Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 14:34:51 GMT -5
I wanted to share my experiences with restoring/modifying a 1959 Glasspar G3. I spent many hours on this site along with numerous others searching, researching and trying to find just about any piece of info I could find on G3's. This site turned out to be the best resource for G3 information. I felt I owed it to this site to publish my resto-mod story. A brief introduction. I live in Glen Allen, VA but grew up in Southern Maryland in the 60's & 70's during the heyday of outboard boat racing. Around 2015, the Southern Maryland Boat Club (SMBC), a member of the American Powerboat Association (APBA) resurrected and began participating in APBA's Vintage & Historic division, hosting a regatta for old (vintage) race boats to run exhibition laps on the water. My brothers and I got the bug volunteering and running boats in SMBC vintage events. I was looking for an old hull to run in the events when a Glasspar G3 came into the picture. I found a 1959 Glasspar G3 Center Deck sitting in a field at Lake Anna, VA. She was in rough shape but had enough bones left for a restore. I brought her home and over the next 4 years worked on it as time permitted. Finally after lots of hard work she hit the water for the first time in late summer, early fall of 2020. I've had her one the water several times, each instance testing and improving performance. She porpoises at slower speeds until she reaches 38-39 mph then she starts to take a nice set. In her current state, the motor is a 1990 Evinrude 70, pure stock with 2.42 gears. The prop is an OMC Raker 22. She currently runs 50 mph turning 6,000 to 6,100 rpm. She's got more in her with motor height and larger prop pitches. Her name is Man Butter, nicknamed Butters. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Posts: 54
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 15:36:22 GMT -5
The journey began in August, 2016 while at Lake Anna, VA. I spotted what appeared to be a small sport boat of some type on a back lot of Lake Anna Marina. Further investigation revealed it was a Glasspar G3. It looked like it had potential so I immediately took photos and sent them to my two brothers. I'm fortunate that both my brothers work in the marine industry with each having over 30 years of experience. A few weeks passed and one of my brothers came over to visit. He asked if the G3 was still in the field and I said yes, saw it last weekend. In the truck we went. I ended up purchasing the boat and trailer for $250. Based on the info from the marina owner and where the boat was we believe it had been there at 25 to 30 years. A funny side story, , the next night my younger brother called to hear more about the G3. A friend of his called him earlier in the day to say he was planning a trip to Lake Anna the following weekend because he found a Glasspar G3 sitting in a field at one of the marinas. My brother asked him if he saw it at Lake Anna Marina and his response was yes. He asked my brother how he knew about the boat. He told his friend not to bother making the trip, that boat was on a trailer sitting in his brothers yard. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Posts: 54
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 15:48:49 GMT -5
Time to clean her up. The seat was completely shot, of course the foam was mush and the seat vinyl was dry rotten. The good news was both seat brackets were still there. Someone had replaced the floor with 3/4" plywood. The center deck support was cutout. The boat had been painted at some point. Unfortunately the steering wheel was cracked in multiple places. The steering column was rusted solid. I spent two weeks soaking it in PB Blaster and WD40 and finally gave up. It wouldn't budge. I was hoping to save it but finally threw in the towel. I found several holes in the bottom where the trailer rollers had fallen apart letting the roller support puncture through. A bummer that's fixable. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Posts: 54
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 16:02:14 GMT -5
Cut sections of the floor to view the stringers. Surprisingly the bulk of the stringers were intact with some dry rot. They would have to be replaced. The sponson sides inside the boat were very flimsy. Cut the side hull fiberglass over the sponson cavity. All the wood was toast, nothing except for wet sawdust. Cleaning the hull revealed the Glasspar logo on the sponson. Yippeeee! The original floor was still in place in the front under the dash. Thank goodness for this site as I used it to determine the boat was a 1959. Glasspar logo on the sponson, flat floor in the front and no holes in what was left of the center deck support. No registration numbers on the hull and no HIN anywhere. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Posts: 54
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 16:12:54 GMT -5
Christmas, 2016. She moves into the garage. My brother came over and we decided to use the trailer for support. The transom end was raised and supported on the chines with cinder blocks and wood. The bow eye was left in place tight to the front of the trailer. This would be her home for the next 18 to months or so. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Posts: 54
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 16:31:12 GMT -5
The gelcoat was crazed, spider web cracks on the deck and hull sides and bottom. The gelcoat was in pretty bad shape. Needed to remove the old paint first. Decided to use a product called Citistrip to remove the paint. In this case it did what I wanted it to do, removed the paint and left most of the gelcoat intact. I brushed it on thick, let it sit to do its thing, then slowly removed it with a scraper/putty knife. And yep it created a mess as the paint pealed up. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 17:09:36 GMT -5
Jump to October, 2017. Decision time. What's the vision?
First, structurally sound. Secondly, look good as a 13 footer. In other words from 13' away she looks great, up close maybe not so much. Thirdly, performance relative to the old hull shape. The plan is to run it in APBA's Vintage & Historic events. It won't be a trailer queen.
After tons of discussions with my brothers I decided to do a deck on restoration. The wood under the deck in the front was in good shape. The dash needed to be replaced and the coming wood needed some work. There were benefits to leaving the deck on in this case however if I had to do it again I'd probably remove the deck.
The plan was to remove the floor, stringers and transom wood, then replace it.
While the restoration was underway I contacted Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries to start the process of getting the boat a HIN and registration. I filled out the paperwork including the write up of the Glasspar G3 history from this website. It was extremely helpful identifying the year the boat was built. After the paperwork was filed a DGIF officer came to my home to physically see the boat. I had to explain how I purchased the boat, the Glasspar history documentation from the website and what I was doing with the boat. All went well except I did get a slap on the hand because I was suppose to have them come out before doing anything to the boat. Fortunately I had pictures of the boat before I started work that sufficed. Thanks to the nice officer with DGIF I had a HIN, title and registration a few weeks later.
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Sauce
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Posts: 54
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 17:41:58 GMT -5
Let the real work begin. Cut the floor out. Removed the stringers. The stringers were for the most part were intact enough to provide use as a template for the new stringers. My working setup inside the boat. I cut three 5/4's deck boards to fit inside the boat from chine to chine with plywood over it to support my weight. This setup worked well allowing me to climb in the boat to work without distorting the bottom of the hull. Of course a multi tool is a must for this kind of work. I also used a 4.5" grinder with 24 and 36 grit grinding discs. My brother recommended investing in an angle drill and 3" roloc grinding discs for hard to reach spots. Off to Harbor Freight tools where I found an angle drill for under $30. I tried several cheap brand roloc discs and quickly learned what my brother told me, invest in 3M roloc discs. It's worth the costs. I found the 3m roloc disc in 24 and 36 grit at R & E Paint Supply online. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 17:57:36 GMT -5
Stringers removed. The beams under the front deck were in good shape. They were solid with no wood rot so no need to replace them. One had a crack in it towards the front that could be fixed by sistering a board to the side of it for support. Some of the fiberglass tabbing holding the beams to the deck was in bad shape. I would eventually need to install new tabbing. The wood supporting the bow eye had rotted away. The fiberglass holding the bow in place was strong enough for now. The plan was to move the bow eye down a foot or so from its original location. There was lots of Polyester resin in the bottom of the hull. I couldn't determine if this was from the original construction or if it was from the floor replacement. Either way it was a mess. I quickly found out the bulk of it popped up by simply using a chisel to get underneath it. Under the trailer are the remnants of the original stringers. Fortunately there was enough of each of them to use as a template for the new ones. |
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 5, 2021 18:10:49 GMT -5
Stringers removed, time to work on the transom. The inner transom fiberglass was paper thin. It was removed with a razor knife. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 6, 2021 10:10:14 GMT -5
Jump ahead to June, 2018. Man time flies. Prepping to start the transom install. Spent tons of time researching transom build options. Ultimately decided to replace with wood and use epoxy for the project. My brother sourced the plywood from the marina he works for. Went with Okume, one sheet in 3/4 inch for stringers & dash, and two sheets of 3/8 inch for the transom. My brothers also recommended using Raka Epoxy. They've used it for years on boats, so that's what I went with. Ordered a 3 gallon kit of Raka 127 thin epoxy with the 350 Non-Blushing hardner along with 10 yards of 17 oz Biaxial and 8 oz of fumed silica for thickened epoxy. The new transom would extend into the sponson. My brother came over one weekend to help cutout the transom pieces and stringers. Took us most of the day to get the stringers templated and cut. The transom height was cut at 22.5 inches. The challenge was figuring a way to install the transom with the deck on, plus keeping the curvature and angle of the transom in place while the epoxy dried. Came up with a framing plan that would support applying pressure to the transom to hold it in place. The framing plan looked ugly but it worked. A 2x4 was bolted across the top deck to support pressure against the top part of the transom. The lower framing kept pressure against the transom and kept the curvature in place. Attachments:
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 6, 2021 10:23:15 GMT -5
Test fitted the first transom piece numerous times to get the 2x4 supports cut to the correct length. They would hold the transom piece in place while the epoxy cured. Also made up a couple of wood clamps out of old 2x4's and all thread. After test fitting decided to kerf the first piece which would help it maintain the curvature. Mixed up a batch of thickened epoxy and went for it. |
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 6, 2021 11:00:12 GMT -5
Completing the transom. Installed 4 layers of 3/8 inch Okume with thickened epoxy between each layer. Stainless steel screws were used in the final layer to ensure a nice tight fit together. After the epoxy cured there were several voids in the transom skin. I drilled two small holes in each of the voids then used small syringes from West Marine injecting thickened epoxy in the holes. In the end I was very happy with how the transom turned out, nice and solid. Attachments:
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Post by kingston on Mar 6, 2021 12:55:10 GMT -5
You did it the hard way. Deck off is faster and better. With 1/2 or 3/4 inch foam boards and glass instead of wood the stringers are lighter , stronger and will not rot. Two pound foam works well to fill all voids in the hull. You pour it hot, about 50 seconds from mixing. The deck stringers do not give enough support in the bow, that is why you see a lot of G3s with a dip in the deck at the bow. I replaced then with foam board and glass beams at right angle to the present stringers. My floor is 3 inches higher and the deck is 2 inches higher making my boat self bailing. All done I have a 600 pound boat that can do anything a Boston Whaler can do. Good luck on the rest of the boat and thanks for saving a very good designed classic. Kingston
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Sauce
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Post by Sauce on Mar 6, 2021 17:01:59 GMT -5
Hi Kingston,
Thanks for your comments. I did look at composite material for the transom and stringers. If I ever have the opportunity to rebuild another I'd probably go that route. On this project, after looking at all the options I decided to go with wood.
The reason I'm posting my experience is simply because I learned so much from this website and wanted to share what I did, be it right or wrong. Someone may look at this and say "Hey, look what this guy did, I don't want to do that. That's not the way I'd do it". Or someone may look at it and find something they could use during their rebuild. Either way I'm cool with it.
It's been a true learning process for me with lots of mistakes made along the way. Every time I did something wrong I just stood back and laughed at myself.
Again, thanks for the feedback.
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