a stringer I assume) and the wood is wet and slightly spongy (although I can feel some hard areas to it). What should I do here? I have seen where others have completely ripped out the floor and replaced everything. I am not opposed to this, but would like to use the boat this summer and then take it apart in the fall\winter. should I just place a fiberglass patch over the hole for now? Also, I saw someone mention that there is a difference in floor construction in pre-1970 boats. Not sure if it applies to this boat or not. The second concern is that there is small hole in the front floor area - second pic, red circle - (not sure what the correct term is here) that does not seem to be original. Seems like a previous owners hack to let water drain in\out of someplace. should I be worried that there is more rotten stuff under the floor? Third (and last) item: There is no bilge. The floor runs back to the stern and drain hole is even with the floor. Is this normal?
The front area looks more like a drain hole so it is probably ok. The hole in the middle is a problem. Hydrodyne uses a balsa core hull so no real floor is needed. (this is why there is no bilge area.) What you are stepping on in the back is the Hull. That hole looks like is has leaked into the core which damages the integrity of the boat. I would knock around the area (gently with a hammer) and see what you hear. A sharp sound indicates a solid area with no worries, I thud or hollow sound indicates water damage. Anyone else have a suggestion? Daniel
I would say you could use the boat with the rot I see. The front hole may be a drain like 2mercs says and the hole near the stern looks like it's in the floor not the hull, but this may also cause a problem in that you can get water between the hull and the floor and it will likely rot the rest of the floor and stringers. If the floor doesn't feel like you will fall trough it I would use the boat as is, but If it was me I would rip out all the floors and rebuild them, only I would change the design and create a buildge at the stern. I would also rip out the floors to make sure that there are no fractures or seperations in the hull fiberglass so the balsa is not comprimized. The boat being that old I would have a good look at everything before puting it in the water and find you have a big problem. Better to be safe than sorry, just my oppinion but if the boat is as appart as it looks in the pictures I would spend the time now to see what you have to work with. I understand your frustration having to deal with rot repair on my 74 I/O Turnament Skier. I wanted my boat in the water this summer to, but found similar isues and figured I'd deal with it now and keep the cosmetics for later. Good luck.
Yeah after a closer look at the pictures, it looks like the hole at the stern is in the hull, not good RunningDude. I noticed it after I posted. At first glance it looks like the boat has a floor, but when I looked more carefully I could see that the floor is the hull. Sorry.
I am restoring a 1960 hydrodyne and i have the same problem. I have the same holes and lots of problems lay beneath. I have lots of pics for you to look at. and info on how to take out the floor to rebuild. Your boat is not safe! It will need a major overhaul. Hope I can Help You to save your hydro. I cant wait till mine is done.
Hi there, I've had some other home remodeling projects come up so the boat had to wait awhile. I now am back on this project and have been able to dig a little further into the problems. First, I thought I could save each individual part and repair it as I go, but have realized that I just need to rip everything out and start from scratch. The seats were completely rotten and now rest in my county landfill. The wiring has been patched, spliced, taped, and everything else you could think of over the years. It is all resting in the landfill. The instruments had no chance of ever working; guess what? They now rest in the county landfill. Regarding the hole..... I took an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and carefully cut through the fiberglass in the floor around the hole. My initial cut was ~ 5 inches long by ~ 3 inches wide. The wood underneath was wet. I cut the hole a little bigger and then a little bigger again. From what I can see, there seems to be stringer running from stern to bow. The hole was directly over the stringer and the stringer is rotten across half the width of the stringer. I ended up cutting a strip ~ 3 foot long and I think the entire stringer will need to be replaced. The boat had two plywood boxes that were the bases for the seats. These sat directly above the stringers. I have removed them. From one of replys to my original post, it does not appear that the core is balsa. It looks like a stringer with the wood grain running parallel to the length of the boat. The stringer is not made of balsa. Also, in response to some of the other replys, I have no plans to put this boat in the water until I have it refit properly. This is my first boat and my first experiance with fiberglass. I am good with tools, engines, etc. and am not worried about taking this project on. I just have not done this before. What do I do next? I am planning to remove fiberglass floor directly over the stringer, but wondered if I should just take the whole floor out at once. Not sure if the would weaken the hull too much, or if I am better off just attacking this specific section. There definitely is one more stringer, maybe two (not sure if there is one in the center). Someone mentioned that if I rebuild this I should put a bilge in. How do I do that? If I replace the stringers, should I then install a plywood floor and create a bilge then? The floor up near the steering wheel is red and seems to be different than the floor in the back portion of the boat. Would the stringer run under this as well? The engine with the boat is a 1964 50 Hp Kiekhaefer Mercury. The steering cable casing looks corroded as well. Are steering cables, and motor control cables for this vintage engine easy to come by? It will be awile before I have to worry about that, but was curious. I'll attach some pics of the boat as it is today. Thanks for the help.