1983 Glastron X17 restoration

[SouthTexan]

Hello All,

I am at the starting point of a restoration of an 1983 Glastron Conroy X17 I/O - my wife and I received it as a gift last year. I suppose my father-in-law either doesn't like me very much or thinks we have too much time and money on our hands, haha. I am currently planning on replacing the transom and sole, and suspect the stringers will be needed as well. The excellent postings on this forum have been very helpful to date. I have several questions and such, but first some pics:

The money pit:

Pics of the damage:


"ski locker" removed:

ski locker "support":

transom:

transom 2:

sole, or lack thereof:

My current plan is thus, and I welcome any comments/suggestions/etc:

1. Remove cap and gut interior
2. Remove outdrive and motor
3. Rebuild transom, likely stringers and deck. Not sure on foam but will likely go back with new foam
4. Reinstall motor and drive, including needed repair/maintenance
5. Reinstall cap
6. Go boating!

I will be trying to balance cost and quality on this boat, so I will have to fight the urge to overbuild everywhere and just get the needed work done without trying to make the boat ready for another 30 years.

My questions involve some modifications to the existing design of the boat and some I/O mechanical - I will split this into two posts due to length...

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

More questions/input requested-

I will post a thread in the VP I/O forum, but thought I'd ask here as well: When reinstalling the motor and drive onto the new transom, I can follow the shop manual but it seems there are always tricks and tips that only experience can provide. Anyone who has experience with this combo (AQ125A/270) or similar I sure would appreciate any lessons learned.

As to the potential redesign of the seating: I am considering changing up the aft section of the boat to include a sun deck and also a swim platform across the entire rear of the boat.

Current configuration:

My thought is to build an engine compartment that runs the width of the boat from the rear to just past the engine cowling, at the height of the gunwale. The sundeck would be fiberglass-reinforced ply with a foam and vinyl pad. The back-to-back seats would have to be replaced with two single captain's chairs for clearance. I would install bench seating along the floor across the width of the boat, butted up against the sundeck's base. Hopefully this makes sense.

As to the swim platform, I am not sure of the best homemade solution. A teak deck would be great but probably out of the budget. I will have excess 3/4" ply that I could fiberglass and install, but would worry about upsetting the balance of the boat with all the excess weight. Anyone have any homemade decks out there? I did a search but didn't find what I was looking for.

Thanks All!

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Well, as promised, this rebuild is destined to go rather slowly. Between work, weekend commitments and the Texas heat, I am in no real rush to get this project done. I am just shooting for being ready by March of next year. Here are some shots from the latest progress - I was able to get the cap off in preparation for removal of the engine, drive and stripping down to the hull.

Rigging the cap for removal (Thanks Tommy!):

I don't know what you guys mean when you say this is difficult...

Cap on the ground:

Here she sits:

Now to remove the engine and drive and gut this thing!

Sure looks like a lot of work from here, but at least this forum has prepared me for what is ahead and has taught me the right way to do it.

Happy 4th!

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Wow, lucky you, a crane to hoist the cap off....it takes me four guys and a case of beer to get that done on all of mine.

Good looking boat, by the way.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Wow, lucky you, a crane to hoist the cap off....it takes me four guys and a case of beer to get that done on all of mine.

Good looking boat, by the way.

I like your way better. Especially the BEER part!!! But.... If you got a Crane why not use it. You can still have a beer while you watch!!!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Nice de-cap-itation!

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Haha, thanks all! I think we can all agree that as long as there are some cold ones on hand, it's all good!

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Managed to get a few hours in on the boat this weekend, removed the outdrive and engine. Despite a few hiccups everything went smoothly:

Removal of the outdrive - note the water from the cracked u-joint bellows:

Hmm, not good. I am expecting to have to replace the u-joints and who knows what else when this all goes back together. At least the oil I drained from the leg was clean and looked fresh!

Here's a shot of the pallet lift in place before rigging the chains: (No crane this time)

Motor up, up and away!

Placed the motor assembly on a tire and strapped to a pallet. Looked a little sketchy to me at first, but it's solid.

Now to the fun part - tearing out the old, suiting up and grinding 'glass in the 100F heat!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

You really gotta stop showing all that GREAT equipment you got to pull the top cap and the motor. You have NO IDEA how you are KILLING the DIY'ers on here that are looking for shade trees and rope pulleys!!!! You ARE a lucky Man. Looking forward to seeing your continued progress.

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

One question: In the picture below, the hole cut into the transom is not what I would call a 'square' cut - it looks like the inner edges of the transom have been routed out somewhat. I am wondering if this if factory and if so what purpose it serves? It seemed to me like everything would fit fine without the added contouring of the transom. Hopefully the picture is clear enough:

Any ideas?

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

You really gotta stop showing all that GREAT equipment you got to pull the top cap and the motor. You have NO IDEA how you are KILLING the DIY'ers on here that are looking for shade trees and rope pulleys!!!! You ARE a lucky Man. Looking forward to seeing your continued progress.

Ha! Thanks Wood! I owe it all to good friends and family. Believe me, I have had my fair share of improvised (kind term) solutions to these type of problems. I am definitely feeling spoiled though!

 

[sqbtr]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

That chamfer on the lower left is for the shift cable, I think there are some other bump outs on the shield also

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

That chamfer on the lower left is for the shift cable, I think there are some other bump outs on the shield also

Ah, thanks! I suppose when I look more carefully at some of my reference pictures it makes more sense to me with your explanation. Will for sure need to make a good model of the transom before removing it to get everything back together right. Lots of measuring to come!

ETA: Nice plane! I would love to learn to pilot a small prop plane someday - must be a great feeling!

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Just a quick update from an hour or so of work this evening. Was able to remove all the remaining electrical and mechanical from the hull, and stripped all the carpet out of the boat. Amazing how dusty/moldy/disgusting that stuff can get! I was also able to get a pretty good look at what I am dealing with in terms of removing the sole.

Carpet gone!

Slight close up, sure looks all of it's thirty years - soon to be brand new again:

And now a request for some input. I have read in several threads where folks made a cradle for their hull while removing/reinstalling the stringers and sole due to flex. I am considering making a cradle and pulling the hull off the trailer to perform this stage of the rebuild. My other option would be to reinforce the existing support from the bunks on the trailer. For those of you out there who have done it either way, or without any bracing, would you recommend your method? Anybody who regretted their way of handling this task? I plan on taking tons of measurements to ensure the cap will fit back on. I may even replace the stringers and the area of the sole that the cap sits on, then replace the cap and finish the sole install. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

This oughta get you to thinkin...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=287390&page=1

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Here's another option...... I build one of these for every restore.

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Thanks guys, those examples give me a few ideas to work on. I am planning on putting together a hull brace this weekend, we will see how it goes. Will be posting some more progress and such this weekend!

 

[Decker83]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Hey SouthTexan,
Seems your moving pretty fast for this Texas heat.
It is 105 here in Dallas Tx today.
Keep up the good work.

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

Thanks all for the kind words and advice! This weekend I was able to make a little progress. Got the rear seat boxes/engine bay, back-to-back seat boxes, gas tank and more of the sole removed. Foam was everywhere in the boxes, but it all was dry and came out pretty easily.

Also put together a brace for the hull - basically I just added some additional bracing between the trailer and the hull, ran some crossmembers and cinched the whole thing down with straps. So far the setup feels pretty solid. I would welcome any comments or suggestions. I guess once the hull is fully gutted we'll see if additional bracing is needed.

Pictures of the bracing setup:

And here's the partially gutted hull:

Still a long ways to go, but it's slowly getting there!

 

[SouthTexan]

Re: 1983 Glastron X17 restoration

By the way, for those reading this thread - how do my pictures show up on your monitors? On my laptop I can see the entire pic(s) without having to scroll, but noticed on my wife's work computer the pics were too large to be seen without some annoying scrolling. If the pics are too large for y'all I will resize such that they are more convenient to look at.