Need Help on Restoration Project

[NoFloat9]

I am looking for some help and I was sent over here from another forum. I was told I could pretty much get a start to finish walk through from you guys/girls on here....First off, let me say Hello to all of you here on the forums. I am in search of some much needed help. I inherited a boat (Glastron Carlson CV-16 I/O) about a year or two ago and every summer I tell myself Im going to work on it, but I never do...I never do because I don't even know where to start. I do not know the first thing about boats. The boat was my dad's when he was very young. (this boat hasn't seen water (other than rain) in an easy 22+ years) I want to restore this little gem and bring it back to life to tinker around with and have a piece of history I can call my own. My dad and grandpa are too busy to help me (more so dad, because grandfather is getting old). With the lack of help, I know I can bring my questions to the forums where hopefully I can gain some guidance. I semi-gutted the boat one afternoon probably last summer and the stringer is rotted out and I am not lying when I said this thing has only seen rain and leaves. It has sat outside uncovered for a loooong time. I pulled plants growing out of the floor. I guess my first question is where do I go from here..Remember I know nothing about boats hence the name... NoFloat... Thanks in advance for any help someone can throw my way!

[largecar91]

where are you located in Ohio?

[Gorilla0178]

First thing is to clean it all out and rip everything rotted out. Then the whole thing will need a good grinding on the inside. That will let you know what you have to work with. Welcome looks like a good project.

[NoFloat9]

Im near Cincy. Thanks Gorilla! By Grinding you mean?

[Gorilla0178]

Yes, I would grind everything in the area's that will be glassed to, the whole bottom and up on the sides 6" or so if the floor goes all the way across. Then its fun time

[bakerfreak]

You're in the right place guy. Look thtough some of the old posts in this forum, it will tell you all you want to know. I did a '66 Glastron many years ago using soild oak stringers, which is way overkill. Build it with plywood of the same thickness Glastron used, but do the fiberglass right to make sure that water can't get at the stringer.

You'd best look at the transom too while you're at it. Old Glastrons were ahead of their time design wise, but their construction was pretty cheap. If the stringer is gone, you can bet that the transom is too.

[NoFloat9]

I would bet the transom is history. So basically first step would be gut EVERYTHING and then sand the entire inside clean and re-glass the inside? Sand down the whole exterior as well then Im assuming?

[largecar91]

If the transom is shot you are better off pulling the rubrail and and just splitting the deck and pulling it off and like they said grind everything out and start over. Go to Lowes and buy a couple of cheap 4" grinders and go to town. They will burn up with all the dust that they are going to injest. Get a couple Tyvek suits from Lowes(about $10.00 each). It is going to get mighty dusty and Itchy if you do not have the proper protection. Get a good respirator.

[bakerfreak]

It wouldn't hurt to put a new layer of fiberglass cloth on the inside after your are finished grinding away any rough spots. I remember my Glastron being pretty flimsy after I got the stringers out. This isn't a lightweight racer, so strength is more of a concern than light weight.
As far as sanding the outside of the hull goes, you need to decide if you're going to paint it or keep the gelcoat the way it is. You could try wet-sanding a spot on the bottom with 1200 grit, then polishing it out to see what it looks like. That metalflake is pretty hard to bring back though. If it's not too bad, sometimes you can clear coat over it.

[Gorilla0178]

I agree with putting a fresh layer over the old boat. I did on my action, it was real thin so I put a few layers of biax. Even if its beefy enough, a layer of 1.5 mat over a cleaned up boat makes it nice to glass to when you put it back together.

[afr]

this will help ya and if you need to you can call me any time

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...+paint+seminar

[NoFloat9]

Thank you everyone for getting me started! Things are much more motivating when you actually have an idea of what direction to go in...