DSH or C Mod Sid Craft

[A/B Speedliner]

As Alan mentioned in his mark 40H thread w'e recently dug out of our storage facility a nice example of a Sid Craft hydroplane. According to John Scubert it could have been a DSH or a C Mod boat. It is a short sponson 11' 2" boat. There were no decks on the boat when we purchased it a few years ago and it looks like it was being taken aprart to be used as a pattern boat. Also a previous owner started to make it into a pickle fork boat but thankfully stopped short of the first rib. Looks like the original colors were natural varnish and dark red. We will be restoring the fine boat over the next few month with progress pictures along the way.

Here are a few of pictures as we secured the boat to our working deck.

David Van Weele

[A/B Speedliner]

I have strared the restoration of the D Sid. I have rebuit the front rib, installed a reinforcement to the rear rib, installed some of the battens for the fabric deck and installed a new dash brace. I have found all old hardware in our collection of parts including a nice Kainer steering wheel. I also found an old Keller solid Alum. wheel and was wondering which would be correct. Alan's Waldman boat is a twin to this boat and it has a red Keller Alum wheel.

Attached are some pictures of the progress, it does not look like much has been done but cleaning the boat is taking a lot of time.

David

[A/B Speedliner]

I have finished the bottom, sponson and chines and I am now working on the top side. New side decks and cowl have been install. The cockpit has been fit with a floor board and the first coat of dope as been applied to the fabric front deck. Only 15 more coats to go. Then I will varnish the side decks and install the kneeling pad. Here are a few pictures of the progress.

[F-12]

That one is going to be pretier than when it was built. Looking good!

[zul8tr]

David will you bring the finished hydro to a AOMCI meet even if not water tested? If done in time there is Lake Sheen in Orlando on Sep 17, Tremble Park in Mt Dora on Oct 14-15 and Lake Shipp in Winter Haven on Nov 18-19.

So far a nice looking restore

Pete

[Heliarc]

Looks like you are doing a great job. Sid hydros are really nice looking boats. Looking forward to seeing it completely restored.

[Tim Weber]

Where was the boat found?

The red sure looks like Berghauer red and they had a fleet of Sids. They had a white chevron on the wood deck with the fabric painted all red. It was a simple design but cool as hell. Yes, they ran some short sponson Sids. The most famous had to be " The Aqua Kid". Dave Procnow was the last to own her, he married Harolds' youngest daughter.

They ran the Aqua Kid well into the 80's with a 30H and it was still winning a lot of races.
It didn't turn the best but was really fast. It was really neat to see that old girl outrun new pickle forks.

Tim

[A/B Speedliner]

Alan and I have owned the Sid for about four years. We purchased the boat along with many others from Len Lupton. Other than that I know nothing of the history. Someone before Len was tring to make a pickle fork but they did not get to far thank goodness. They only cut back through the first rib. I was able to shim and screw the sponson back together and fill the void with a thickened mix of West System. I had to replacel the decks, floor board and the fabric.

I believe this boat had the gold decals, I have white decals but I wiould like to put it back as it was originally. The red on the cockpit sides I did but the red along the bow was original and I did see the red under what looked like overspray that was every where on the boat.

Thanks
David

[A/B Speedliner]

I am just waiting to determine which is the correct decal, either the gold or the white. The 55H is one I had Doug Kay do for me a few years back.

[Mark75H]

Great to see an old boat getting this much care. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures

[A/B Speedliner]

Thanks Sam for the kind words. I really enjoy the challenge of getting these back on the water. You never know where you will go with one of these projects specially if you try to get them back to look original. I still had a couple of the old APBA decals left so I used on the project. When we purchased the hull it did not look like it could be used for anything but patterns. But as they say in football after further review it is a touchdown.

David

[les_blue]

Very nice, David.
My first C hydro looked just like it, In bright yellow. Makes me want to go for a ride...
You have to post some pictures of the test ride!
Thanks for sharing.
Larry

[Fuelblendr]

What type and weight of fabric was used. Where do you get Dope by bulk.???

Beautiful job. Looks better than my model airplane wings!:p

[A/B Speedliner]

I used Ceconite normal weight, not the light used on ultra lights nor the heavy used on planes that fly over 200MPH. All of the supplies were purchased from Aircraft Spruce and Supply in Atlanta. I used 3/4 quart of clear (green), about 1/2 Qt of the premixed Aluminum UV protectant, and since red was going to be my top coat about 1/3 Qt white to make red or yellow pop out in color, and 3/4 qt of red. You also need a heating iron and a good thermometer to calibrate the iron to 240 degrees. I used about 1 yard of 72 inch wide fabric and 12 feet of 3/4" and 10 feet of 2" tape. I also purchased the book of instructiions and a Tyvek suit since all but the first coat is sprayed on. You also have to purchase thinners and reducers. Since I also wanted to spray red on the wood decks I purchsed from them a quart of the epoxy varnish and beaneth I used an exopy filler. Do not use Bondo or anything else except epoxy below the dope.

To get the shine the same as the rest of the boat I used West Marines varnish made by Epipephane (Sp?).
David

[KG4]

Beautiful!

[Ron Hill]

Two or three questions, or statements:


1. If memory serves me well, like I think it does, this was called a Short Sponsons Sid? Right?

2. I know we added up right plywood supports to my brother's Sid after he cracked the combings. Were those up right pieces of 4 X 12 X 1/4 plywood original?

3. I need to get you a round ear prop. Either a 7 1/4 X 12 Cary that Jimbo has.....He might part with it. Or a Michigan. Few ran a Kamic in D Hydro, except me. No one ran a Kamic on a Short Sponson Sid.

I probably won't see Jimbo til January, but I will "HIT HIM UP" to give me the Cary I gave him!!!

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Two or three questions, or statements:


1. If memory serves me well, like I think it does, this was called a Short Sponsons Sid? Right?

2. I know we added up right plywood supports to my brother's Sid after he cracked the combings. Were those up right pieces of 4 X 12 X 1/4 plywood original?

3. I need to get you a round ear prop. Either a 7 1/4 X 12 Cary that Jimbo has.....He might part with it. Or a Michigan. Few ran a Kamic in D Hydro, except me. No one ran a Kamic on a Short Sponson Sid.

I probably won't see Jimbo til January, but I will "HIT HIM UP" to give me the Cary I gave him!!!

Definitely a short sponson

[A/B Speedliner]

John is correct it is what is commonly called a short sponson design. The upright pieces in the cockpit appear to be original. Someone had removed some so I had to make a few replacement pieces. The original had the same anchor fast nails and resorcinol glue as the rest of the boat. The ones that were missing left a definant imprint on the cockpit sides.

I have a nice two blade Kamic that was reworked by Ted Lewis and a couple of Cary bronze C props but no D Cary props.

David

[Ron Hill]

Jimbo and I talked about this boat yesterday. His 1964, Short Sponson Sid DSH was 11 foot on the money. He has pictures of it, and he looked, his didn't have the up rights supports on the cockpit, but were agreed they were needed.

My dad sold at least a dozen Sid out here, we (Jimbo and I) are wondering if this wasn't an "ALKY" boat, because the darker wood was heavier than the lighter wood. BUt then again, my 1965 Sid had dark wood. The DeSilva brothers always put serial numbers in the their boats, wish Sid's would have had them...

Would you post a picture of the bottom, like maybe the last 24 inches????

[A/B Speedliner]

The boat is 11' 3" from the bow to the furthest back of the motor board. I made a mistake about the uprights. They were screwed and glued not nailed. The screws were brass like the rest of the boat. I have attached a couple of more pictues. In the cockpit picture you can see a print of Alan's Sid he purchased a number of years back from Kirby Pabst. It is the same dimensions as the red boat but does not have the upright pieces in the cockpit.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Jimbo and I talked about this boat yesterday. His 1964, Short Sponson Sid DSH was 11 foot on the money. He has pictures of it, and he looked, his didn't have the up rights supports on the cockpit, but were agreed they were needed.

My dad sold at least a dozen Sid out here, we (Jimbo and I) are wondering if this wasn't an "ALKY" boat, because the darker wood was heavier than the lighter wood. BUt then again, my 1965 Sid had dark wood. The DeSilva brothers always put serial numbers in the their boats, wish Sid's would have had them...

Would you post a picture of the bottom, like maybe the last 24 inches????

That's correct, Sid didn't put the up & down supports on the coaming sides. Not sure of the exact year, although 1964 sounds right, my 11' normal length sponson DSH also had the dark coaming sides. We put them on, or I should say Sid decided to do that as many were breaking the starboard side coaming sides where they met the deck. Those that drove Sids with the 45 degree chine angle know that the sponson would catch 7 throw your bdyy in to the coaming, those cracking it. I always padded mine with the same material as the knee pad to softhen the blow so to speak.

[A/B Speedliner]

Thanks for the info on these neat boats. If the upright pieces were not installed until approximately 1964 what should the decals be, white or gold? My 1957 B Sid Craft has the original gold and red decals. The 1962-1964 BU has the white. Also would it have been possible that the metal tag on the dash would say New Brunswick, NJ?
Thanks again for everyones help.
David