Restore time!

[BuzzStPoint]

I picked up a 62 Glastron Skiflite not too long ago.

The plywood someone put down for the floor is warped and rotten. Plus she's ugly... This past weekend I started to sand the upper portion of the boat. Wonderful time sanding off the Latex House paint. But I have a few area I need to fiber glass. One being where the rear light pole attaches. I looks like someone was using that as a handle and broke the fiberglass. Shouldn't be too hard.

As I was pulling off soem of the side trim to sand, I pulled all the trim off the rear of the boat. To my suprise, You can pull back the lower shell and see the transom. The wood inside there is rotten. I dug in there with a screwdriver and puled a bunch out and it's water logged.

Question is, It looks like the upper portion of the boat is held inplace by the trim. Can I just remove the trim, lift the upper shell and dig out the bad transom? Or am I going to have to cut the rear of the boat?

 

[danond]

Re: Restore time!

Don't cut the rear of the boat. Worst case scenario is you remove the rub rail, remove the rub rail retainer, then have to cut the deck/top half off that's covering the transom.

I didn't have to cut anything on my boat. I was able to get to the top of the transom from the inside.

You can also remove the cap/deck and pull it off completely. Lots of people have done it!

Take a few pictures, they always help a ton. We can't see what you're dealing with!

 

[drewpster]

Re: Restore time!

Agreed, don?t do any cutting until you are clear on how the cap is attached to the hull. Get all the rub rail off and it may become more clear how the boat is put together. You are likely to find that the cap is fastened to the hull rather than fiberglassed together.
Also bare in mind that if the transom is rotten then you can bet the stringers are in bad shape too. sorry- welcome to the land of itchy unfortunates!

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Restore time!

I can try to take some pics.. But my camera has an autofocus issue.. But I'll see.

I have about 1/2 the rub rail off and it looks like it's screwed into place, and in the back corner, one rivet. When I was looking in the bow of the boat, I dont remember if the supports that run across the covered bow are fiberglass to the lower hull..

Let me charge up my batteries and I'll snap some pics tomorrow.

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Restore time!

Here's an update. Pics to follow.

I got most of the upper hull sanded. Pulled the trim off the boat and couldn't pull the upper hull off. Seems where the closed bow is, there are 2x3s fiberglassed from the upper to the lower shell..

So I made a small 2 inch cut in the rear to dig the transom. But this wasn't working well. I started looking around and seen the inside of the fiberglass looked flimisy.. I was right, poke of a screw driver went right through it. Most of the back wall (inside) of the transom I peeled off by hand. Looks like someone did this before but only glassed one layer.
Ended up cutting the back 1/8 of the upper shell off.

Get this though.. For a few weeks I was thinking as I was sanding, wow. these ants are bad around the house this year. I found out why. As I cut the back of the boat off and was prying the water logged transom off. There where loads of ants.. They were all over. Anyone experience this? Sprayed ant killer and removed the rest of the wood an took a shop vac to it.

Edit..

Added some pic.
And go here for more pics.
http://gallery.computervitals.com/main.php?cmd=album&var1=Glastron+Boat/&var2=

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Restore time!

Just wanted to post an update.

I had to cut the rear part of the cap off.
I have since mashed 2 3/4 ply (pressure treated) and coated with a layer of resin. Fiber glassed that into the rear of the boat. I now have the rear portion of the cap on the boat and started to fiberglass the cuts. The hardest part will be making everything smooth..
Tried my hand at body work on cars many times and didn't do so well.
As soon as the rear part of the cap is solid enough for me to climb into the boat, I'm going to start fiber glassing the undersides of the cuts, (Should be a fun time there)

It's starting to look like a boat again. I may be able to get this out on the water this year again!