1970 Flat Top - Coming Back to life...

Discussion in 'Hydrodyne Flat Tops' started by dill27241, Jun 2, 2013.

  1. dill27241

    dill27241 Hydrodyner

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2012
    Messages:
    14
    Location:
    Winnetka Illinois
    Boat Model and Year:
    1970 20ft Flat Top
    photo 3.JPG A good side view before she came out of the water for the winter....off for some stringer surgery!
     
  2. Brent Leiter

    Brent Leiter New Hydrodyner

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2014
    Messages:
    1
    This is a great boat! I am going to look at one this weekend. Based on your experience, what are the key things to look for? I am thinking of putting a T-top on it and setting it up for fishing. Do you think that anchoring the T-top will be a problem?
    BAL
     
  3. dill27241

    dill27241 Hydrodyner

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2012
    Messages:
    14
    Location:
    Winnetka Illinois
    Boat Model and Year:
    1970 20ft Flat Top
    Probably the most critical thing with a T top would be anchoring....the deck really is not that robust, so you would need to think about what the below deck anchoring might consist of.

    As with all boats of this age, the wood in the deck, stringers and hull will be suspect (likely rotted)

    I'm in the middle of a fairly massive gut an rebuild on mine....Deck off....
     
  4. dill27241

    dill27241 Hydrodyner

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2012
    Messages:
    14
    Location:
    Winnetka Illinois
    Boat Model and Year:
    1970 20ft Flat Top
    New Progress photos on the Flat Top restoration - after 1 year with the new gel coat we decided to invest a whole lot more into the boat....

    Off comes the top and we are replacing all stringers, below decks wood, reglassing, installing a below decks gas tank

    Essentially building a whole new boat....

    dillingham 001.JPG dillingham 002.JPG dillingham 005.JPG dillingham 008.JPG dillingham 009.JPG dillingham 010.JPG
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Mark Felling

    Mark Felling New Hydrodyner

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    4
    Boat Model and Year:
    69' Hydrodyne Flat Top 20' 140 HP I/O Straight-Six
    I just picked up a 1969 Flattop with a I/O since I am an electric power wheelchair user. I thought of it as an alternative to a pontoon. Open the front bow section the floor seems to soft for the heavy wheelchair but the main deck seems okay. I think I am going to have to have someone check the bottom hull, but do you have any suggestions for the best way to diagnose?

    Also, I would like to replace the center console and essentially move it further forward, so I can get my wheelchair between the engine cover and the console. It looks like I am going to need to get a whole different console on eBay something that I can get my feet and knees underneath. Has anyone done this replacing the steering and throttle and extending the wiring? How bad of the job might it be? Any suggestions for closing of the hole where the console used to be?

    Finally, just had it out of the water for the first time today doing some testing, noticed that the throttle was very hard to control to get it into neutral, essentially had to pull it a little bit into reverse to get it to pop into neutral and very touchy. Can this be just an adjustment or do I need a whole new throttle cable assembly, etc.?

    And one other thing I noticed was that the trim solenoid seem to be going bad, does anyone know where to get one?
     
  6. tj309

    tj309 Composite Specialist

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2010
    Messages:
    399
    Location:
    LA (lower Alabama)
    Boat Model and Year:
    1972 18' Hydrodyne
    Ski Team:
    Former Hodag Water shows
    I have found a gelcoat that you can apply with a roller. It comes from FSGI. unfortunately I cannot find it on my home PC. I will post tomorrow from work where I have the site on my work computer.
     
  7. kevinb

    kevinb Elite Hydrodyner

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2006
    Messages:
    459
    Location:
    Brookfield, WI
    Boat Model and Year:
    1985 HD 20' I/O 350 (Yep I/O Boat #2 of maybe7?)
    Ski Team:
    NA
    .....Hummmm....work computer....Hummmm.....Bryan pay no attention to this and keep landing those planes:).

    KevinB-
     
    Bryan likes this.
  8. tj309

    tj309 Composite Specialist

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2010
    Messages:
    399
    Location:
    LA (lower Alabama)
    Boat Model and Year:
    1972 18' Hydrodyne
    Ski Team:
    Former Hodag Water shows
    The gelcoat that you can apply with a roller can be found at fgci.com
     
  9. dynebob1

    dynebob1 Boat of the Month

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    Messages:
    557
    Location:
    Glen Ellyn, Illinois
    Boat Model and Year:
    1998 18 OB RUA- 250XS.and 1997 Twin Rig /225 optis
    I saw brushable gel-coat on their site. Is that the one you said could be rolled ?
     
  10. tj309

    tj309 Composite Specialist

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2010
    Messages:
    399
    Location:
    LA (lower Alabama)
    Boat Model and Year:
    1972 18' Hydrodyne
    Ski Team:
    Former Hodag Water shows
    Yes. I plan on using it on my project.
     

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