Stringer Reveal
Opening up the floor revealed just how badly this boat has been treated. They probably had wake jumping competitions or something. Most of the stringer ribs were all sheared from the hull and no longer had wood within them! The stringers themselves were rotten from the cockpit to the transom. This all explained the deformation on the bottom of the hull. Before I proceeded any further I decided to build a cradle for the boat to raise it off the trailer bunks and keep the hull square. There was an immediate improvement in the hull, the bump was gone, woohoo! I went ahead and finished removing the rest of the floor and gas tank. I drafted up a model of the existing structural design to get some ideas to improve rigidity. There is a clear weak point where the engine bay stringers and hull stringers meet (white board in the 3D model).

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That's all for now. Hoping to pick up some marine plywood and start mocking up the replacement boards next weekend. Ill also be replacing the transom while Its all in pieces.

What does everyone think about laminating two 1/4" sheets of plywood for the stringers? I read that laminated cores are stronger than a single piece. Plus I can stagger the pieces instead of having a weak point like the pink boards above. I'd like to just extend the stringers all the way to the transom, but I need to make sure the engine will have enough room and mount up properly.

Looks like it was built to take a pounding ,that's a respectable structure for a 22'small block boat .the mounting of the trim tabs looks very odd in pics .don't forget the science with tab hydrolics ,you don't want a tab failure at 70 in a 22 footer ,likely result in ejection of all occupants.

I really like what you're doing; excellent work! I had a 1984 velocity and did some work on replacing the floor and bulkheads with marine ply and west system epoxy. If I had to do it again, I would used vinylester resins. Velocity builds their VR1 with marine composite coosa boards and others have recommended using coosa composites for the stringers/bulkheads and marine ply for the transom.

Awesome project. My fever didn't have the floor or stringer issues hours has but it definitely had the interior rot problems we replaced EVERY piece of wood on the interior panels. But keep after it it'll be worth it in the long run.

That's my Old Boat!!! Over 20 years ago I Bought it from the original owner in 1991 and sold it in 1995 to a guy in Baltimore.When i bought it it was called Cant Touch This was on rear between the exhaust tips, I peeled that off and named it Terminal Velocity as the Tom Cruise movie was out around that time. I bought a Brand New twin axle White Steel Myco when I had it, I'm sure that has rusted and scraped over 2 decades later. The engine compartment used to have a Clean Big Block with Headers (not manifolds) and grey carpet with a bulk head for storage on both sides... My buddy did the interior with the 3 person back bolster but never put the extra layer of plywood down that you mentioned?? I rebuilt the 454 it had in it and remember redoing the hatch like 4" taller and building the box so the flame arrestor would fit with he taller intake we put on it. It was fast back in the day, looking back it was pretty stupid having 500 plus HP in front of a an Alpha with no external steering.. I only blew one drive over the years but remember breaking several couplers.. The boat would throw a roostertail like a jet boat. Great to see you tearing it apart and doing a full resto on it, good luck. I will try and find some pictures of it and post them if I find any!!

And yes I was 21 when I bought that boat and I beat the ever loving **** out of it!! Great times were had on that boat for sure!!

Patrick

Definitely laminate. Plywood is many times stronger than a solid piece of wood. Can't you just fit 1 piece of 3/4 marine plywood instead of two 1/4 pieces, then go over it with a few layers of 1708 biax? Also, read up on 3M Nidabond for bonding in the transom and stringers. West system 404 mixed with vinyl ester resin is a great adhesive to bond in hardware and also to glue the ends of the stringers.

Looks like a ton of work, but it going to be a great boat that you will have tremendous pride for when finished.

Wow, Kinda neat, i have one of those tore down just a bit further than yours, equally as rotten, and right here close by, Two Velocities gettin the redo. Spent the better part of yesterday grinding. I also have an long block LS1 sittin here if you think you need that to get started on your engine plan. Mine I am switching to Outboard to run Class 7 OPA.

The terminal velocity lettering still has a faint sun bleached outline in the blue stripe. The exhaust holes are big as dinosaur butts, and there are aluminum adapters to close them up for 4" tips. Its nice to hear some stories about it, thanks for sharing.

Bilgerat; I've been to loto once with my 18' and it was a nightmare. I can't imagine a 22 being much better. Good luck out there and be safe, that wake is crazy. I need to look into the LS stuff a bit more, I seen there are a couple options for headers/manifolds, but not much to choose from yet. Gotta find a donor vehicle for the electronics and wire harness as well.

Most of your sub structure damage might be from poor stringer encapsulation. Velocity along with other builders have had a lot of problems at points with their boats rotting out. It all comes down to improper drainage and not completely encapsulating the wood in resin. You just need a area with pin holes in the glass work to get wet over a period of time and just like a tree the water will diffuse and eventually rot into chewing tobacco. Coosa is great but it all comes down to what you're looking to do with the boat and price.

In my opinion don't bother thinking about a big block, in the 22's it puts the center of gravity too high, at speed they will get sketchy quick. Steve Step designed the 22's for small block's but many mild BBC found their way in them a lot. I know of a local boat that had a healthy BBC for awhile and over 100mph the boat was pretty dangerous. The owner pulled the setup, put in a healthy 400CI small block and the boat ran as fast and much more stable. Make sure you call down to velocity and talk to Steve while he is still there to get the proper x-dimension measurements.