reelfishin
Captain
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
- Messages
- 3,050
I came across an eBay sale the other day that wasn't too far away for a 1962 Glasspar Tacoma. It measures 15.5' long, has a 76" beam width and is super light. It came on a near new trailer that is worth more than I paid. It was only about 45 minutes from me and I picked it up this evening.
The boat has new floors that seem very solid, the transom seems OK, but I want to really investigate it further. It seems too good to be true.
One thing that I did notice right off is that it has two drain holes, one for the bilge, and one that runs along the right side gutter along the floor. There is no access to the lower bilge at all. From what I can see and access of the transom looks solid, the transom is curved in shape, and someone has made up a thick aluminum plate about the size of a motor bracket which flattens and makes the motor mount area a bit wider. The boat has brackets for oar locks, which surprised me for a boat this size too. It's got pulley and cable steering that is in good shape but could stand one new pulley if I can find one. Someone spray painted the upper deck and it needs to be redone properly, but it still looks ok until you really get close. The last owner had a newer 40hp on it, but by the looks of this and the amount of transom support, that's probably about the limit. I have a 55hp Evinrude but I think its probably a bit much for this without some serious reinforcements. It weighs less than my 16' Duracraft aluminum boat and I can easily lift the rear of the boat off the bunk boards, I can barely slide the aluminum boat on the bunks. This is just super light. I would guess in the 450 to 500 lb range tops. Me and a buddy lifted it off the trailer and onto some blocks so I could make some trailer set up changes, it took 8 of use to slide my Duracraft off it's trailer, and thats pretty much a bare hull too. This is super simple, just a steering wheel, open deck with a closed bow and plastic windshield. There are two seats on pedestals, four rod holders that someone added, a compass, and the vintage navigation lights. The hull has one spot on the lower side near the rear that has been patched, I'll have to really investigate that, but it looks like it's been there a while and looks like Marine tex epoxy that was applied rough.
I haven't really decide what to do with it yet, I was mainly after the trailer but the boat actually looks decent, especially for one that's approaching it's 45th birthday. I will probably hang a trolling motor on it and take it to the lake for a seaworthy test. I don't suppose it will take much more than a 10 hp motor to use this on a lake. I do have a nice 25HP that will work great in the river, but for the lake it has to be under 10hp. Being a deeper style v hull, it should move pretty easy.
Does anyone know if these all access was sealed to the bilge on these boats? My guess is that who ever did the floor never gave it an access hole. I plan to cut one so I can add a bilge pump. There was about a quart of rainwater in the bilge, so it's not completely sealed. I only hope that the stringers were ok or also redone, if not, the pretty new floor it has is about worthless. It's done so perfect and heavily glassed over to make a finished floor. I'd hate to have to rip that out to do a stringer repair. I am not even sure it has conventional stringers, the rear hull is sort of just rounded and nearly flat, there can't be more than a few inched below the floor even at the center. The floor is rock solid as is the transom, I hung a 50hp merc on the transom just to get some good leverage to see if there was any flex, and it holds my weight with no give. The hull is pretty thin, the glass isn't as thick as on my larger boats but looks pretty strong due to the way it's designed. There is some give in the lower hull when you walk in the boat on the trailer around the bunks, but they aren't sitting dead flat yet, I still need to make a few adjustments to get the boat level. The way its sitting now, it's sitting down a bit in the stern. If I release the winch, it slides back nearly on its own. The trailer is rated at 1500lbs and this doesn't even move the springs as it sits with no motor. I just can't get over how light this is. The windshield looks hazy in the pics, I was also surprised to see that it was just dirty, with very few scratches, it will clean up and polish up to near new condition. One thing that I do have to do is to seal up four screw holes in each side where someone has two rod holders nut and bolted to the sides of the boat right through the hull. They used rubber sealed washers, but I don't like the idea of the through holes. They are well above the water line but are right in plain sight. I will build simply rod boxes or panels to hide them.
This boat also has no signs of any electrical system other than the two lights, no dash guages, no electronics at all. How common was a remote control boat with recoil start back then? It seems to be the way this was set up?
I found the Glasspar owners site online, but there's no info on the Tacoma model in 1962, the same goes for Fiberglassics.com
The boat has new floors that seem very solid, the transom seems OK, but I want to really investigate it further. It seems too good to be true.
One thing that I did notice right off is that it has two drain holes, one for the bilge, and one that runs along the right side gutter along the floor. There is no access to the lower bilge at all. From what I can see and access of the transom looks solid, the transom is curved in shape, and someone has made up a thick aluminum plate about the size of a motor bracket which flattens and makes the motor mount area a bit wider. The boat has brackets for oar locks, which surprised me for a boat this size too. It's got pulley and cable steering that is in good shape but could stand one new pulley if I can find one. Someone spray painted the upper deck and it needs to be redone properly, but it still looks ok until you really get close. The last owner had a newer 40hp on it, but by the looks of this and the amount of transom support, that's probably about the limit. I have a 55hp Evinrude but I think its probably a bit much for this without some serious reinforcements. It weighs less than my 16' Duracraft aluminum boat and I can easily lift the rear of the boat off the bunk boards, I can barely slide the aluminum boat on the bunks. This is just super light. I would guess in the 450 to 500 lb range tops. Me and a buddy lifted it off the trailer and onto some blocks so I could make some trailer set up changes, it took 8 of use to slide my Duracraft off it's trailer, and thats pretty much a bare hull too. This is super simple, just a steering wheel, open deck with a closed bow and plastic windshield. There are two seats on pedestals, four rod holders that someone added, a compass, and the vintage navigation lights. The hull has one spot on the lower side near the rear that has been patched, I'll have to really investigate that, but it looks like it's been there a while and looks like Marine tex epoxy that was applied rough.
I haven't really decide what to do with it yet, I was mainly after the trailer but the boat actually looks decent, especially for one that's approaching it's 45th birthday. I will probably hang a trolling motor on it and take it to the lake for a seaworthy test. I don't suppose it will take much more than a 10 hp motor to use this on a lake. I do have a nice 25HP that will work great in the river, but for the lake it has to be under 10hp. Being a deeper style v hull, it should move pretty easy.
Does anyone know if these all access was sealed to the bilge on these boats? My guess is that who ever did the floor never gave it an access hole. I plan to cut one so I can add a bilge pump. There was about a quart of rainwater in the bilge, so it's not completely sealed. I only hope that the stringers were ok or also redone, if not, the pretty new floor it has is about worthless. It's done so perfect and heavily glassed over to make a finished floor. I'd hate to have to rip that out to do a stringer repair. I am not even sure it has conventional stringers, the rear hull is sort of just rounded and nearly flat, there can't be more than a few inched below the floor even at the center. The floor is rock solid as is the transom, I hung a 50hp merc on the transom just to get some good leverage to see if there was any flex, and it holds my weight with no give. The hull is pretty thin, the glass isn't as thick as on my larger boats but looks pretty strong due to the way it's designed. There is some give in the lower hull when you walk in the boat on the trailer around the bunks, but they aren't sitting dead flat yet, I still need to make a few adjustments to get the boat level. The way its sitting now, it's sitting down a bit in the stern. If I release the winch, it slides back nearly on its own. The trailer is rated at 1500lbs and this doesn't even move the springs as it sits with no motor. I just can't get over how light this is. The windshield looks hazy in the pics, I was also surprised to see that it was just dirty, with very few scratches, it will clean up and polish up to near new condition. One thing that I do have to do is to seal up four screw holes in each side where someone has two rod holders nut and bolted to the sides of the boat right through the hull. They used rubber sealed washers, but I don't like the idea of the through holes. They are well above the water line but are right in plain sight. I will build simply rod boxes or panels to hide them.
This boat also has no signs of any electrical system other than the two lights, no dash guages, no electronics at all. How common was a remote control boat with recoil start back then? It seems to be the way this was set up?
I found the Glasspar owners site online, but there's no info on the Tacoma model in 1962, the same goes for Fiberglassics.com
