Barn Find

[reeve025]

A guy I work with came up to me and said he wanted to talk to me about a boat. He said he was given a 1965 glasstron by some family friends of his grandparents and wanted to know if it was worth fooling with since it was so old. Well the boat turned out to be 65 Aristocraft and has been stuck in a barn for AWHILE! The last registration stickers bought for it was 1986. the boat is in very good shape for its age just needs a good cleaning. Took the cowling off and the motor its very clean under it. Almost looks like the people had the motor cleaned before they parked it in the barn. Now I get the joy of helping him try to get it back to running. One of the spark plug wires has a cut in the casing down to the wire in it. Does anyone know where we might be able to find new spark plug wires? or for that matter any replacement parts for the motor? I'm sure there's going to be parts that will need replacing.

Here's a few pics he sent me when he went to pick boat up. The last 3 were after it was hosed off.

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[reeve025]

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[MercNuts]

AristoCrafts were made over in Atlanta so there were a lot of them in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tenn. They first built wooden boats and then fiberglass. The son of the original owner was still building wood in the last several years and may very well still be.

The model you pictured was one of the most common. Most of the glass boats of that era had wakewells but the AristoCraft did not. They were also not sealed well at the top of the transom and I have never seen an older one that did not need a transom replacement. Most also had larger engines than the 65 Merc pictured on this one. Most that I saw had OMCs in the 75, then 90 and 100 range. With the rounded semi flat bottom they do not respond well to bigger power. They also have a tendency to develop big hooks in the bottom from years of improper storage. Trailers in the 50s and 60s were not designed for maximum support and as the boats got bigger trailers were commonly adapted from smaller boats by placing longer bunks and 2 X 4's turned on edge would warp themselves after time under load and repeated dunk cycles, leaving support for the weight of the boat several feet foward of the transom. The flatter the bottom the more the tendency to storage hook and also the more negative the results of it became. They are cool though when restored or repaired right and have become almost extinct now. I knew where two were that had been hanging in boathouses for years but they have both vanished now, presumably discarded because the owners did not wish to put transoms in them. Both of these boats had big aluminum plates spanning the width of the back, which was inadequate even with V4 power.

[Michael Martin]

very cool project

[reeve025]

Merc thanks for the info. This boat came from Birmingham. I was told the people bought it to use in a big private lake close to Hoover i believe. I will check the transom out as well as the bottom for the hook. I think its a neat boat and the guy thought about just picking it up then taking it to a scrap yard. I wouldn't have let him do that thought! I will try to get more pics when we start working on it.

[dnr78]

cool old boat
should be real nice when finished

[frederick55]

My grandfather bought a new AristoCraft in 1963. I was 8yrs. old, and it was the first boat I ever drove. He hung the new V4 75HP Johnson on the back, and it was the fastest boat on lake Allatoona, just north of Atlanta. It ran a screaming 48MPH. Doesn't seem like much, but at the time it was the shi#. That boat was the beginning of my need for speed. Just seeing the pics of that boat brought back a lot of great memories of boating with my grandfather. Do it justice, and please post pics.

[T2x]

There were two things that set that model Aristocraft apart from the pack....unfortunately one of them was not speed. The boat was marketed as an "all in" package with many accessories at a relatively modest price and I think may have only been sold factory direct...or at least at a fixed price. The second and most unique feature was the hard top which really set the boat apart from others on the market.

To me the saddest thing was the departure that Aristocraft made from their earlier wooden speed boats which were the absolute bomb in the late 50's. See link below:

http://www.aristocraftboats.com/newproductions.html

[reeve025]

Just seeing the pics of that boat brought back a lot of great memories of boating with my grandfather. Do it justice, and please post pics.

Frederick55, I hoped it would and think the boat is very nice and unique with the hard top. The bad thing is the guy that has it is under the impression that its going to take alot of $$$$$ to bring the boat back. I keep trying to tell him that it just depends on how much he wants to do to it and I also told him everything doesnt have to be done at one time. We were fooling with it the other nite and he said something about getting it repainted cause the color is kinda dingy looking. I told him quick like that it just needed a good waxing and the color would be fine. He's not a big boat guy which is kind of a shame but there's enough of us here at work that'll we'll get the boat back to looking good. I will try to get more and better pictures of it in its current form now so that when we do get done i can show him the difference alittle TLC can make on a boat!

[reeve025]

There were two things that set that model Aristocraft apart from the pack....unfortunately one of them was not speed. The boat was marketed as an "all in" package with many accessories at a relatively modest price and I think may have only been sold factory direct...or at least at a fixed price. The second and most unique feature was the hard top which really set the boat apart from others on the market.

To me the saddest thing was the departure that Aristocraft made from their earlier wooden speed boats which were the absolute bomb in the late 50's. See link below:

http://www.aristocraftboats.com/newproductions.html

T2x, the hard top intrigued me as well when I first seen pics. The boat seems to be in real good shape. I'm going to make him clean it up good and wax it to see how it comes back from that. Thanks for the link. I don't know if he's come across their website when he was looking for info on the boat.

I will keep everyone posted as we get the boat cleaned up.

[frederick55]

Frederick55, I hoped it would and think the boat is very nice and unique with the hard top. The bad thing is the guy that has it is under the impression that its going to take alot of $$$$$ to bring the boat back. I keep trying to tell him that it just depends on how much he wants to do to it and I also told him everything doesnt have to be done at one time. We were fooling with it the other nite and he said something about getting it repainted cause the color is kinda dingy looking. I told him quick like that it just needed a good waxing and the color would be fine. He's not a big boat guy which is kind of a shame but there's enough of us here at work that'll we'll get the boat back to looking good. I will try to get more and better pictures of it in its current form now so that when we do get done i can show him the difference alittle TLC can make on a boat!
Maybe a compounding, buff, and wax would do it. Can't tell the true condition from the pics. Keep the info coming, Thanks, Rick

[71V153]

'Member seeing several around Miami during the late 60's early 70's. (As my Dad went smoking by in his Hewes) Does the hardtop slide aft? Think at least some of them did?

Yeah sometimes a lil wetsand'n buff'n polish can go a long way. Cool old boat. Good luck!

[delawarerick]

There was an i/o version at silver park about a month ago. It drew alot of attention. Neat old boat for sure. Rick