1957 glastron

[blot101]

i picked up this old glastron. i think it's a 57, though it could be up to a 60. it came with the original 60 hp mccolluch engine.

i'll post pictures, but what i've done so far is this:

1. i turned the key, i heard fizzing, so i stopped. the starter burned up... i mean waaaayyy up. smoke billowed.
i went all over the place looking for a starter. noone had one (still awaiting word on some) so i took it to a place to rewind it. expensive, but worth it.

2. the guy who had it before me said it would start, but not stay on. so i thought it was one of three things,
fuel pump,
fuel filter,
something horribly wrong, like compression, or something in the carb.

i took off the fuel pump. the filter was full. too full, and the diaphram was ripped all the way down.
i searched for a fuel pump diaphram. i couldn't find one anywhere.
this particular engine is so obsolete i get laughed at when i'm looking for parts.
so i put it on hold as i search for those particular items.

the main point to me getting a boat in the first place, was to use it. restoration is secondary. so i looked online until i found a (what was advertised as)1972 65 hp merc.

turns out it was a 1966. no big deal, except the manual he had didn't match it.
it was torn apart. however, the starter works, as does the fuel pump. the problem i've found with this motor is compression. a seal lets in air after the motor is running for a couple minutes. then it quits. what do i do? do i put a new gasket in it? or is there an exterior type goo that hardens into an external gasket? i've heard of it, but i dont' have any idea if this is the proper application for it...

my gas tank has chunks of black crap in it. and it leaks, so i'm focusing on that right now.
also, i've put that motor in the boat. it'll be replaced with the original when it's back in running condition.

the trailer is rusting. i coated it in rust converter. but it turned out it was too old, and didn't really work. this is no problem, i've been putting a little elbow grease into it with a brush when i get stumped or frustrated with the motor.

the steering wheel is in bad shape. any suggestions? the rubber that was on there is almost all gone...

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot first off welcome to iboats sounds like a pretty neat project you have there . I have a 1960 Cutter runabout with a 1959 Mercury Mark 58A motor I have slated as a project for this comming winter . The steeing wheel we will most likely need pics of if its just cracked badly you can use 2 part epoxy to fill in the cracks sand everything smooth and repaint if its almost bare steel then a new wheel is probably in order . The repair process is a little moe involved than what I described but after we see it I can give you better directions on repair if it looks salvageable.

Rick


R

 

[pb&jellyfish]

Re: 1957 glastron

I bought a 67' Glastron a few months ago and I should be finishing up the restoration in a few weeks. The hull was in good shape, but the stringers and deck were rotted out. I don't think it has been on the water in a long time. I think if I would have ignored the problems underneath the deck, the hull would have deteriorated pretty quick just from flexing too much. You should check into this unless you just want a summer boat.

I bought an old steering wheel with the helm and cable for 40 bucks off ebay. My steering was frozen, so I went with this option.

The trailer that came with my boat is not galvanized, but I plan to use it until I can find a cheap replacement off Craigslist. I will be using the boat in saltwater so having a galv trailer is a must.

Post some pics. Sounds like a cool project.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

you can see the steering wheel is cracked like mad. i thought the whole thing was bad, but you can see here that the circular part is probably repairable, though i'm considering a new steering wheel. something i never look forward to is putting the cable back on the steering... it always takes me like...a half hour.

you can see the throttle cable is from the old mccoluch. that's also the mccolluch on the back there.
the windsheild is broken, but it's not a priority quite yet...





http://www.classicglastron.com/57gl-web.html

what i like to do best while i'm restoring something is talk about it. and educate everyone as much as possible about it. of course, comparitively i know nothing about boats, i'm an amature totally...

i'm glad there is a forum where i can just talk about it, without someone sighing then bracing themselves for boredom.
thanks.

i'll post more pictures as i go... some parts stump me, so sometimes i move slow...

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: 1957 glastron

Welcome aboard !!!

Cool ride . I just seen theres a company that is making them brand new, they had them for sale on ebay. 12,300 for it !!

Parts , you some time can find them on ebay, and craglist, I am just finishing a 77 glastron sportster, it has a 1962 1000 100hp merc, love the motor !!!

Its taken me 2 years to get her this far , so take your time and get her done right !! Ok looking forward to this one , keep them pics comming !! John

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot thats a sweet looking boat . I even like it better than my Cutter which is my avatar by the way . The steering wheel I think your right its beyond repair at least by an amature . Look on Evilbay for a replacement that looks right . The outerrim wouldnt be to bad just a matter of using files to clean up and open up the cracks and then filling them with 2 part epoxy buuut I dont see rebuilding the center .


Rick

 

[pb&jellyfish]

Re: 1957 glastron

Looks like mine but older and cooler. I second the idea of taking some time and doing it right. There are some people on here that have replaced their windshields by cutting and bending lexan into place (maybe $150?). I might do this on mine as well.

Post some more pics and have fun with it.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

ok.. this is good feedback. i'm excited that someone is even a little interested in this restore, it really motivates me to do it right. so having said that, i need a little advice i think.

pb and jellys suggestion about under the deck. im pretty sure this is the case. with mine too. what i mean is, there's a hole rotted throught the deck. i'll post pictures later tonight. it will be of the deck, and stringers.
actually... i hope i'm using the word stringers right. i guess you'll all correct me if the pictures have nothing to do with stringers.


next, the transom. a lot of people talk about the transom, and i've seen a lot of pictures of the transom, and read about it on wikipedia and other nautical sites, but i still dont' really know the difference between the transom, and the aft. i don't know what physical chunk of matter is the transom. is that what the motor clamps onto? how strong should it be? i'll take pictures...

thanks for your patience with me! i've been required to know nautical terms, but never to apply them to a boat...

i have a feeling i'll be asking a lot of advice on fiberglass soon...

on a side note, i've been looking, and i'm quite certain it's not a 57 (dang it)
it's definitely a fifties though.
http://www.classicglastron.com/59gl-surflite.html

http://www.classicglastron.com/58gl-surflite.html

i'm thinking it's a 59 right now...

i guess i could've saved us all time reading by just saying..

"i'll post pics"
since that's almost what this boils down too.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

rick... how do you feel on the subject of not repairing the middle of the steering wheel, but gettin rid of the rust, and shining it up? would that just look stupid?

a brand new one would be sweet. for a 60 (max of 70) hp new motor, it might be all worth it too...

the only problem is i bought mine for 300 dollars, including the 60 hp motor, and probably the sweetest trailer i've ever seen... after that i don't know if i could justify it... unless i had a restored one to sit it next to i guess....

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot look on evilbay for a ( new to you wheel ) There are peaple out there who could restore your wheel but it would be $$$ . look for one with the right style even if it needs work as long as its not as far gone as yours .


Rick

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

well, before the pictures i have a little update.
it's a good thing pbjellyfish said something about the rotten wood. i had a hole in the deck about the size of my finger, so i stuck my finger in there, and pulled up all the glass off the center strip between the seats. all the wood underneath was rotten. so i spent the rest of the day taking it all out of that center strip.

so now a question. how important is that center strip to the integrity of the hull? i mean, how risky is it to take the boat out on a little test fishing trip here and there with little strips like that missing here and there?
but more importantly, should the entire deck be one peice of wood to ensure structure? or now that i've taken out a foot wide strip from the middle, do i have to take out the rest? i'll grind a little square off here and there to see if the wood is rotten everywhere else.

the front seat had a little hole too, i got suspicious and poked at it figuring i could always patch it up if underneath was good. there's about two inches of air, then foam. i'm thinking of taking off the seat, and at least putting a sheet of wood there, and reglassing it.

well, actually, if i do that... or if i take the whole thing apart... i might as well do a clear coat of glass on the wood and use strips like a hardwood floor. that might be kind of neat.
is that doable? is it unrecommended? what do you think? carpet would just look better?

pics to follow (when my smarter than me wife loads them onto the computer...)

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot I guess i will be the first to dash your hopes and dreams . With a boat that old I would say you might as well get into your tyvec suit you are going to be grinding and glassing for the next month or so once you get all the wood out of her. With that much bad wood already found you will be pulling all of the wood out and replacing it before going out on the water . The good news is that is one sweet boat and well worth the time and itching to rebuild .

Rick

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot I guess i will be the first to dash your hopes and dreams . With a boat that old I would say you might as well get into your tyvec suit you are going to be grinding and glassing for the next month or so once you get all the wood out of her. With that much bad wood already found you will be pulling all of the wood out and replacing it before going out on the water . The good news is that is one sweet boat and well worth the time and itching to rebuild .

Rick

What Rick said !!! john

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

well, you can see here there is some glass showing on the bow. is this just as easy as sanding and adding resin? or what?

and you can see the condition of the back light.

there is the wood i was talking about...

who knows... maybe it won't be so bad glassing all summer... and grinding...

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

more of the same. i don't know how i'll fix the bent metal.. i guess i'll see as i get to that part...

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot I think I would sand the whole exterior of the Hull and prime it with a good Primer Sealer and then just paint it . The metal on the tailight can most likely be straightened with a little work . The metal on the transom may take some more work . The wood deffinately needs to be gutted and replaced . Plenty of info here on ( deck and stringer replacement).


Rick

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

ok... i'll take the advice i've read on here time and again. but i'm not going to like it! i'll lift the top off, and look at the transom.

today i took out the stringers. it turns out there's not quite as much wood as i thought there was... so that's a relief. i mean... i won't have as much fiberglassing to mess up on.

i started sanding the hull too. all the blue came off, and revealed the perfect aqua blue/sea green color. that's the color i'll repaint it. it looks old timey, and awesome. i'm not quite sure how original i'm going to go with it yet. i mean... i'm probably going to do some fancy wiring, and put a stereo somewhere in it. but that's not for a while to come yet anyway.

i also put some rust eating something on the trailer. the trailer, since it was original with it, is as much to be restored as the boat i say.


i tried chiseling. i just didn't want to itch very much. and that was ok a couple days ago. it went slow (just like hand sanding the hull) and i kind of prefer everything to be as non-electric tool done as possible for some reason. but today i broke out the grinder. in fact, the chiseling and grinding together made me realize it's near impossible to take out the stringers all the way without checking out the transom and lifting the top off the hull, because of the space. i can't swing a hammer under there, and unless i use a dremmel, i can't grind it off either. so that, mixed with the fact that when i sunk a chisel into the transom (by accident) water started dribbling out, talked me into looking back there.

it looks like the stringers were glued on. but in retrospect, they weren't as rotten as i thought they were (don't get me wrong, they did need redone, they just weren't AS rotten)

i tried to take pictures today, but it turned out my wife didn' have the memory card in her camera. so when i took all those pictures of my progress, and brought them in to put on here, there was none.... why did the camera flash then!? because it was in demo mode..... i hate stores.

so was itching pretty bad, even after the shower, so i wrapped my arms in masking tape a couple times, and peeled it off. maybe i should've just used a pet roller, or a lint remover sticky rolling deal...

the next step with the deck (or whatever it's called when there is no deck on there anymore.) is to sand it down, all even and such. then wash it all down, then rub it down with acetone or something.

people say use marine grade wood, but i've been thinking about using just regular pressure treated wood... what's the difference? i'm talking about wood that will be sealed, then fiber glass sealed multiple times, with multiple layers. how will water get into it? and so... why marine grade? why pressure treated for that matter? i'm ignorant to these facts.

pictures to follow (when i'm not too foolish to bring a dead camera, or cardless camera with me )

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: 1957 glastron

Blot regular old AC ( exterior grade ) plywood is fine as you said it will be sealed with resin and glass . Those of us with Tin Can boats cant use pressure treated so we mostly just go with regular old exterior grade plywood.


Rick

 

[pb&jellyfish]

Re: 1957 glastron

I usually feel the same about using hand tools instead of power tools; however, I quickly fell in love with the grinder after I saw what it could do to the fiberglass.

There are so many different opinions on here about wood that you will eventually have to make your own decision and do what you think is best. I had planned to use pressure treated ply, but after I had a look at what they were selling, I changed my mind. It just seemed to gnarly to be a good thing. Marine ply was too expensive for my budget, so I ended up using some nice 3/4" birch plywood Lowes was selling and sealing it with epoxy ($40 a sheet). I know it was a compromise, but my moto has been to make it better than it was built before and be happy with that.

Another decision you will have to make on your own is whether to use epoxy or polyester resin. Once again, there are a lot of differing opinions about this. I decided to use epoxy since my experience level is rather low; I figured epoxy would help a little with my mistakes. All and all, epoxy is stronger and easier to use but you will pay for it. Look at the UScomposites website... I bought their brand of epoxy for $60 a gallon. I used 3 gallons of epoxy on three stringers and a little bit of the transom. I used polyester on the deck for cost savings. Take this for what its worth and make your own decision on what to do.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

here it is with no stringers or deck. it seems i've found out how to do this without thumbnails.... hallelujah!


as you can see, in the back corner (top right of the screen) was some foam, taken out by the p.o.

you can see lines here where the stringers were. on the outboard side of the stringers is just really thick fiberglass, i don't think there is any wood under it. actually i'm fairly certain. instead, you can see just below the hammer where there were stringers going that way, only one per side.

down the center was hollow. actually, not hollow, strictly speaking, it was full of sand. should i fill it with a foam, resin, or a little pvc pipe and bring it up the front for drainage?

you can see the white rectangles framed with metal, this used to be a decal that said "glastron" i'm going to take it off, repair any holes (maybe with bondo or something) then paint over where it used to be.

if you look real close in the back, you can see remnants of the stringers. i can't get this with anything, unless i take off the top. this will be a good opportunity to check out the transom. i know i've said some of this before, it's better with even just one picture though... don't you agree?