1979 22DC Schiada V Drive - Build Thread

[stepdecks]

Around December @Outdrive1 twisted my arm (which didn't take a lot of twisting) into buying this cream puff 22! It was indoor stored for most of it's life and almost all original with a history of ski racing in Lake Arrowhead (The Cumming's boat per @025). The boat showed as it probably did brand new in 79', came rigged with stainless underwater gear, 10* Casale/T400 drivetrain and a High Compression 468 BBC, Exterior wise it showed Gel 9/10, pristine Packlon Wood Grain with no hazing, interior that was very nice and definitely usable, OG brown carpet, etc. Sitting on a Original Competitive Trailer w/ 17" Torq Thrust! - Enjoy the OG pics at time of purchase before the snowball started rolling down hill and headed for downtown! Lol

 

[stepdecks]

After hours of possession the disassembly started! Initial plans were too just get the boat stripped and off to RSS Gel Work (Steve Vossemeyer, MurderVector) for full interior and exterior fiberglass and gel resto!

The worst part - trying to remove frozen hardware that hadn't been touched since original install after years of rust and corrosion, definitely made patience and tool selection/availability a virtue!

The point where I could finally see the potential with the windshield and transom rail gone! Finally could see the clean lines we all love, next up was pulling the motor, drivetrain, plumbing and wiring harness

Finished Product! - Empty and Ready for Lalo to get his hands on it!

 

[stepdecks]

Once arrived in Hesperia @ Lalo's we went over what began a basic list of to-do's and "blue taping" of holes to be filled and bouncing ideas of gel work and interior/exterior plans! Those plans consisted of:

- Full Capping
- Filling all dash holes except for the gauges and steering for a clean dash look
- Filling the old exhaust holes as future exhaust plans will be above the waterline/swimstep... shotgun style maybe? TBD!
- Interior structure wood and fiberglass as needed and definitely where needed
- Gel/Buffed floors and transom
- Removing the old fridge in front of passenger area

After a week of progress, I swung by with new plans and ideas and inspirations from countless conversations and bad influence from friends like @jstnoc !!
So I decided to lower the cap line 6" for a more substantial look and removed the black pins. Also to wrap the bottom line around the transom which would be the same color as the rest of the boat, as the wood grain was going away. I know, I know "keep it OG" but it'll be tasteful I promise!

 

[stepdecks]

While Lalo was doing his thing it was time to start making headway on the hardware; chroming/polishing what was still useable and machining new brackets, plates, etc for what isn't going to be used or changing. I was careful as possible pulling the transom hardware apart as I wanted to reuse as much of it as possible to keep the character of the boat. Everything went to polish including the trans!

Trans Before & Almost After (Haven't had time to go pick it up)

Gas Tanks went to Pogue Fabrication to have 3/4 Bungs welded in and then went off to powdercoat, the color didn't come out as sampled but oh well, we'll find a solution to cover them up down the road...

Before & After(s)

 

[stepdecks]

With everything making headway it was time to make more progress elsewhere... Trailer time! So of course I called my buddy Nick Valore (@cj222) of MadSkillz Custom Fabrication in Pomona, CA, who in my opinion is ground zero for custom trailers and refurb!

This old "Flexie Flyer" Competitive Trailer showed up as bare bones as it gets and we immediately got to planning and bringing a vision to life!
I wanted:

- First and foremost, it's a Schiada, so it was missing a 3rd axle. Haha!
- Straight Fenders, No Steps! (because cool factor)
- Longer Rear Steps with frenched LED light bar tail lights, and 3rd brake
- Custom bowrest and winch post
- Powdercoat, lights, wiring, full refurb, etc!

Everyday of this build there was progress being made. Nick's work ethic and craftsmanship is second to none and with the same amount of effort in the communication department made this process painless and quite enjoyable to watch it come to life - messages were exchanged through-out the day and into the wee hours of some nights!

With Stainless 10' fenders being impossible to source we fell back onto ordering 9" x 102" galvanized fenders (Pacific Trailers stocks them) and shortening them to fit the wheel spacing. Not having steps means that Nick had to fabricate stand offs with backing plates to accommodate the "floating fenders"

I didn't want any lights on the trailer other than tails so the marker lights will be mounted on the front and back bottom on the fenders, I sourced these Peterbilt Marker Lights from Raney's Truck Parts online, 6" LED!

And, by that night we were on the ground on all SIX and halfway there!

 

[stepdecks]

While Nick was doing his thing, Lalo made extensive headway on the exterior and it came out killer! He went above and beyond, respraying all of the almond and clearing the wood grain. We decided to go a couple shades darker on the brown to a chocolate color vs the lighter brown it was. Loving the look of no pins also!

At this time I was able to pull it for a week so Nick could mate it to the trailer for his final adjustments on the bunk height and set up the bow rest/winch post set up!

 

[stepdecks]

Back to the trailer porn!

Later that night Nick had it positioned on the trailer and new bunk height measured and mocked

The Next Day - We had a bow rest!
I was so indecisive and I finally told nick to do his thing and surprise me, he build a v rest to the angle of the bow (to obviously be carpeted upon final assembly)

I later told him to make sure he added his own touch on it which has become what we'd call his signature gusset on the bow rest.

With all that done...it was time for powdercoat and I chose gloss black because I feared trying to match one of the 2 colors on the boat and being a shade or 2 off in either direction lol... and I'm glad I did!

 

[stepdecks]

Finished Product! From Vision to Reality, Thanks @cj222!!

 

[cj222]

The before and after. Thank you @stepdecks for giving me the opportunity to build you your dream trailer. Im glad you are happy with it!

 

[ChrisV]

Looking good! Nick gets down!

 

[Backlash]

Man this turned out BITCHEN!!! That gloss black makes that trailer look sinister!

 

[crzy2bealive]

Can’t wait to watch this build!

 

[lenmann]

Great to see a build thread around here and the progress to date is down right beautiful. Nicely done sir!

 

[welldigger00]

Gorgeous!!

 

[stepdecks]

We have interior! Chose "French Vanilla" to blend better with the off white color of the boat.
Done by Rene @ Riverside Boat Upholstery

 

[Kachina26]

Amazing thread.

 

[Outdrive1]

Looks great Kyndle. Thanks for taking care of her

 

[Outdrive1]

You didn’t fill in the dash…… Putting gauges back?

 

[poncho]

Back to the trailer porn!

Later that night Nick had it positioned on the trailer and new bunk height measured and mocked

View attachment 1345206 View attachment 1345208 View attachment 1345205 View attachment 1345200

The Next Day - We had a bow rest!
I was so indecisive and I finally told nick to do his thing and surprise me, he build a v rest to the angle of the bow (to obviously be carpeted upon final assembly)

View attachment 1345202 View attachment 1345203 View attachment 1345204

I later told him to make sure he added his own touch on it which has become what we'd call his signature gusset on the bow rest.

View attachment 1345201
View attachment 1345207

With all that done...it was time for powdercoat and I chose gloss black because I feared trying to match one of the 2 colors on the boat and being a shade or 2 off in either direction lol... and I'm glad I did!

View attachment 1345212
View attachment 1345214 View attachment 1345216

I'm a huge fan of decking the forward portion of these trailers instead of doing the wet feet circus act on frame rails, not to mention it looks killer.

Beautiful boat and trailer.

 

[stepdecks]

You didn’t fill in the dash…… Putting gauges back?

Yeah I decided to keep it classy, to better match the boat. So 2 5/8’s black face livorsi’s with chrome mega bezel will look close to period correct and still update the boat at the same time - also saved $15k from not going motec lol maybe one day if I put an efi deal in it

 

[One2go]

Finished Product! From Vision to Reality, Thanks @cj222!!

View attachment 1345217 View attachment 1345219 View attachment 1345220 View attachment 1345222 View attachment 1345221 View attachment 1345223

Looks amazing,Mines going in to Nick end of April. Can’t wait. !!

 

[One2go]

Love the Thread. Going to be bad ass !

 

[Eliminator21vdrive]

While Nick was doing his thing, Lalo made extensive headway on the exterior and it came out killer! He went above and beyond, respraying all of the almond and clearing the wood grain. We decided to go a couple shades darker on the brown to a chocolate color vs the lighter brown it was. Loving the look of no pins also!

View attachment 1345194 View attachment 1345195 View attachment 1345196


At this time I was able to pull it for a week so Nick could mate it to the trailer for his final adjustments on the bunk height and set up the bow rest/winch post set up!

View attachment 1345197 View attachment 1345198 View attachment 1345199

It drives me nuts to see these bow down on trailer. I set mine up a little taller so i don't drag everywhere and FLAT on trailer.

 

[Ballyhoo]

Looking good!

 

[BamBam]

Looks good.

 

[stepdecks]

Looks good.

Thanks dude! Hope all is well. How's the 21 any winter upgrades?

 

[BamBam]

All is well. The 21 will get a new prop shaft seal and be back in the water soon

 

[rivrrts429]

Amazing thread. Boat and trailer look great! Appreciate you sharing the journey. Really cool to see just how much moving parts it takes to achieve the goals.

 

[HAP]

What kind of driveline specs you running and how big are your gas tanks? All looks great too!

R,
HAP

 

[sintax]

We have interior! Chose "French Vanilla" to blend better with the off white color of the boat.
Done by Rene @ Riverside Boat Upholstery

View attachment 1345704 View attachment 1345705 View attachment 1345706

Those came out great!

 

[stepdecks]

What kind of driveline specs you running and how big are your gas tanks? All looks great too!

R,
HAP

Drivetrain will be a 588 BBC w/ 1471

 

[HAP]

Wow, that ought to give her some presence. You going 2 or 3 blade prop?

R,
HAP

 

[stepdecks]

Finally had some time to pick up the trans from the polisher… waiting on gel and engine do to the dyno in the next couple weeks

 

[vstdispatch]

Back to the trailer porn!

Later that night Nick had it positioned on the trailer and new bunk height measured and mocked

View attachment 1345206 View attachment 1345208 View attachment 1345205 View attachment 1345200

The Next Day - We had a bow rest!
I was so indecisive and I finally told nick to do his thing and surprise me, he build a v rest to the angle of the bow (to obviously be carpeted upon final assembly)

View attachment 1345202 View attachment 1345203 View attachment 1345204

I later told him to make sure he added his own touch on it which has become what we'd call his signature gusset on the bow rest.

View attachment 1345201
View attachment 1345207

With all that done...it was time for powdercoat and I chose gloss black because I feared trying to match one of the 2 colors on the boat and being a shade or 2 off in either direction lol... and I'm glad I did!

View attachment 1345212
View attachment 1345214 View attachment 1345216

Back to the trailer porn!

Later that night Nick had it positioned on the trailer and new bunk height measured and mocked

View attachment 1345206 View attachment 1345208 View attachment 1345205 View attachment 1345200

The Next Day - We had a bow rest!
I was so indecisive and I finally told nick to do his thing and surprise me, he build a v rest to the angle of the bow (to obviously be carpeted upon final assembly)

View attachment 1345202 View attachment 1345203 View attachment 1345204

I later told him to make sure he added his own touch on it which has become what we'd call his signature gusset on the bow rest.

View attachment 1345201
View attachment 1345207

With all that done...it was time for powdercoat and I chose gloss black because I feared trying to match one of the 2 colors on the boat and being a shade or 2 off in either direction lol... and I'm glad I did!

View attachment 1345212
View attachment 1345214 View attachment 1345216

You must not be down with the brown huh???

 

[stepdecks]

You must not be down with the brown huh???

You’d know all about that!

 

[stepdecks]

Picked it up from gel. Time for rigging!

 

[wash11]

Amazing thread! The amount of progress in a short amount of time is mind boggling compared to so many projects.

 

[vstdispatch]

Picked it up from gel. Time for rigging!

Looks good dude. Why didn't u fill in the pick ups inside the boat?

 

[Motoxxxloak]

We have interior! Chose "French Vanilla" to blend better with the off white color of the boat.
Done by Rene @ Riverside Boat Upholstery

View attachment 1345704 View attachment 1345705 View attachment 1345706

If these are still at Rene's, they look great. I actually dig that color. Saw them today when I dropped my interior off.

Rest of the build looks great as well!

 

[stepdecks]

If these are still at Rene's, they look great. I actually dig that color. Saw them today when I dropped my interior off.

Rest of the build looks great as well!

That’s awesome, I haven’t even seen them in person yet!

 

[stepdecks]

Small victories lately, but we’re going for it - got all of the motor mounts in, waiting on steering from Bergeron mean time we’ll move on to running gear, and drilling the dash for the gauge layout.

Who knows maybe lay carpet by the weekend - motor goes to dyno on Wednesday so we’re getting close!

 

[stepdecks]

The mill is mocked up ready for final assembly

 

[stepdecks]

Progress!

Goes to @cj222 on Monday for inside transom bracket to mount the sea strainers and ski tow, and tailpipes!

Need to teak the swim step too, in the mean time

 

[cj222]

Been working away on this transom plate setup. Got it all machined with dual sea strainer mounts, ski tow mounting brackets, and a bezel for the top deck lid. Will send these off to polishing and start on the exhaust tailpipes next.

 

[Backlash]

This is merely a suggestion as I am not knocking your work in ANY way. You know how much I appreciate you and your talents.

I might try to reinforce that top gunnel somehow, just to be sure that ski pole doesn't move backwards away from the motor when under load. Ask me how I know. There was one on my 19' that was secured in a similar manner (At the base of the transom, that protruded through the top cap). It STILL moved enough that it elongated the hole in the top cap. The ski pole bent slightly, and it caused enough damage that I had to grind out quite a bit of fiberglass where the ski pole came up through the cap. My new ski pole mount will be different as I don't want to have the same problem a second time. Just a suggestion.

As always, thank you for the updates and the incredible work!!

 

[cj222]

This is merely a suggestion as I am not knocking your work in ANY way. You know how much I appreciate you and your talents.

I might try to reinforce that top gunnel somehow, just to be sure that ski pole doesn't move backwards away from the motor when under load. Ask me how I know. There was one on my 19' that was secured in a similar manner (At the base of the transom, that protruded through the top cap). It STILL moved enough that it elongated the hole in the top cap. The ski pole bent slightly, and it caused enough damage that I had to grind out quite a bit of fiberglass where the ski pole came up through the cap. My new ski pole mount will be different as I don't want to have the same problem a second time. Just a suggestion.

As always, thank you for the updates and the incredible work!!

Makes sense, thank you for the tip I'm sure Kyndl is just using this as a grab handle lol

 

[Backlash]

That's how it starts!!

 

[cj222]

Starting on the tailpipes. Got the 4.5" inner pipes mocked up.

 

[cj222]

Got one side welded up. 4.5" x 5" jacketed dry pipe

 

[cj222]

Got the other side of the 5" exhaust welded up. Tomorrow I'll get the tube for the water inlets, finish them up and send to polisher.