Minnesota Classic Glastron Forum
General Category => Members Profiles / Introductions => Topic started by: Aj1 on December 28, 2016, 07:52:05 AM
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Hello all, new member here, I just thought I'd say hi and share my classic Glastron with you all. My dad bought this boat in the mid 80's and it has spent much of its life on the trailer with the exception of 1 or 2 times a year at the family lake cabin. That said, sadly it has also not had the greatest of care, unfortunately the transom and the stringers are nearly completely rotten. I bought it from my dad this past summer and used it a bit and then at the end of the season embarked on the repair of this classic boat. It is probably not worth the expense but I cannot bear to se it trashed, especially when the hull is as good as it is. So, I am rebuilding it and also upgrading it, I have taken many photos already and will endeavor to add them as I go along in an effort to get suggestions as well as help others considering this! Attached is a photo of my classic Glastron as well as a few of the beginning of my deconstruction, the floor was so soft in the back that I literally used only a box cutter and my hand to pull the board up! :-/
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Here it is!
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Awesome introduction, and welcome.
I think most of us have gone through the rebuilding process and I think you have a good handle on it as well. Looks like a nice clean hull, that will be a fun boat to run, especially being a family aerloom.
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Welcome to the site and a further welcome to the draw of the classic Glastron. There is a wealth of information to be found here regarding the restoration of your craft. As a suggestion, please look through the archives related to stringer/floor replacement and fiberglass work, when you get stuck there is help. The restoration threads may not be the exact model of your boat, but the same process generally applies to all the Glastrons. After looking through the threads, you will notice that there is multiple ways to accomplish a given task, most craftsmen have their process and of course their budgets to consider. You may also notice not to ask questions largely governed by opinion such as what material to use for stringers/transom, engine oils, or what is the best prop. These topics have been covered numerous times and are well documented. Not suggesting you don't ask, but if you do, getting a "rolling eyes" emoji, you'll know why. Restoring a classic Glastron is worth the effort, but it can be hard work and have significant costs associated with the project, but if your willing to put in the time, it can be very satisfying. Should you require someone else to perform the work, prepare for a bit of sticker shock, as a full restoration is very labor intensive and only increases as the size of the boat does. Your story is a familiar one, there have been numerous owners who have had boats previously owners by other family members.
When your restoration is complete consider inside storage when not in use, and your craft will likely live long enough to be handed down to your grandchildren. If outdoor storage is your only choice, invest in the best cover/top you can afford. Good luck, Michael.
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Welcome to the forum AJ1 !
Hull / Gel look good, seats look good, floor not so good ...
Glastron's didn't have the best hull drainage designs, and you see the results.
Like Mike said, do some reading, ask some questions, get your grinder and "Go for it" !
Should run pretty good with the V4 Johnson on the stern !
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Oldfishguy,plugcheck,hyperacme, thanks for the welcome guys. It does do very well actuallywith the 85 on the back, I think once I'm done it'll be much better actually, I feel like there is about 400# of waterlogged wood in the hull. I also plan to make a comprehensive drain system including bilge pump in the floor since it is apart now is the time right! Like I said, I'll continue to update with photos as I go along, it's freezing in Michigan so I'm not getting in the water anytime soon!
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Ok guys, got a couple hours this weekend to take some more of the boat apart, I leaned some interesting things here, for anyone taking one of these apart, it looks like the stringers stop at the bulkhead at the feet of the driver, you can see this in the photo, also, unfortunately it looks like the way the stringers were glassed in on this hull was a very poorly done job, you can see one of the stringers where there is a gap of about 1/2" between the glass and the stringer wood! It was never laminated to a uniform unit! Also I got the motor off, not an easy task for one man, but doable. That said, also attached here is a pic of the steering cable, despite its age, it moves smoothly and after a little wd40 on the coupler between the cable end and steering tube came loose fairly easily, I can attribute this I believe to you can see in the pic that there is a grease fitting that my dad ( who I got this boat from) installed in the cable ferrule many years ago, highly recommend this upgrade if it's in your skillset. With all that said, my next step is im going to take the windshield assembly off, then I'm going to take a high speed cut off wheel all the way around the inside where the glass overlay remains where the floorboards were to trim it down to clean and smooth, then separate the top hull from the bottom, once that's complete, I'll also slice the remaining glass holding the transom in since it's rotted too and clean that up, then get started on cutting a new transom board as well as stringers. I plan to glass the new ones in using probably 24oz woven roving as well as west system g-flex epoxy to install the boards, then probably finish coat with west 105/205 resin hardener. This may be overkill here, I'm not sure but I'd be real interested in hearing your guys' thoughts and opinions on the subject and a intelligent direction to go, thanks!
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Here's the pics
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More
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Sounds like a good start, tear it down to the bare glass and build up from there. You mentioned using a cut off wheel to cut all the way around to separate the top and bottom. There will be some tabbing, mostly at the transom, but the top is held on by a series of screws both under and through the rub rail. The bottom has a ring, generally 3/4" ply material that the screws bite into. In many cases of restorations, you will find yourself repairing or replacing this ring as well. Over time the holes can get lose their ability to hold a screw tightly. Personally, I reuse the holes through the glass itself unless the glass is badly cracked around it. If I may offer one suggestion, if the bottom/top will be separated for a long time, I use 4-5 motorcycle trailer type straps to pull the hull sides in to keep them in the approximate position there will be in when the top mates back on. This prevents the hull taking somewhat a "set" and making the top install all the more difficult. Good luck, keep posting progress.
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I did mine over the winter, would spend an hour or two in unheated garage cutting and grinding old rotted wood, a few nights a week.
I used a "Oscillating Multi-Tool" http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/oscillating-tools/oscillating-multi-tool-62279.html (http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/oscillating-tools/oscillating-multi-tool-62279.html)
Slow going, but easy to control cutting ...
By spring I had most of the wood/glass cut out, wind shield, rub rail and trim removed, ready to remove deck and start repairs.
I only did transom and rear floor / drain bowl, so you will have more work after your deck is removed.
We (four of us) were able to remove deck and make all repairs in one long 12 hour day, yours might take a bit longer so would use some straps to hold sides from bowing out.
I wouldn't chance using the old steering, new NFB system are $200 to $300, and well worth the money.
So many BAD things could happen if it ever locked up again ...
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Thanks for the suggestions gents, I do want correct myself here as I titled the post V 166 when in fact it's a t166, as I learn more it's so obvious t=trihull haha, in any case, what are the general consensus on my idea to use the woven roven 24oz and g flex ?
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Personally I use 1708 biax (woven roven and csm stitched together) and polyvinyl resin as was used originally on these old boats. Epoxy is good stuff, some say the best. But once you lay it up with epoxy you can't use poly cuz it won't stick.
It's all up to you, do the research and make your choice.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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For budget reasons, I used exterior grade plywood, polyester resin and 1708 biax on mine.
My original transom was two 1/2 inch boards screwed together and glassed in, I went with two 3/4 inch board with biax sandwiched between them and tabbed in with the biax. Had to use a router around splash well (cut thickness down to 1 inch) so deck would fit ...
I used about 2 gal. of resin for transom and floor/drain bowel under splash well, and a 1/2 gal. thinned down with styrene, that went for other things like side panels, bottom seat boxes, holes in transom for motor mount, bilge drain, splash well drain.
Got all my stuff here, GREAT people !
Told them what I was doing and they told me what I should use and how much I needed.
http://expresscomposites.com/ (http://expresscomposites.com/)
If or when I ever do another boat, I think I would go with the vinylester resin ...
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Ok, finally got time to make more progress, I discovered the following THis hull is actually very easy to take apart, remove the rub rail screws all the way around, remove the 15 or so machine screws at the front by the seats, then cut a fiberglass tab that is under the splash well at the back and some epoxy that holds the edge together where the motor bolts on, then lift with a strong shoulder and off it pops! I put eyebolts in the rubrail screwholes and then used some parachute cord to keep the bottom hull from sagging like suggested too, just hadnt put them in yet in this photo, I found that basically all wood behind the bulkhead in front of the drivers feet needs replaced, I can't believe we were still putting this in the water! I think I'll not share that with my wife and just count my blessings that I did this when I did, as we all know the alternative is a catastrophic event. Next step for me is to start cutting old glass and removing rotten wood. My plan I think will be to rebuild the transom/fuel can area first and then work forward, that way the strength that remains from the stringers will help support while I work at the back, the. Ice thing here? Super easy to work standing behind it!!
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Here's what she looks like!! 😬😫
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Cut the floor pan where the gas tanks sit out last night as well as the bulkhead that is the front support for it, gas can floor came out in one piece, partially rotten but still ok-ish, will be able to use it for a template, the bulkhead was terrible, extremely rotten, but I was still able to extract it and I think I'll be able to make a template for it as well. Something I learned for anyone else for future reference which shocked me, this rear bulkhead had ZERO fiberglass on it, I was shocked! Also, the ends of the stringers can be seen here, the glasses over most of the stringer but left the end cap open, right where it sits in the bilge water! It never had a chance! Anyhow, here's the photos......
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Most of us aren't going to be shocked honestly. They're extremely stylish boats...they're not extremely well built boats.
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Your pictures didn't post ...
Not surprised at all ...
Picture #1 ... Left side of my transom wood was so wet and rotted, I removed most of it with my hands.
Picture #2 ... The holes drilled to drain hull into bilge well, were two inches above lowest point and were NOT sealed.
Water puddled under un-sealed rear floor wood, unable to drain.
Though .. It did last 40 years ... LOL
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Oops!
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Ok guys, I added those pics that didn't make it, so you can see them, but today was such nice weather and the wife left at 2:30 for a bachelorette party so I had a good amount of time to get some serious cutting & grinding done, in the next couple pics you can see that I was able to remove the transom board, thankfully in one piece, but very rotten, so at least I'll be able to use it for a template again, and also there were 2 triangular pieces of wood glasses in at either end of the transom, also very rotten, but again at least I was able to dig them out in pretty much one piece, they are all laid out to dry for now, after I extracted all of that rotten wood, I got to work on cutting glass tabs and grinding downexcess resin, there is a LOT of it! The good news is that I THINK that once I have my hull ground and prepped I think that setting in new stringers and transom will actually be fairly straightforward, it's a pretty simple design, I'm considering adding an additional bulkhead in the center of the hull to add additional strength. Anyway, here's today's progress!
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Pics from today
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More, also, in the second photo, you can see that apparently a corrugated cardboard liner was used under some of the fiberglass? Have any of you gents ever seen that? I have finally come to the realization that these boats as mentioned by dorelse seem to have questionable construction methods. The nice thing I keep telling myself though is I now have the authority to build it as I see fit!
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Ok all, I know it has been a long time, but I finally did get back to doing the work on my t166. After I got it torn completely down over the last two years ( I’ve been busy going to school and studying for the most) I am finally nearly done with it, I have taken plenty of pictures along the way to show pretty good progression so I hope that this can also serve as a “ semi tutorial “ or a go-by for someone too. In any case the last I posted I had gotten the floor up as well as started cutting and grinding! I am glad to say that I am done grinding, cutting, and glassing! Not sorry as some of you know, pretty tired of having all those little shards stuck in the arms and legs! With all of that said, here are more pictures! I will also continue to comment on the photos as I post them, I’m sure most of you guys will have a good idea about what your looking at anyhow.
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Ok attached here you can see after removing the stringers and all the wood at the back
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Laying out and test fitting/cutting the new stringers, I went ahead and spent the extra money and bought coda board to us to construct the stringers the transom and the bulkheads who always sit in bilge water
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So here you can see my newly cut, and resined and laid in from bulkhead. The original one was only the 7/16 front wall, IE what is infront of your feet as you are sitting in the front seats. In addition it narrows down to a couple thin spots between each of the hull peaks, which incidentally also was a t a low spot where water can pool. So of course the two thinnest spots were rotted all the way through. So I cut a new bulkhead from marine plywood but I also curly an additional bulkhead for the lower 1/2 of this only out of Coosa board, I used west system 610 epoxy to glue them together and then laid it in the hullusing the woven roving and west system 105 resin,
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Ok sorry for the delay, i don’t know if anyone is even following this anymore but I’ll finish adding the rest of my photos from the process so that someone has a record or go-by later necessary, the first one you can see I halyard and glasses in the right stringer, the following photos will show the other two stringers laid in and glasses as well as the rear bulkhead and then the new transom. For the resin I continued to use the west system 105, the glass, I used woven roving on the outer stringers and I used 1708 biaxial in the center stringer. In retrospect I wish I had used the 1708 on all the mere, but it is much more expensive, takes more resin and is heavier, BUT it lays down better than the woven roving, ah well, for the rear bulkhead and the transom I tabbed these in with the 1708 biaxial, I wanted the transom to be particularly strong as I want to add a larger motor one day, maybe a 115, just not in the budget right now.
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I would like to interject on my own thread now to notify everyone that I just read back and noticed that much of my grammar is terrible, I assure you that this is my phone autocorrecting me, and is a significant source of annoyance..... carrying on... >:(
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Rear bulkhead fitting, also, I layed a layer of 1708 against the outer hull prior to installing the transom board, my main reason was to strengthen it since the resin was very cracked
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Transom tabbed in as well as the two supports that go along the side of it, rear bulkhead glasses in,
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Cutting and fitting the floorboards, this was kind of a pain, a lot of trimming then test fit then trim test fit and so on till you get the best fit, additionally an interesting point to note here, when I build the floor, I built it so that he entire floor was removable, I built little blocks that are attached at various points in the hull and on the stringers, I epoxied brass inserts on these so that I can use a stainless machine screw and bolt the floorboards down, I did this mainly so that I could perform maintenance if need be below deck, also it saved me from glassing the floor down, an added bonus is that IF the floorboards ever do start to rot, I can simply cut and fit new ones, I did have to cut and make one of the side pockets removeable to do this, but if you didn’t know that it was removable then oh couldn’t tell
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Not sure if I'd do a removable floor .. Would think there are a lot of the twisting forces on the hull with out floor tabbed and glass to hull.
Also don't think you'll ever need to get under floor with materials your using. Should last a long long time.
Might not fully understated what your doing / saying here ..
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I always just assumed that the floor being glassed / tabbed in was an Integral part of the structure of these boats
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Yes the floor does make up part of the integrity of the hull, without the floor attached to the sides of the hull the hull will flex more than it was designed to do when hitting waves or rough water which will result in the hull stress cracking possibly to the point of actual open cracks in the hull which will allow water in and possibly sink the boat
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I suppose you *could* do this method provided you can insure enough anchor points to provide the same structural rigidity that glassing it to the floor would...but I'm not sure that'd save anything...
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If bottom of floor is sealed / coated with resin, there shouldn't be any reason to ever get under floor or into bilge.
Your repairs should last 40 to 50 years !
Again … Am I missing something ?