Picked up an 8' Hydro/Runabout thing last weekend, what is it?

[ADDvanced]

Hey all! First post! So this popped up a few minutes from my house... what is it?



New to all these little fast boats; my dad grew up with them and I restored a lightning 20 years ago with quicksilver lower unit that I'll be using on this thing; I never found a boat for it until now! Any information you can provide would be awesome.

Other questions:

- What do people use for kneeling mats? A yoga mat? Snap together floor foam? Tossable PFDs?
- What type of throttle cable does this use? It came with a deadman's throttle that has a button to lock it in place; is there a way to wire up a tether so if I get tossed with the throttle locked it doesn't turn into a cruise missile?
- The hull is in good hsape with no rot, but the top coat of resin is a bit worn. I ordered an epoxy kit, and some graphite powder. Anyone have any experience with the epoxy/graphite powder coating you could point me towards? Looks pretty simple from my limited research.
- Where is the best place to learn about these boats, other than this website? Would like to know more history and basic rigging and stuff, without sorting through random threads. Is there a primer/FAQ somewhere?

Cheers!

[HRTV]

It's just a little fun boat for the cottage lake house. It's not a competitive racing design or hull. You can basically rig it with whatever you want and have fun at your local lake house etc.

If you want to learn more about Stock Outboard Racing start here:

New to Boat Racing | American Power Boat Association https://bit.ly/3uxBauz

With the popularity of social media, these days most racers and gear heads hang out in Facebook Groups.


The Hot Pit - Stock, Modified, & Alky (PRO) Outboard Boat Racing | Facebook https://bit.ly/3euKYQd

HydroRacer Live | Facebook https://bit.ly/3erjPhg

Throttled: Stock Outboard Racing Podcast | Facebook https://bit.ly/3tsg13r

American Power Boat Association | Facebook https://bit.ly/3ezFtjz

[Albert]

I think what you have is a sea flea. If you wanted more info you can find lots at https://www.muskokaseaflea.ca/homesplash/
as mentioned above not a competition boat but doesn’t mean it can’t be a ton of fun.

Edit for more answers:

Im not familiar with your lighting motor but you should be able to get that throttle working with it. Maybe look into removing the lock function on the throttle as you won’t be in this thing for hours at a time.

Kill switches usually kill the ignition (spark) on the motor. Once again maybe someone with experience on a lighting will chime in and tell you how to wire it.

[DeanFHobart]

Hello ADDvanced,

What ever part of the country you live, there will most likely be Stock Outboard racing. APBA.org is a good place to look for a race near you. Look in the ‘Schedule’ section on the top. Or, let us know here and we will direct you in the correct direction... or both. You will be able to see how these boats are rigged.

What type of motor are you planning to run?

Good luck on your quest.... whatever you do, be sure to wear a Helmet and Lifejacket.

[ADDvanced]

Thanks for all the answers so far! I have a Mercury Lightning prepped for this thing, new rings, new carb, and quicksilver lower unit, should rip on this! I rebuilt this engine 20 years ago when I was in high school, and never found a hull for it, lol

Anyway, I put together an introduction video on this thing:

Enjoy, and apologize in advance for any inaccuracies!

[ZUL8TR]

That is a nice fun boat project.

What cu. inch is the Merc with Quicki, 15 or 20 cu in? Do you know what mid exhaust tower you have on the engine? There is a long early version and the later 2" +/- hydro short tower. Post a pic so we can see. It matters on the transom height for proper running of the Qucki. What is the vertical height of the transom top rear edge to bottom planning surface, need to know this depending what tower is on that engine. Do you have a prop for the 1:1 gears in that Quicki? Two blade would be right for that rig. If not I can lead you to some props, matters if 15 or 20 cu in engine.

On the cowl I agree with you to cut the dash lower but further circular arc the top edge for a more conical shape to the deck. Will need 1/8" ply to make the curve cowl. There are other methods than can be used to do this. Epoxy a good coating choice, but needs a coating over that to provide UV protection or epoxy degrades with UV. If you want to keep the bottom wood look coat with a couple varnish coats or paint if au-natural does not matter.

Keep us posted with updates.

[Albert]

Thanks for all the answers so far! I have a Mercury Lightning prepped for this thing, new rings, new carb, and quicksilver lower unit, should rip on this! I rebuilt this engine 20 years ago when I was in high school, and never found a hull for it, lol

Anyway, I put together an introduction video on this thing:

Enjoy, and apologize in advance for any inaccuracies!

Cool video , I actually had another one of your videos come up in my suggested this past weekend.
I must say though, the whole intro and not even a picture of the motor! What a tease .

[ADDvanced]

Would have included it, but the engine is 1.5 hours away in my dad's basement. I'm going to pick it up next weekend!

[DeanFHobart]

Hello ADDvanced,

Cool video. William Jackson was a great designer/builder. Yes get rid of the gas tank..it weighs something, the lighter the better. The KG4 or KG7 that you have does have the gravity tank on the top. KG4 is 15hp and the KH7 is 20 hp..... let us know what you have. Do you have a propeller?

Looks like you could lower the steering wheel also to get a lower cowling...and I would extend the cowling farther forward to give it a sleeker look. Maybe you could remove the dash board and replace with one that goes completely from side to side. Or, get some clear 1/16” Lexan or Poly Carbonate and make a clear windshield. Lots of options. Search for some pictures of current outboard racing boats to give you more ideas. Also, ‘new fasteners’ for the hardware. Sounds like to me you know what you are doing. Good Luck.

[ADDvanced]

Sort of. This is my first wooden boat so I’m a bit confused by a couple things and I’m looking for clarity.

the boat is sound and doesn’t have any rot, but the varnish on the hull is a bit tired and I want to redo it with epoxy. Do I need to remove all remnants of the previous finish? Or would sanding things lightly so that it’s either raw grain or lightly soaked varnished wood, and then an epoxy coat be okay?

when I do the epoxy, I plan on doing one thinned out coat to alllow it to penetrate, and while that is still tacky I am planning on putting o a second coat of epoxy mixed with powdered graphite, which supposedly makes things even faster and more durable.

Given that the hull will eventually have that black coating; I don’t care about the wood grain visually so im just lost on how far down to go while sanding.

[DeanFHobart]

I would call the Gougeon Brothers technical help... they make the West System epoxy. They have great technical help.

And, call the technical help of Jamestown Distributors, they also have great technical help. They might be able to give you different solutions as they sell all the tools, brushes, epoxy, paint and varnishes for the marine industry. You could sent them some pictures for their evaluation.

[dwhitford]

The 10 hp Merc Lightning was the KE-7, the first in the series of Merc 20 cubic-inch 10 hp engines in 1949. This engine was succeeded a year or so later by the KF-10 Super 10. Both of these early 10-horse engines had 4-port reed cages, 2 ports for each cylinder. Then came the KG-7 Super 10 Hurricane in 1951 with an 8-port reed cage, so it was faster than either of the earlier 10s. Following the KG-7 was the 1952 KH-7 Cruiser, same power head as the KG-7, but with the first gearshift lower unit, same driveshaft housing and gearcase as the Mark 20 in 1953..

[ADDvanced]

I already bought all my supplies, I am just wondering if I need to go all the way down or not.

[ZUL8TR]

Having played with paints, varnish, polyester, fiberglass and epoxy with a bunch of new and restoration work on houses, furniture, boats etc I would remove the old flaky stuff that has questionable bond so the epoxy has only wood to mechanically adhere to. Some epoxies do not like certain substrates of old finishes to properly bond to, don't chance it. Use a finish remover then neutralize that product per directions, then final sand with 220 for epoxy coating.

I would not thin the epoxy or add graphite. Thinning effects bond strength and the graphite will hinder future repair bonding when refinishing with epoxy and other finishes.

https://epoxycraft.com/top-tips-best...-need-to-know/

My successful approach over the years has been just 3 good coats of straight epoxy all applied before set up with roll and tip and brush where needed, make sure epoxy is NON BLUSH so no adhere issues while tacky between coats. Then block sand to level being careful not to go thru the epoxy especially at edges (could add more epoxy if that happens).

Then apply a clear coat of your choice. I use a urethane based varnish for good wood look and is buffable if properly done (I have my go to varnish tried many). I do at least 3 coats with sand between coats with 320 wet - roll and tip method with bristle brush where needed. You can also spray auto clear 2 part urethane and do in 1 shot, this is a tuff finish but you need pro equipment or a shop to do it --$$$. On the race boat bottoms I just block wet sand with 320 to be flat and dull with in fore - aft direction for about the last 3 ft of the bottom and about a ft of the rear sponson bottoms. On natural wood finish I also use flat Black spray (particular type) in these sanded dull areas and then sand the spray paint with 320. Easy to repair nicks and scratches with epoxy and respray the black and wet sand, like nothing happened.

Or you could color paint the entire bottom after the epoxy.

Go for it ask Q's as needed.

[ADDvanced]

How is a response showing within my post? Sorry I am not new to VBB but this is odd looking.

[Albert]

if you click comment in the bottom right of the post you can put text directly bellow the posters. Just like this.

[ADDvanced]

Started the heat gun/putty knife scraping during the lunch hour yesterday, and then worked from 6-9 and have the whole thing pretty much scraped. Next step is clean it off and go over it with a fine toothed comb to make sure I didn't miss any little chunks, then wood filler on any gouges, then sanding, then epoxy. I think.

[ADDvanced]

Ok so a couple more things, I found some softer areas where it was tricky to not have the putty knife dig into the wood; darker, you can see a couple near the front of the boat. Wood doesn't flex and is still strong, but the grain in those areas wasn't tight/linear, and was instead more of a knot, scraping it was more difficult in addition to it being softer. I'm not sure if those knots just held more moisture, or what. I did gouge the hull a few places, and my plan is to fill the larger gouges with interior/exterior wood putty, then sand the whole thing down to 220 and do epoxy. I'll use microbaloons/epoxy to fill in smaller gouges.

Question on details of hull: For the rear edge, it has a bevel to it. Is it better, hydronamically, to have this rounded, or to have a chamfer? Probably doesn't matter much but if I'm doing this I'd prefer to do it right. Also, in terms of blocking it level, I'm initially using a random orbital sander, but then was going to switch to sandpaper on a longer board. Do people spritz the hull with primer spatter or anything to see low spots? Or does it not really matter because this isn't a real race boat that fits into any sort of class?