1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

[Haphazardly]

I've finally gotten out of my funk that my "new to me" boat's transom was in need of replacement. I bought it about a year ago and spent the early part of last spring getting it ready for springer season on the Columbia river. I pretty much shut down on it when I found the rot and it's sat there ever since. Well here we are with yet another spinger season right around the corner and while I realize it wont be ready by then, I'm hoping to be boating again by summer.

I don't have any more recent pics but here are a few from the day I bought it.

I'm thinking the swimdeck was the culprit. The rot is isolated to the port side of the outdrive starting at the mount directly above it. I will have to remove some of the rear deck and liner, but feel this would be much easier than attempting to remove the cap.

I work very slow so this will probably not be the most interesting of threads but I thought it might be fun to document the progress.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

That should be a nice boat when you get her all fixed up.

Be sure to check your stringers for rot when you remove the rear portion of decking, transom and stringer rot have been known to travel hand in hand.

Keep your camera handy when you start working on the boat, we love torn up boat pics!!!

 

[Haphazardly]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Be sure to check your stringers for rot when you remove the rear portion of decking, transom and stringer rot have been known to travel hand in hand.

As far as i can tell the stringers "seem" good. Core samples from the 2 exposed at the front of the motor are good. But like most boat related things im sure that won't be the case once i get a little further along. I can barely get my hand back to the stringer/transom joint and while fully realizing this means very little, the stringer "taps" very solid and I can't compress it any.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Gettin the drive off and motor out is a start then start evaluating!

 

[captmello]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Those are cool old boats. I noticed it has the old Volvo drivetrain which can be a blessing or not...What engine does it have?
Also, does your boat have the fold out transom staircase for the swim ladder? If so, they are the coolest!

Good luck, I'll be following along.

 

[Haphazardly]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Those are cool old boats. I noticed it has the old Volvo drivetrain which can be a blessing or not...What engine does it have?
Also, does your boat have the fold out transom staircase for the swim ladder? If so, they are the coolest!

Good luck, I'll be following along.

Valve covers read "Glastron 200 hp" 302 with 351 heads or so I've been told. Yup on the transom stairs! Love them makes getting in and out so much easier.

 

[mr300z87]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Love that boat. Good luck getting her back on the water.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Jumping on board to follow along,....

 

[captmello]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Valve covers read "Glastron 200 hp" 302 with 351 heads or so I've been told. Yup on the transom stairs! Love them makes getting in and out so much easier.

FYI, During that time, some of the boat manufacturers including Glastron, were marinizing their own motors. I've seen many early 70s glastron owners in the Volvo penta forum looking for help with those engines only to find out they are not volvo at all. Only a Volvo outdrive. So if you need engine parts, You may need to get creative.

You may already know all this.:joyous:

Anyway, its a very cool boat. Don't hesitate to post a pic of those cool rear steps.

 

[Haphazardly]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

FYI, During that time, some of the boat manufacturers including Glastron, were marinizing their own motors. I've seen many early 70s glastron owners in the Volvo penta forum looking for help with those engines only to find out they are not volvo at all. Only a Volvo outdrive. So if you need engine parts, You may need to get creative.

You may already know all this.:joyous:

Anyway, its a very cool boat. Don't hesitate to post a pic of those cool rear steps.

yeah I've noticed that about the motor parts. not sure what would be volvo specific. Guess I'll know more once the motor is out.

don't have any pics of the steps but here's a video that shows them a little.

2012 01 29 13 27 53 350 - YouTube


Did manage to get a little work done on saturday. Pretty much got the interior gutted. Thinking that I'm going to go with a couple of captain's seats up front leaving as much deck space as possible. Will have to do something different for fuel storage. The original below deck tank was replaced with a 27g moeller that was installed under the port side seat. Unfortunately the moeller is to tall to install below the deck. Not sure if I want to install a tank below deck or opt for two smaller tanks built into seat boxes.

 

[captmello]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

Thanks for posting the video. Motor doesn't sound bad at all! And the steps...

I removed the back to back seats in my boat and put in captains chairs. The room is great. nobody ever wanted to sit backwards anyway. I don't have much advice on the fuel tank, except to say you're going to want plenty of fuel storage. I don't think a couple 6 gal cans would cut it. Moeller makes tanks to fit under the deck...hey it's only money.
Moeller 21-29 Gal Aftermarket Permanent Fuel Tanks - iboats

Keep plugging away!

 

[Haphazardly]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

That video was it's first start since 2009 so yeah not bad at all. I still haven't done a compression check as the starter crapped out.

I don't think a pair of 6 gal tanks would cut it either. was thinking more along the lines of a couple of these...

22 Gallon Permanent Fuel Tank, 22"L X 15"W X 17"H - Moeller 032522 - iboats.

Got a couple of hours in today. Did some wet sanding, polishing and chased some electrical gremlins. Found out my perko switch doesn't kill both batteries when off. Thinking about a blue sea with the acr. Like the idea of not having to switch to the house battery.
Also looks like I've got some work to do on the bird nest of a mess that's under my helm. Got a couple of accessory switches making gages do strange things when I turn them on.

Looks like some rain is on the way for the next couple of days but looks to be drying out towards the end of the week so hope to resume once it does.

 

[mnmattie]

Re: 1974 Glastron Vagabond V-215

I've always loved the V-215's! I wish I could find one!