New paint and re-powered Glastron Jetflite + Yamaha 130HP 2-stroke

[JRO1971]

As a former Hydrostream Ventura Comp owner back in the late 90s I have always made a point to check into this website now and again to keep up with the world of fast outboard rigs. I no longer own a purpose built go-fast hull, but I have owned the 14 foot Glastron Jetflite in these photos since 1996 and have always loved the hull. The boat was severely neglected with a ratty transom and a junk Chrysler 55HP outboard when I bought it for $1500 back in '96. I knew enough to know that the Chrysler was eventually headed to the junkyard and that the hull would need some reinforcements to be a solid boat again.

Over the 22 year period that I owned this hull I painted it twice (the first time back in 1997). This past spring of 2018 I rolled a fresh coat of Total Boat base coat white with Kingston Grey accents. I had never rolled a boat before with paint and am extremely happy with the end result given the cost (total of $300 including supplies). The last paint job I gave it in 1997 was amateurish and used USAF paint intended for aircraft....needless to say this first paint job did not weather the years well and ended up flaking, cracking and spider webbing all over the boat.

Through the years I have replaced the floor twice (most recently in 2015) and replaced the transom twice. In 2015 when I replaced the floor I also had my boat builder redo the stringers in the boat. The first transom replacement was back around 2003 in preparation of re-powering the hull with a 1997 Mariner 60HP which I ran on the boat for several years. The Mariner was a big upgrade from the Chrysler 55HP but I still wanted more speed from the boat. In the fall of 2015 I found on Craigslist a well maintained Yamaha 130HP that had spent its entire life on a older man's Ranger bass boat. The Yamaha tested out at 130psi across all 4 cylinders and started and idled perfectly. I bought the Yamaha plus the old Ranger hull and trailer for $1500.

Fast forward to summer of 2016 when I ran the Glastron for the summer with the Yamaha 130HP - by the end of the summer the weight of the Yamaha was taking its toll on the 2003 transom and stress cracks had begun to show on both sides of the transom. I returned the boat to my boat builder in the fall of 2016 and asked him to build a new transom that would stand up to a nuclear war. A new transom was installed with double the thickness and beefed up to the max.....however the work was not finished until the end of June 2017 and due to our short summer season here in Maine, I ended up not putting the boat back in the water in 2017 and instead decided to repaint the boat properly while the Yamaha was off the boat.

On July 3 of this year the boat was finally re-rigged with the Yamaha 130HP motor. I have also installed Sea Star hydraulic steering, Yamaha white faced OEM gauges, Boyensen reeds and upgraded from a 21P 3-blade s/s Turbo prop to a 23P 3-blade s/s Turbo prop. The motor is mounted on a manual jackplate with 3 inches of setback and 5 inches of lift. Due to the motor being a 25" long shaft, I run it in the max height position to try to mimic a 20 inch lower unit.

Needless to say, this combination is probably more motor than the boat was ever intended to handle comfortably. It is hard to hold the throttle wide open for long as the hull is very sensitive to trim and the chine walking can get a bit hairy when the motor is trimmed out. I have yet to GPS a top speed reading, but the boat is very easy to drive up to around 45-50MPH, after that it takes strong hands on the wheel and a lot of determination to keep pushing. The pond that this boat lives on is just over a mile long, so the boat is just enough to be tons of fun on a small body of water without running out of space too quickly.

I just thought some of you guys that grew up around older fibgerglass hulls might find this project interesting. I know that I am having a ton of fun with the boat. It has been a long road to get it to this point. It turns a lot of heads due to the old school looks and the big V4 on the back!