Starting The Motor // Project Glastron/Vlog #1

A few years ago, I began looking for a used fiberglass boat. I wanted a boat that I could take to the lake and runabout with family and friends. I didn't know what make and model I wanted specifically, but I knew that I didn't want something brand new, and I didn't want to pay the price that comes with a new boat. I casually looked for a boat for close to a year. I scoured eBay, newspapers, and craigslist, but I just couldn’t find anything in my range that I was too interested in.

January 26, 2014

On a Sunday morning, completely out of the blue, I finally found a boat on Craigslist that hit all my criteria: it was fiberglass, it was local, and it was cheap ($$$). There was only one thing that troubled me--part of the listing said, “The floor needs some work.”

So, I contacted the buyer, and the conversation went something like this:

“I've been looking at your boat this morning. Can you tell me more about the floor work that would be needed?”

The seller responded:

“I don’t know exactly what it would take to fix the floor, but from some research I have done on the web and from talking to other people, it is basically a plywood floor cut out to the bottom shape of the boat. It is then covered with outdoor carpet. That's about all I know about it. It doesn't look like that big a deal but it might take some time. That was something I was short of. I don't think it is something that anyone with some mechanical/woodworking skills couldn't attempt.”

I then discussed with my wife about possible scenarios and she urged me on saying no matter the condition of the boat that for the price and my ability to fix things she had no concerns.

So I responded to the Seller and said:

“I would definitely like to take a look at your boat. When and where would be best?”

The seller told me:

“Would you like to see it today? If so gimme a call at XXX-XXXX. I will be here this afternoon.”

Everything was now in motion. So that afternoon, I went onsite and took a look at the boat. The seller told me a little more about the boat’s history. He said he had bought it from a former co-worker, and that the previous owner was the one who replaced the carpet/floor. Upon his possession, they had used it for several years up until around 2007/2008. Since then it had been sitting covered with a tarp under the roof of his outbuilding He told me the boat was a 1973 Glastron V-156 with a 85 HP Evinrude Outboard motor. So I spent a few minutes looking at the cosmetics of the boat which all appeared to be in decent condition, despite a few scrapes and scratches.
I knew it was old, but I liked the look of it. The size of the motor was a plus to me, and I thought with little bit of work it would be good to go. So after a few moments of kicking around the price with the seller, we made a deal and the boat was mine. I signed some papers, got a title and registration and off we went.

By the time I made it back home, it was beginning to get dark outside so I retired for the day and began doing more research online about the potential floor problems I could be facing. The floor of the boat was definitely soft, and I quickly learned that was a bad sign and depending on more factors it could get worse.

Next, I let the boat sit because we got hit hard with snow and ice. I just barely got the boat tarped before everything hit and for the next two weeks I researched and I waited. I even found a book called Runabout Renovation that I ordered off Amazon and read while I was unable to dig into the boat. This gave me lots of insight as to what to look for and if there were problems, how I would go about fixing them. In my downtime, I made two decisions:

1. As soon as the weather cleared and the boat thawed out, I would start with testing the motor, and if I could get it started and it sounded decent, I would press on. To do this I was going to need a new fuel tank, fuel line for an Evinrude outboard, and a pair of muffs to run the motor without worry.
2. I was going to begin documenting everything by taking pictures and recording videos to share my experience--whether it be good or bad--because it might be helpful to myself or others should I continue.

February 16, 2014

I was finally ready to begin. The weather had passed, the boat had mostly thawed out, and I had purchased everything I needed to test the motor. So I put some fresh gas/oil in the new tank, connected it to the motor and primed the line. I took the battery off of my truck and sat it in the boat and connected it to the motor. With camera in hand, I documented what happened, and you can watch those results in what would become the first vlog of “Project Glastron.”

(P.S. don’t shift the control box into gear when running an outboard on muffs, I didn’t know this then, but I do now!)