Greetings, fellow Glastron owners! I’ve been lurking this site for a few weeks and thought I'd do the polite thing and finally introduce myself. My name is Jen, 32, currently residing in Two Harbors, MN. I’m recently back into the boat game after a 6 year hiatus with my new-to-me 1989 Glastron Sierra 160 with a 70 horse 2-stroke (injected) Johnson outboard. In my early 20's I had two older fiberglass boats: a 1977 Century 180 and a 1979 Silverline Nantucket 19.5 VC, both stern drives. It's a long story as to why I got out of the boat game in the first place, but I’ll try and keep it as short as I can while I tell you all a little bit about myself.
I’m originally from Bloomington, MN and grew up in the metro. Avid skiers, my parents had a Crestliner stern drive in the mid to late 80’s. As a family, we would spend several weekends of the summer camping and boating at Lake Carlos state park. I also have a few flash memories of passing through the locks and dams on the Mississippi, and I know the flag from “Just Another Toy” resides somewhere on the bottom of Lake Pepin. However, time marches on and with added non-lakefront cabin ownership responsibilities and two small kids, there was less and less time for the boat and my parents sold it in the late 80’s. The family moved to Duluth, MN in the mid 90’s, and after graduating from Lake Superior College with an A.A.S in Automotive Technology in 2004, I moved to Two Harbors, MN in 2005.
Even though I’m told that as a child I didn’t care to spend much time in the boat, I have very fond memories of boating and the lake life you can only live during a Minnesota summer. The smell of sunscreen, vinyl, and gasoline, and the sight of flat water at dusk stirs something deep within my soul. So, at age 22, when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t say no. I bought my first boat. That Century was no spring chicken by any means. It needed some major TLC, but it was the love of my life for the next 4-5 years. My roommates and I spent our evenings in the garage working to get it ready for the next outing, and our days on the water, tubing and waterskiing many times right up until dark.
I never should have sold that boat!
Chock it up to bad choices, bad ex boyfriends, and bad juju, but out went the Century and in came the Silverline…then out went the Silverline in 2009. I was trying to make it on my own in an economic recession and didn’t have room in my life or budget for a boat—or much else, for that matter!
Six years later, for no reason other than trying to make the time pass faster on a slow Friday afternoon at work, I was scrolling through the boats for sale section of Craig’s List when a little red 1989 Glastron caught my eye. I was not planning on buying a boat anytime soon, especially on the last weekend in August. I had other things I should be spending my money on, like my 30 year old furnace lurking in the basement. But I couldn’t stop thinking about that boat. Private party, located in my city, and priced to sell. The vinyl and gel coat still had shine. It was exactly what I told myself I wanted if I ever got another boat—a bowrider, 18 feet or less in length, with an outboard. I woke up Saturday morning thinking…would I be kicking myself if I didn’t snatch it up? I said as much aloud to my boyfriend over coffee. He looked at me and said “just go buy it. You’ve been talking about a boat for the last three years, ever since we’ve been together. If you’re still thinking about it after sleeping on it, you better just buy it.” Oh boy…had I really been talking about a boat that often and for that long? I blinked, did a quick financial run down in my head, gulped, took a deep breath, and texted the number on the listing.
Ten excruciating minutes later, a reply came back through. A showing was scheduled for 10:00 am. Did I want them to let me know if after that it was still available? YES. YES PLEASE. Wait—to heck with this, its 8:45 am. Two Harbors is a small city. I text back: I’m in Two Harbors too—I can be there in 10 minutes, max. Could I come right now and look? No answer, so another 10 minutes later, I called the number. She answered, and I was able to talk her into showing it to me right away.
Turns out, she was only seven blocks away from my house. She opened the garage door, I took one look, and I knew it was all over but the crying. The floor was solid, the carpet and vinyl were almost showroom condition, and other than a little fading/oxidization and your couple token scratches on the gel coat, the hull was in top shape. It was a huge improvement over the 1970’s technology I was used to. It had been stored indoors always; the previous owner stored it in a pole barn, and the current owners had purchased it last summer and kept it in their garage. It was used last season then stored (lower unit lube change included), and no water time this year. They were moving needed to sell. Five minutes after laying eyes on it, I forked over the cash.
Splash down was later that following day. We’ve had to work through a few fuel related issues and I will be ordering up some carb kits in the spring, but by the third weekend of September (thanks greatly to replacing the fuel filter, some old fuel line, broken/missing hose clamps, and that blessed miracle-in-a-can you may know as SEAFOAM) it feels like that old Johnny found the last 15 horse it was hiding from me…just in time to put it to bed for the winter. It’s gonna be a long one.
Splash Day!
Flat water at dusk.
Fun at the beach!
Fun at the beach!
Labor Day Weekend, soaking up what's left of the summer. Sorry for the Snapchat Selfie!
Loaded up and headed home for the long, cold winter.