1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

[RangerJim]

Brought her home this weekend, she needs a bit of work but it was the boat I grew up fishing in with my Grandparents. Going to do a total restore back to her glory. Wish me luck,

Ranger Jim

 

[Aqualift]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Good luck! Nothing like restoring an old classic with family history.

 

[oops!]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

welcome to i boats !

love the old glasstrons.
there has been a few done on here so you will have lots of pictures to go by.

keep posting pics of your progress and we can help if you wish.

cheers
oops

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Thank you for the welcome and encouragement, If the boat had no sentimental value I would not have bothered with it but it will make a fine fishing boat for the kids, oh and me : )

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Started the tear down, wasn't too sure what I would find underneath the floor. Looks like I will be tearing it all the way down to the bare hull. I hope I won't need to replace the transom, if I do I have one question, do I need to pop the cap off to do it ? It's going to be slow going since I'm on the mend from wrist surgery so I'm a one armed bandit for the most part. Here are some more pics,

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

So I've almost have the old stringers out of the hull, still don't know if I need to replace the transom or not. I have a couple of questions,
1. Can I use plastic 2x4's cut down to my specs for stringers ?

2. How can I figure out if I need a Long Shaft or a Short Shaft Motor ?

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Nice Glastron Worthy of a restoration and she'll make a great fishing vessel with the wide open deck and center console.

Is that OB getting cleaned up too or are you going to repower?

Good luck with the project!

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

I was thinking of repowering, the motor is in good shape and runs fine but after rebuilding the boat, a new white paint job, updated seating, and over all more modern look I want to go with a newer 50-75 hp motor. Boat is rated for max 50, but since I am making it stronger, going to put some speed pods off the transom I was thinking of going a little bigger on hp. My race boat is a 19' Hallett Sport Skier with the 3.4 litre V-8 Outboard (375 HP) so "BIG" motors hanging off the back isn't anything new to me. My other thought was to find a matching Ski-Twin and hanging dual 33 hp's, that would look "SICK". Still in the making up my mind stage. Any thoughts ?

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Found my stringer material, Fiberglass Channel, it's 4.000"x1.125"x.250, it goes for $5.08 per ft. so not to bad. I'm also going to build my bulkheads out of Fiberglass sheet, a 48"x96" sheet in a .250" thickness goes for $313.60, I'll need 2-3 for bulk head and transom but I do not want any "WOOD" in this boat. You can check out this material at Ridoutplastics.com. To fill the stringers or not to fill them, that is the next question.

Ranger Jim

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Got most of the old stringer glass ground down, now it's time for the belt sander and smooth this out. Looked into the transom and the wood is shot, so now the cap will have to come off for the replacement, oh joy. Here are a couple of updated photos,

Ranger Jim

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Well, I took the outboard off today, popped the cap off, removed any old remaining hardware. I have about half of the old stringer glass sanded and ground out. I ordered my new material for the transom replacement and stringers. I'm going with structural fiberglass panels, I have 1" and 1/2" sheets coming. Will be laminating the 1" and 1/2" to make the transom thickness. The 1" will also be bedded as my stringers. I will be making my cross braces and standing platforms out of the 1/2". The panels are the Coosa Bluewater 26, 30% lighter than plywood and it wont rot.
I found a bunch of tiny rust spots along the outside edge of the bottom of the hull glass in the rear, looking at it closer and under the hull I could tell that the numb nutts at Glastron shot nails through the bottom of the boat when they put the floor in. No wonder all the wood in this boat went to S^&*T.
Instead of paint, I'm going to go with a Vinyl wrap on this hull, thinking U.S Army Digital Camo, The kit runs around $300 - $400 bucks, and since it's apart I'll install it on the cap before I put it back on. Thats all for now,

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Here is where I'm at with the Boat.

 

[RangerJim]

Re: 1968 Glastron Ski 'N Fish V-146

Well, here she is now, everything has been cut out, transom is out, all that is left to do is some sanding and grinding and I'll be ready to set some stringers and put the new transom in, here is a before and after pic and a pic of the rotted wood transom.

Ranger Jim