New owner in South Carolina

[64'glassmaster]

Hey fellow glassmaster owners. I just purchased a 1964' 18 foot Glassmaster runabout. The guy I bought it from bought it from the original owner in running condition in september 2006, and never touched it. I bought it today for less than $500 bucks with a dead battery and bad gas in the fuel tank. How did I do? It's remarkablly complete all the way down to the Compass, Tach, Speedo, Bow and stern lights, hardware, etc. The seats are gone, and need to be recreated. The previous owner started to rip up the original Teal colored carpet and Vinyl exposing a suprisingly solid wood floor. There is one place that needs replacement on the floor though. On the starboard rear corner where the battery goes, the floor is rotted out in a 12"X12" area. Are there any other 60's glassmaster owners in South Carolina that post on here?

 

[Estark1]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

Try this website: http://www.fiberglassics.com/boatdefault.htm

Fiberglassics is all 50's and 60's fiberglass boats.

 

[BrianE]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

Nice! I'd say you got a pretty good deal.
My '64 15 footer had a similar spot in the floor but on the other side.
I cut it out & replaced it, fiberglassed it in & over, installed new carpet.

The post above has good links,fiberglassics.com is a very good resource for this kind of work & they will love to see pictures of your classic boat.

 

[64'glassmaster]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

What did you use to cut the section out? Did you just use 3/4" marine grade plywood that was unfinished and untouched? How did you attatch the plywood to the boat? Did you cover the wood floor on your boat with one big sheet of fiberglass or many small pieces? What type (kind and weight) of glass did you use? What did you put over the glass? What type of carpet did you install over the fiberglass job?

 

[Estark1]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

Some recent pics of my 77 Glassmaster Patriot.





EStark1

 

[BrianE]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

I cut it out with a skill saw set at about 1/2" depth. You want to angle the blade so you're cutting a bevel in toward the middle of the piece you're cutting out so the old piece won't fall through & the new piece will stay put.

You want to use regular exterior plywood, resin won't stick to marine grade.
I'm not sure of the weight of fiberglass mat that I used but you can get stuff that will work in the Home Depot paint dept.

Cut the piece out with beveled edges & cut a new piece with the same bevels. Mine was 1/2" or 5/8". cover the whole piece of ply with resin & let it cure. Then sand or grind the edges & the top so the glass will stick. I put strips of fiberglass mat soaked in resin around the inside edges of the hole in the floor. Slip the new piece in and then folded the mat that was sticking up down onto the floor. I went around the seams with a couple more pieces and then a big piece over the whole thing followed by some fiberglass cloth. I painted over that with epoxy garage floor paint.

Another big place in the floor about 2'x 4' had delaminated. I chipped off all the old glass & hit the whole area with my grinder until I got down to good dry wood. then I cut pieces of fiberglass matt in varying sizes that when stacked up filled the space & came out around the same thickness of what was left of the glass on the floor. I wetted it all out with resin & rolled it on, turned out great. It's stronger than the original floor. I painted over that & carpeted over the paint. It was marine carpet from a boating store.

 

[clamdigger1]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

Hi
I have a question also. My friends are looking at a Glassmaster. From what they describe, it sounds like it's pretty old,(maybe 70's?) but in not bad shape. There is a soft spot in the floor about 8" x 14" between the steering wheel and the front seat. They also took the plug out (in the stern) and nothing happened, he then stuck a screw driver into the hole and a bunch of leaves came out, and fresh water poured out for about 10 minutes. My question is: do they have to be concerned with all that water sitting in the hull? Are the stringers fiberglass or wood? And since there was all of that water in it, should there be concern about how it got in? Are there provisions for water to get in? or is the boat a disaster waiting to happen? This boat has a 90 HP Mariner with 8 hours on a rebuild, and the trailer is in very good condition. The asking price is $1200.00 I told them to offer 800-900. and see what happens. Are there any quirks these boats have?
Thanks

 

[crewscontrol]

Re: New owner in South Carolina

I live about 80 miles up the road from you. I also have a 1964 Glassmaster 18foot V hull boat I bought in 1999 from the original owner. Mine is all original and in perfect condition down to the seats, upholstery, canvas top, gauges, steering, and 110 Mercruiser stern drive. I even have the original trailer in new condition. This Mercruiser is so old that it does not have hydraulic trim and it is painted WHITE. I think this may be the first year for 110 HP Mercruiser stern drives in runabout boats.

All I did was wax it and it shines like new. I get a lot of "looks" when I take it out on the lake - kinda like driving a classic car. She will "do" 42 MPH on the GPS.