Just bought a 1973 V173 Bayflite- Couple of questions

[klaesaxx]

Hi I just got a 1973 Glastron v173 Bayflite with a 115HP Johnson. It's a really cool looking boat. The motor is in great condition. It runs like new. The decking and transom seem to be very solid. The interior is sun burned to hell. And the hull has a ton of spider cracks. I posted a question about this in the hull restoration forum but not a lot of reponses. I live in Phoenix and wonder if the boats cracks have anything to do with baking in the AZ sun. I know some are from impacts but I have a lot of cracking and don't believe they all are stress cracks.
Here's a couple of picsto see some samples of some of the cracking.



Here's a link to show some more pics of the boat:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40066698@N06/5821239581/in/set-72157626812585009/

Any advice on how to fix this would be appreciated.

 

[frank246]

Re: Just bought a 1973 V173 Bayflite- Couple of questions

The crazing on the pictures is coused by stress, walking on the deck and bumps against the the rub rail... common on used older boats.
The gel is not as flexible as the polyester underneath it and the only wat to get rid of the crazing is to sand, re-gel or paint.
Nice boat and good luck!

 

[klaesaxx]

Re: Just bought a 1973 V173 Bayflite- Couple of questions

After looking at what is involved in re-gelling, I'm not sure that's for me. I think I'm leaning towards sanding, priming, painting. Some of the cracking I believe I can sand out for the most part. I've got others that I believe will take some kind of filler and I've got some big chips that I don't know what to do with. It looks like a previous quick fix was attempted. Here's some pics of the bigger cracks and chips.