1957 glastron

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

i've been doing a little looking around. i'm thinking about durabak.

but the question is... can this replace fiberglass? i mean, should it be applied on TOP of fiberglass? maybe i can just paint the wood with it, then fiberglass it down, then put a couple coats on it just to make sure it's sealed? it just seems easier than fiber glass... but how durable is it comparitively?
anyway, just a thought. i'll give it waaaayyy more thought when i get there...

 

[boatflipper]

Re: 1957 glastron

Sweet boat! Sorta reminds me of the old cadillac cars...anyway, for any repairs to the motor, check out the link. I deal with these guys all the time and the prices are unbeatable and they will help you with any installation questions you have. They carry products for nearly every old motor! Good luck!

http://discount-marine-parts.com/

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

oh yeah, i totally have already... nothing.

oh well i guess.

it does remind me of the old cars too. i'm pretty excited to have it running, i feel like it'll be quite a unique thing to have on the water.

 

[pb&jellyfish]

Re: 1957 glastron

Make sure you have the boat supported well with the stringers out. I took one stringer out at a time and noticed that it got really flimsy just without the deck and one stringer. I had a little warp in the hull because the boat sat on a roller trailer for a long time. You might want to eye the bottom of the hull and see if you notice any unusual waviness. I straightened mine out by leaving a few buckets of water on a board overnight.

You should be able to scrape at those little rectangular boxes with the edge of your grinder. I have a diamond wheel on my grinder and fiberglass just seemed to disappear any way i touched it.

Btw, I'm a complete novice, but I just got done doing the same thing as you a few weeks ago.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

a diamond wheel? see, i've been wondering really which grinding wheel to use, so i've just used the one that's on... whichever that is... (i really have no idea) i guess that's why it hasn't been just the easiest thing ever for me eh?

does that wheel work on wood very well? i mean, are people using grinders for the wood? or prying it all up? i pryed mine, but i was very concerned the whole time that i'd break through the bottom...
i never did... but i was scared a couple times that i did...

do you still use a grinder to make it all even? or did you sand yours down?
right now i've been stalling. sanding the bow, and trying to unscrew the seam keeping the top on. all the meanwhile wondering which i should use, and how miserable it's going to be...

 

[pb&jellyfish]

Re: 1957 glastron

I only hand sanded touch up spots before glassing. I used the angle grinder on everything else. I used the diamond disc for getting all the bulk out and a normal grinding disk (not sure exactly what type) for finishing it off and scuffing to prep the surface. The diamond disk is technically a cutting wheel and isn't used for grinding; however, I would drag the edge along a ridge of fiberglass to remove it quickly. It looks like you have most the bulk out, but if you do decide to use a diamond disk, be careful because a slip of the hand can send the thing through the hull in a half second, literally.



The diamond disk will cut wood (and anything else), but I didn't have to use it for this. All the wood in my boat lifted right out once I removed the glass it was attached to. These disks aren't cheap, so it might be too late for you to make a good investment out of one; however, they last forever and it's always good to have one around.

Have you checked to see if the transom needs repair? If it doesn't, do you have to remove the cap (top)?

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

well, today i've been taking off the top of the boat. i plan on fiberglassing the boards before i glass them in, just to make sure they're sealed well. then after that, to finish it all up, i'm thinking about durabak. i'd have used that to seal it, but i read on here in some posts that it's not to be relied on for sealing purposes, so i guess just as a finisher i will...

the bolts holding on the top all spin with the nut. the worst part is, it's all fiber glassed over (just barely though) it's kind of a pain in the old a. and will make the whole thing go slower.

i'm still sanding the hull, the cracks in the paint are going away slowly but surely. i'm not really sure if i should just sand it until it's smooth, or until the colors gone... so i'm doing it until i get to some glass. then i might put a real light coat of resin or something over it, just to cover up the exposed glass, then paint it...

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

well, i got serious about grinding today.
maybe a little too serious, i ground (grinded?) a hole in the hull... as seen below... i assume it's not a huge deal, certainly not a show stopper, it seems like it'll just be a nice little patch, since i'm pretty much coating the whole hull anyway.

but i did take out the seats. the foam below had some serious shrinkage in the last fifty years.

i know, it seems like little progress, certainly not much time passed, grinding i guess does go pretty quick

when you're enveloped in white itchy smoke, that sticks to your sweat, and at times is so thick it blocks your view, it seems like forever though.

those ridges and the entire top coat of fiberglass will be a breeze i think with a sanding attachment to the grinder.
for now i've been using too big of a grinder though, 7" doesn't sound big, but it's too big for that little cramped space.

you can see the dark spots where i actually removed decking and stringers. only that will be removed and sanded down, the rest will only be sanded to get a good bond with the new glass. there will be no wood or anything. i'm glad i did that to the seat, it will make it nice to put in a me-sized seat. we'll see exactly what it will be, but i'm sure it will be more comfortable with a back at least!

i'm thinking of just grinding from the inside all the bolts that hold on the hull by the way... so it's a one man 20 minute job. then i'll get the cherry picker, i figure it'll be better to take it all off if for no other reason than to take the pressure off the bottom of the boat, and try to keep it from warping.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

pb&j,

i still might have to use that disc, and it's not a bad idea to always have one around.

i haven't checked out the transom yet. nothing there is soft per se, however, in order to check the transom, i will have to take the top off... and i think i'll take the top off anyway to paint it. it just seems like it'll be easier to paint it when it's off, and it doesn't seem like a huge endevor except for all the bolts...

when i check the transom, my guess is, it'll be "good enough" to use. but i'm not sure if i want to go with "good enough" however, it might be a good thing to save until later anyway, like, next spring. the paint might wait till then also, it'll all depend on my mad grinding skills, and if i can replicate the back angle with so little room. i can barely get anything in there. i'm kind of fat, so that's really probably why... every day is a debate of whether or not to take off the top, and i think i'll make my decision based on ease for now... though, it definitly IS and inevitability.

 

[pb&jellyfish]

Re: 1957 glastron

Looks good. Working in those little boats is cramped regardless of what size someone is. Grinding everything out and getting things ready to start building it back is by far the worst part of the project. It looks like you almost have that done so you should be pumped.

You mentioned there will not be any wood...Are you talking about the new stringers and deck, or something else? If you plan on rebuilding the boat without wood, let us know your plans. I tried to figure out a way to do this, but I don't think it's feasible on a boat like this.

One of your photos shows the helm area...Is there drainage out of this foot well area below the wheel? I just made a bench seat for mine, so I will try to post a picture of it for ideas.

 

[blot101]

Re: 1957 glastron

excellent. i'm not sure if there was drainage... i ground it out before i really saw, but i imagine there was....
my plan with the seat i think is to make it a part of the stringers, but i'm not really sure. plans and ideas would be appreciated.

wood... no, the plan was to use wood, i think what you read was this:

the stringers and deck don't extend all the way to the sides. so i won't change that. probably it doesn't becuase there were seats there, on both sides, with storage underneath. i'm pretty sure i'm goin to do that though...

the stringers were just strips of plywood. then there was a strip of plywood attached to it to stand on end. i think that was for the seats. well, i'm going to replace the vertical one with a 2 x6 or a 2x8, (i'll experiment with both, since i have a little scrap of each laying around) and just have them sitting on a larger peice of plywood... on solid piece for the entire deck.

i read somewhere about using pvc, or just covering cardboard or something, but i'm too scared for all that, pvc would be cool, but unless it was laid out to look like a net, fiberglassed like that, then down to the boat, i don't think it would give enough support...