Jim, Thanks. That lays the mystery to rest. I got most of the deck separated from the hull today before the rain set in. The last couple of feet in the stern had a lot of foam so it took some time to get out. Surprisingly none of the foam was waterlogged. This 'Imperial' will be going back together as a skier.
In this case the floor and under deck foam didn't either, even though the floor had been removed some time ago. The boat may have been kept under cover in it's past, but I loaded it up from a hayfield. I had a Glastron years ago that had foam blocks under the floor and they were soaked and heavy as lead. The Powercat I rebuilt a couple of years ago had foam in the center sponson and it was soaked too. Speaks well of the build quality of the 'Dyne and/or the long term care of the owner. Bernie
An update...I have the deck removed, all the wood is out and a new transom is in. Got the floatation foam out from around the rusted out old fuel tank and pulled the tank out so the hull is empty now. I also picked up a donor boat with a salvageable trailer and a good inline 6 Mercruiser 165 and outdrive. It wasn't running but I took a chance and brought it home anyway, I cleaned and lubed the starter and ran a compression check and got 140-145 lbs. on all cylinders so I cleaned the plugs and points and hooked up a fuel tank and fired it up. The lifters rattled for a while but they pumped up after revving it a couple of times. It's got a bad fuel pump and the alternator needs to be rebuilt but I ran it on the hose for about a half hour. So far I have $175 in the Dyne hull and $250 in the donor Silverline. The Dyne had a working Ride Guide steering system with a badly cracked steering wheel but the Silverline wheel cleaned up nice and was an exact replacement. The Morse throttle/shifter from the Dyne cleaned up nice and works well. I'm going to try and salvage the instruments from the donor too. Meanwhile I got laid off of my job after 37 years....got a 6 month severance package so I'm alright for now but it is really a weird feeling not to have a job. Don't know how far I can get with the boat now, I am glad I have it around to have something to apply myself to other than endless job searching on Monster etc.....but eventually If I don't find a job I will run out of funds to 'play boat' with. Bernie
Bernie, Sorry to hear about your lay-off and hopefully things will work out. Good thing your "play boat"/toy is a Dyne and not a Ferrari. Fix your boat as you can and within budget. Remember that you've got a great group of experienced Dyner's on this site that will give you their best advise with no charge. Keep us updated. Kevin
Well I got another job, started in late February. I took a BIG pay cut, but at least I'm not sitting at home fretting about what I'll be doing. Another plus is spring finally arrived and I got a few more things done on the 'Dyne. I got the donor boat stripped of all the items I will be using and took the poor old thing to the landfill and watched a Cat D9 dozer grind it in to the ground. It was just a cookie cutter runabout like a million others, the wood all gone and the finish ruined but I hate to see one crushed like that. Oh well,it gave it's all for a good cause. I got the trailer de-rusted, painted and re rigged for the 'Dyne. New fenders and carpet. I got the motor on a stand in the garage and went back to work on the hull. I got it primed and painted and put back on the trailer. The primer is Interlux epoxy and the paint is polyurethane enamel. The engine cover is in primer only. It was the worst part of the boat having been blown out of the boat on to the highway by the previous owner. I replaced some of the wood under the deck and replaced the cardboard tube cable looms with some 4" loops of PVC. I put the deck back on the hull in order to start the topside repaint. I think it's going to be a metallic blue. After hours looking through the pics section of this site, the boat I like the best was a white hull with a blue deck (I-ODyne's boat). Got a long way to go but it's well on it's way, a long sight from what it was. Here's a few pics.
I admire your determination. I am sure you will enjoy the boat. I have owned mine for 23 years now and we still ski with it when the children/grand children come to visit. My daughter can still do all the moves that she did when national champion. Don't forget the the I/O's are supposed to have a small hook at the aft end of the bottom. It is only about 1/4 by 1/8 deep, but it helps the low speed ability of the boat. A slightly larger hook would probably be desirable. I have used a whale tail, but it disturbs the wake. A prop with the cup removed will also reduce the stern dig. jim
Jim, Thanks. I read somewhere on the site where you mentioned that so I had already checked for it. Sure enough it is there....seems too small to make much difference. I would have considered it a flaw if you hadn't mentioned it.
Bernie, Have talked to you on the PowerCat site and am also a PowerCat rebuilder. Have talked to you in the past about your Hydrodyne and have followed your rebuild. There's a late 60s or so Dyne about 5 miles from me with a big block. Gonna go look at it even though it has been on the Dyne site and people say to avoid it. Gotta look in any case. If i grab it, I'll convert it to outboard because a big block IO is just too big and heavy. So how did you luck out with the core? That is my only big concern. I know it will have to be gutted and I'm used to pulling out floors and stringers, just dirty work. How is the glass work in these hulls? I used to drive dynes and Crosbys years ago and think I'd like to save this one if possible. Any pointers or thoughts. Gary Larson/CT
Gary, I know who you are ....I was pleasantly surprised at the build quality on my late 70's boat. Unlike the Hydrostream I did. before my Powercat, the balsa in this one was like new. I hope that the one you are looking at is too, but from what I have learned here, the early hulls did not use scrim backed blocks of balsa, instead they were long 'boards' that allowed water to diffuse length wise. If you were not wanting to recore, check the hull carefully. I knew you were interested in the Dynes when you responded to a post on the Powercat site when I had mentioned looking at one. I know you are up to the challenge, the only question is if you want to invest the time if it needs a full recore. BTW, these boats use 3/4 in. core. Bernie
