Bob Hammond Has Passed Away...

[FUJIMO]

[Capt.Insane-o]

[Mark75H]

Not only did Hammond leave Lone Star, he one upped them by creating what was the industry's only warehouse factory operation. Unlike other manufacturers, he built boats slowly and carefully all year and stored them in a warehouse for the spring rush. At the winter and spring boat shows, dealers who placed orders for Glastrons were placing orders on product that was actually finished and ready for shipment. Other makers were taking orders for boats they had not yet built and would hurry to make and ship. Eventually, the warehouse would store the boats on racks that let them be stored on end to use all available floor space. Year round production by the same full time staff allowed much higher quality than boats built in a rush by part timers. Hammond also owned his own fleet of delivery semi trailer trucks; he was not dependant on outside shippers and their commitments to other customers. Profits from this were turned back into an actual Research and Development department. Glastrons were neither guesses at hull shape and balance nor copies of other successful boats. Wasn't long before Glastron hulls themselves were the most copied designs out there. Seeing this on his "Aqua-Lift" hull design, when the new semi-trihull-V-pad "Aqua-Lift II" hull came out, it had a reverse curve on the transom to make it harder to do a quickie "splash" copy.

Testiment to the quality of the product in both design and execution is how many 1960's Glastrons are still out there and look and function as if they were only 4 or 5 years old, 50 years later.

[powerabout]

How about overseas production, there was a factory in OZ not sure who owned that?I
had a customer with the blue on blue scimitar, was very cool and 60mph+ with a 260

[H20WKD]

Check this out at 17:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95AkhALgmG4


Bob

[action20]

R I P Bob ! Great boats , He was way ahead of his time on design.

[Hot Shot Merc]

[71V153]

Yeah but that's a Glastron/Carlson. Designed by Art Carlson. Not to dis Bob Hammond. I'm a big Glastron fan.

[Hot Shot Merc]

Oh Damn my bad No dis intended just a cool video

[steve123]

I owned a 16' Challenger with an Evinrude 135HP !!

[71V153]

Met Art's son John, and grandson Steven at the MN meet in August. They're currently building a 24' version of Art's 'flying wedge' design. Hauled one up all the way from California.

[Scream And Fly]

Hi All,

As you can see, i am running several weeks into overtime here. I apologize for that. The reason being is that I wanted to further refine the article, since I decided it should be released as a two-part series. This was decided because as it stands, this feature article is 14 pages, and will most certainly weigh in at close to 20 pages for publication here. That’s just too much for one article.

This particular assignment means a lot to me because as I began working on it, I realized there was so much about the E-Tec platform that I just did not know. Much of what I learned is very fascinating to me, and while I’ve always known that the E-Tec is a remarkable engine series, the fine details of the E-Tec technology and its development both educated and astonished me.

And so I’ve been extremely focused on making sure everything is presented 100% accurately and in a format that would flow really well. It is based on primary sources, as well as my own experiences with the E-Tec at the Evinrude press events. I really think you’ll all like this one a lot.

The first part will be on the home page in a week. The second part will follow right behind it.

Thank you for your patience everyone.

Greg

[Scream And Fly]

That is absolutely epic beyond words! Imagine showing up at the launch ramp with that!

[powerabout]

Lady Penelope...

[gmst2]

Realise this post was done a while ago however Glastron's were built in Australia by Glaston/Volero boat company in Victoria, owned by the Carrol family.
Had the pleasure of working for them for several years and raced offshore in the 70's with the CEO Bill Carrol in a GT160 with an 85hp Merc. Sydney to Newcastle, St Kilda to Torquay, BP Port Philip 100, true offshore events in a 16' boat.
Even used part of the 173 hull mould to build a 25hp circuit race boat.