Author Topic: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild  (Read 16105 times)

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Offline Wolvenar

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14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« on: January 02, 2012, 04:12:39 am »
It's one of those moment that you look back on and wonder "What was I thinking"
One day while I was taking garbage to the dump, I saw a boat being dropped off. Now again I really do NOT know what I was thinking for sure, this thing was nasty.. I didn't get any pictures of it when I unloaded it at my place but..

To start with this think weighed as a guess close to 300lb, it was completely covered in wet moss inside and out.
The moss had pitted the gel coat on the outside and the maple wood used for seats was totally mossed over also, where there wasn't moss, there was mold and some sort of other life like mushrooms and other unidentifiable things. All the foam in it was soaked with water and goo'd with god only knows what kind of biofilm.
I unloaded this thing in the yard, and the back of it sat into a shallow puddle, it immediately filled with water... oh boy..

Well I somehow convinced the kids to use the pressure washer and good old green scrub pads on it. They cleaned up the boat reasonably well.  That's when I could see how bad it was. I still do not know why I didn't load that thing back up right then and there and head back to the dump, other than the kids would been disappointed if I didn't fix it now. To them, it was a lot of work they did.
So this thing had basically no wood left in the transom, and 4 places of damage through the bottom, the fiberglass on the transom corners were cracked and worn through, the seats looked pretty bad, the seat mounts to the fiberglass of the hull were rotted away, and the gel coat was so pitted and spidered it was peeling off in places. Someone had tried to fix one of the damaged places, it might have worked for them, but it was a terrible job that needed to be done right. 

Earliest pics I think I have


inside




transom


A shot of the side where it was not spidered but the moss had done its damage

I figured at this point I better track down anyone who may lay claim to it before I actually get money involved.
So since the DNR and state were not either able or willing to tell me who the current owner was, I figured I had a rather good indicator who at least ONE owner once was  :P 
That is now that the moss didn't cover up all identification


I found out that it was at LEAST older than a 1963 model not only from the tags, but the fact it was not legally required to be a titled boat as I found out when I went to get it in my name. In Minnesota anything older than a 1963 model and this small was not required to be titled or so i was told by a lady over the phone when speaking with the DNR (dont blame me if I'm wrong about this, its what I was told)

That kinda hints that the state DID know all about this boat, because they did tell me it was older than a 1963.
I called Knotty Pines Resort to see if they knew any history, and if they would have a problem with me registering this if I were to fix it. The resort owner said, he does not know who the owner might been but it was sold at auction a decade earlier, possibly the same time he bought the resort?  He also said he would give his blessing to see it fixed up (which he gave me in writing). He wanted to get some pictures of it to put on his history of the resort wall. So I loaded up and head over.
After getting this from Knotty Pines and a signing a statement that I wont hold the state liable etc, I was able to re register the boat as a home built one. This was done so they could more quickly bypass tracking down the previous owner and ensuring there were no liens on it and so on. 













Kids and I ( not pictured of course) out testing my work
This was after a lot of sanding, clean up and fiberglass repair which I will detail when I can dig up where I put those pics.
old seats were temporarily put back in , after cleaning and drying that maple still had some life in it.

I have replaced the transom and the seats with composite deck boarding. Figured it will be more than enough for the transom since this is a small light boat. So far its worked very well, and I should never have to worry about it rotting out ever again.


Here it is with new wood for the front and back seats, plus I used bedliner to make the inside a lot nicer, and coated the wood of course.


After this I caught the bug!!
My next project?
Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline Ax3s

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2012, 05:16:51 am »
Good little boat for being so old and the condition it was in.

Offline coldspot

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2012, 05:31:49 pm »
Very nice work you have done with it!

Yea, the DMV here isn't very helpful either

 I, (imho) wouldn't touch another glass boat, (have owned more than 3)
Aluminum or wooden is what I want next
I'm thinking about selling or trading my 1993 SSZ175 Fish n Ski
for a sailboat or HD bike
After many years of hanging out on the lakes and reservoirs
I got a 9' pontoon for drifting the river and now enjoy
that kind of fishing much more than the old ways of
chasing the bikini's with the gas guzzling glass boats
(yea, youth is wasted on the young)
$0.02

Offline tomw

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2012, 07:05:49 pm »
Glass boats are simply too darned heavy.

Do NOT mistake me for any kind of "expert".

( ?° ?? ?°)


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Offline Wolvenar

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2012, 09:09:48 pm »
I'm hooked on the fiberglass, its just that you can do almost anything you would ever want with it, near infinitely repairable or modded.
Aluminum would be nice though as I haven't picked up a trailer for it yet and am tossing it in the truck . not so much fun at the lake.
Sounds like you have had your fun with them to coldspot
Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline jlt

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2012, 11:21:29 am »
   I have a 15 ft fiberglass boat given to me
 I just had to repair crack in transom and repainted it with epoxy paint.
overall about 1 days work.
   
     I have made a couple of aluminum boats. 1 has a 350 chev engine  And a
   Berkley jet

    #2  is a 13 ft with a jet ski motor and pump.
 
  Haven't figured out how to post pictures here.   JLT

Offline Rover

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2012, 03:12:13 pm »
Tom, sometimes a good heavy fiberglass boat is good thing :)



Rover
Location: South East Virginia US

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Offline Wolvenar

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2012, 10:16:32 am »
I haven't done any fishing in yet, maybe today if I am lucky.
But my daughter and I were able to play around with the boat on the water a bit.

With a tiny 9.8hp  ( yeah the hood is not the correct one) this little boat tops out with us two in it at about 20-21 mph
Not to bad for such a little setup.

No leaks but that doesn't mean it wont take on water in other ways  :-\

Some great sites up here in the middle of no where in the summer


Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline ghurd

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2012, 12:42:19 am »
20 MPH on the water is fast in something like that!

Something frightening?
Try a 12' (11'-10") 68 pound Jon boat, with a reworked 9.9HP (15HP) Evinrude.
Empty the boat of EVERYTHING (even the orange puffy jackets), put the gas tank up front, get it up to full speed...
The rooster tail is amazing, looks like a 40HP on a canoe...
Then... move the tiller 5 degrees...
I didn't know a jon boat could plane with the hull going sideways... let alone for that length of time or distance.

It is the stupidest thing, no wait, it's in the top 5, no wait, its in the top 50 of the stupidest things I ever did.

When you are young and think you are invincible is NOT an excuse.
At the time, as soon as the motor kept on track with the boat at almost 90 degrees to the direction of travel, I said to myself "Dude!  You really screwed up this time!"   :o

Your boat looks a lot safer!
G-

Offline Wolvenar

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2012, 09:08:44 pm »
Well a season of fishing complete, and other than some gotchas with trolling motor connections, this boat was great fun and a dream to get out and in lakes with. I could get into almost any hole with enough water to attract ducks.

I even got absolutely nuts and dropped my 30HP Johnson on it. Thankfully I was able to avoid all the DNR..
The 9.9 hp as nice as it was, had a bad tendency to flood and leave me with a sore warm from the rope starter to get going again.
The 30hp has electric start and nearly always was an instant starter.
After some jokes about it from a friend, I decided to shut him up, and put the motor on as a joke, well it didn't stay a joke.
Well I never expected to actually take it on a lake that way, until one day I wanted to go fishing, I was short on time if I wanted to get any fish, and I did NOT feel like lifting that heavy thing off and dealing with it.
 
So off to the lake.
I took it very easy on the poor little boat, for a while.. Little by little ramping up the speed until it seemed like it was beginning to be unsafe, and unnecessary, and I was giving it a LOT of safety margin. Any real speed could ONLY be accomplished with a passenger in the front o the boat as well.

Then one fateful day, I decided to see just how much I could get outta that little boat before it seemed like it was actually beginning to stress.
Turns out, stressing the boat is not the problem, CONTROLLING the boat is. Once I would get much past 30mph it becomes obvious there is NO chance of turning,  though it still handled that power fine up to about 50.
I figured this was pretty much full out of the motor anyhow, not for a lack of power, but the prop is probably just not aggressive enough.

With my curiosity finally appeased, I went about using the boat /motor combo the rest of the season wisely with zero troubles, and easy push button starts.

The near 50 year old boat was certainly built well back in the 1960's and all it's repairs are holding up splendidly

Along  with the beverages brought on each trip having been cooled in a fridge running on my solar system, the batteries that ran the starting and trolling motor where, with few exceptions, charged from that solar power as well. 
Since most of my time on the lake is powered by the batteries and trolling motor, this project at least some links to alternative energies, however distant and is great fun.
Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline junglejoe39

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Re: 14 foot fiberglass boat rebuild
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2015, 01:51:19 pm »
I have a 1971 Glastron Jetflite  143 GT   14 foot 3 inch fiberglass speedboat with a 1977 Merc 700 70 hp on it that I rebuilt 2 years ago. It scoots along pretty well. The boat is in super nice cond I put all new wood in the seats and installed a fuse block and rewired it all and added 500$ of Kenwood stereo in it.