Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

[BobsGlasstream]

Hello Folks,
Well another newbie. I have been around reading a lot of the threads and I'm now ready to start on my boat, 1988 Glasstream 182 Caravelle, 3.0 Mercruiser. I just got the boat home last Friday night and Sat started to tear it apart.
My plan is to tear it down to the bare hull if needed and rebuild from there. Replace everything needed including the interior.
The motor hastn't been started for a couple years but I did get it to turn over by hand. At least it's not locked up.
I removed two carts of misc. items from the boat and got to the actual floor.
Remove the seats, Most of the carpet and the side panels.
I won't be able to work on it a lot due to my job, it keeps me away from home a lot, but I'm prepaired for the long haul.
I know that with the help of all the great folks here on Iboats I will get it done.
Thanks in advance for the help.


Actual floor of the boat and you can see the water in the ski locker. Not good.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

a few more pic's from day one.

 

[drewpster]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Bob, Are you going to pull the engine?
Good looking boat....keep us posted.

 

[notsunkyet]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

welcome to iboats! Well now you a full member of the "this is nuts club" lol

seriously youll find tons of help from all ove in here and dont be afraid to tackle your project.... just ask we've all been there too... good luck!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Thanks folks,
I wasn't sure what to do till I found this site, I have enjoyed reading all the other threads and now I know I want to bring my boat back from the grave.
Still not sure about pulling the engine, If I need to I will. It really depends on what I find the deeper I go.

Thanks again

 

[83vert]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

welcome to iboats! Well now you a full member of the "this is nuts club" lol

seriously youll find tons of help from all ove in here and dont be afraid to tackle your project.... just ask we've all been there too... good luck!

This is nuts club, that is a perfect name for us

 

[allpoints360]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

I'm prepaired for the long haul

That's the attitude. Work on it when you can, and if you are like a lot of us, it will start to haunt your dreams.

lol

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Thanks,
I appreciate the comments.
Has anyone ever found anything in the rotting wood?
My boat could be used for fishing, I found live worms in some of the rotting wood.
Built in live bait box.

 

[TojosMojo]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Hey Welcome Bob, nice to see anther guy from Kentucky on here...

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Thanks TojosMojo.
I'm really enjoying this forum, a truly great group.

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Welcome Bob, great looking boat. Can't wait to see the progress on this one.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Thanks Tallcanadian,
I can't wait to see the progress myself. HaHa
I won't get back to it for another week.

 

[HVAC Cruiser]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Thanks,
I appreciate the comments.
Has anyone ever found anything in the rotting wood?
My boat could be used for fishing, I found live worms in some of the rotting wood.
Built in live bait box.

Yep, I found worms in my rotted wood too when I was tearing mine apart. Just figured it was because it had turned to mulch

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Hi everyone,
I don't have anything new to report on the boat.
I haven't been home in over a week, but I'll be home Friday night and hopefully back on the boat Sat. morning.
I plan to finish disconnecting everything and pull the cap off so I can get to the rest of the floor.
I haven't been able to work on the boat but, I have been gathering supplies and reading a lot of threads. There's a lot of great information and great people on this site.
I am still looking for a local supplier for glass and resin if anyone could recommend someone, in central KY or Tn. area I would appreciate it.
Thanks

 

[Yar.]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Welcome Bob!

Have fun with your resto and be assured that there are a ton of excellent people here to help!!

Cheers,
Yar.

Sorry I don't know of local glass dealers in Kansas though......I am a little far away from your neighborhood! I do always hear of US Composites being mentioned on iboats as fast and economical.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Hey Yar:
Thanks a lot for the welcome.
I'm really looking forward to this restoration and I'm glad there are so many knowledgeable people on this site. i'm sure I will need some help.

Thanks again

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Ok folks,
Another partial day on the boat. Weather kept me from working on it Saturday, but I did get a few hours on it today. I got most of the stuff disconnected as far as items that needed to be, to split the two halfs. Rub rail off, the two halfs seperated about 4". I still have to figure out how to raise her another 30" or so to get it clear of the lower half. I am working alone and I can't lift it by myself. I don't think the loader on my compact tractor will go high enough either. I do have pic's but can't download them right now, this puter doesn't have a SD card slot. But I will get them ASAP.
Hopefully I will get some more time on it tomorrow.
Bob

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Hey guys,
Well I did have a productive day today, I got the boat Split in half and it was an interesting adventure. As stated before I couldn't geet the bucket on my tractor high enough to use slings so I improvised. About 10 2 X 4's hooked on the bucket and "poof" my new fork truck, of sorts. Well, Hay it worked. I didn't get pic's of the actual lift I was a little busy. i did get a pic of the rig. Red neck fork truck.
My wife is now convinced that I am nuts. Well ok me too. . I then moved it into it's new Temporary home. Not the greatest but I'll be able to keep it dry and I can hang some tarps and heat it when I start the glassing.
New pic's out on photobucket. I would have posted them but I haven't figured out how to yet. I just get thumbnails.
I will figure it out.
Thanks
Bob

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Hello folks,
I'm not at home so I'm not getting any actual work done on the boat but I just had to share my good fortune. Several major scores over the last couple of days.
1. I picked up enough Teak to replace all the Teak trim on the boat, trailer, and then some.
2. about 10 yds of glass cloth, 8-10 oz woven roven. It's not biax but it will get me started.
3. 15 Ln yds of Marine vinyl 60" wide, Off White. That's enough to do my entire interior, I still have to get the contrast color vinyl and the piping, but a great start.
4. Enough 2 part urethane, EA foam to fill the entire boat.
The greatest of all is, my total out of pocket was $0.00.
At this rate this boat rebuild is getting cheaper by the minute.
Have a great day
Bob

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Timid but determined Glasstream restoration

Hello everyone.
I'm still away from home and unable to work on my boat, but I will be home again tomorrow and I'll get some work done weather permitting.
Food for thought
I did want to share some information with everyone.
I have been running some trials with a 2 part urethane closed cell foam over the last 3 weeks. this is what I have come up with.
I submerged a closed cell foam in water to see how much water it would absorb. Over the course of one week the foam absorbed about 25 % of it's weight. for the next two weeks it maintained that same weight without any further absorption while being 100% submerged.
I also submerged the same foam but sealed the area that was cut, only the area that it's natural skin was removed and during the first week it's weight gain was 0. After 3 weeks it was still at 0% gain.
I weighed both samples every day.

The bottom line is, even if you use a closed cell foam, any area that is cut such as filling an area and cutting off even with the top of the stringers, it should still be sealed. otherwise it can still absorb water if it gets wet.

One disclaimer is that the size of my sample were not all that large, I just wanted to see if it would absorb water. So the actual percentage of absorption may be less. These numbers are my actual results.

Have a great day.
Bob