1959 Glastron Surflite

[71mach1man]

Hello all,
I'm happy I found these forums and I could use some advice. I have purchased a 1959 Glastron Surflite. It appears to be in good shape. The transome is solid and there is no obvious damage. The fiberglass on the floor is worn through due to traffic but the wood underneath the glass looks ok.
What are the chances that the area under the floor is dry and not rotted? Did Glastron use foam in the boat in 1959, and what advice can you give me? I am excited to get started and I have no fiberglass repair experience. Thank you in advance!
Brian

 

[jonesg]

Re: 1959 Glastron Surflite

Hello all,
I'm happy I found these forums and I could use some advice. I have purchased a 1959 Glastron Surflite. It appears to be in good shape. The transome is solid and there is no obvious damage. The fiberglass on the floor is worn through due to traffic but the wood underneath the glass looks ok.
What are the chances that the area under the floor is dry and not rotted? Did Glastron use foam in the boat in 1959, and what advice can you give me? I am excited to get started and I have no fiberglass repair experience. Thank you in advance!
Brian

No idea what a glastron surflkite is, til I saw some pics, I see a lot of these on craigslist so they are still popular, kinda neat design.

Heres a pic.
You might be happy to know theres a classic Glastron owners website, lots of reno going on.
http://www.classicglastron.com/

On the glassing, just get yourself a gallon of polyester resin from home depot , some acetone for cleanup, some glass cloth, glass mat, silicone gloves, paint stirrers and pails and mix some up(outside), try applying it to the cloth and mat with cheapo 2 inch brushes, you'll get a feel for it.
Better to get a feel for it before putting any to your boat.

Try laying mat on a sheet of scrap plywood , wet the wood with resin first then add the mat then more resin. See how you do, it takes a bit of practice but once you become familiar and learn to like the smell you're on your way.
It usually starts to cure in 10 minutes so you have to plan what you will be doing and do it asap after the catalyst is added.
Watch some glassing videos on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXkR94AQjFM&feature=related

More Resources,
http://www.io.com/~dme/glastron/