1976 Glastron V166 restoration

[BassinVt1]

Just started this a few weeks ago. Picked up the boat,two motors and trailer for $350.. not a bad deal. Johnson motor I traded with another guy for parts for my 1969 mercury 800 / 80 horse. Trailer is in great shape with new bearings and seals. No major structural damage, just a lot of hair line cracks in the gel coat and the floors and stringers and transom will need tending to.

here are a few pictures a few days after i got it.

Tim

 

[BassinVt1]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

More pictures after we have started stripping it out. The past owner had old plywood covering up the original fiberglass and wood floor what a mess. Stripped out the old seats and vinyl. We are currently down to the strings with a big hole in the floor boards. Sunday morning if it does not rain again, we will be cutting out the rest of the fiberglass flooring and the original plywood. We have also stripped out 90 percent of the electronics. The johnson controls you see are now gone, and I now have mercury controls to put in its place. The boat orignally had a custom cover that snapped in all the way around the boat. 90 percent of the snaps have been removed, now I have to drill out the rest of them and start filling those holes.
We will be stripping out all the wood grain stickers/applicays they used in that year, they are badley pealing and faded. Fiberglass and painting are not a problem but i would like some feed back on a product i have recently came across and that is the Seacast system for stringers/floors/transoms, has anyone here used it for there boat and what kind of feed back can you give me.?? thank you tim more pictures coming as boat progresses.

 

[Darren Nemeth]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Great looking boat!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Welcome to iboats! Hey a VT'r

Read through the forums. Any and all the questions you can come up with have been asked and answered here.

Once you have a hole in the deck..... consider test holes. I do not like the look of a bandaid on the transom (The metal that is wrapped their). I suspect you will need to do a cap off restoration.

Seacast is good but will break your bank account..... a standard transom is far cheaper.

As far as supplies for the rebuild ..... I can promise the stuff on iboats is FAR cheaper then a certain marine store in Burlington. They are a rip off.

I am south of you but in the Colchester area quite a bit. If you need another set of eyes ar advice I will help you.

 

[BassinVt1]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Thank you Bob for the help and to anyone else that happens by the post. I may take you up on the offer. Managed to get the floors out today. Wicked muggy when the rain started going through. But we managed. Two of the three main stringers look and feel solid and dry. The third, definately needs to be replaced. Transom is going to be a issue. I dont want to take the hole top half of the boat off to get to it. And trying to get it from the inside is almost impossible on this style of boat. Not sure what Im going to do yet. Floors will all be wood and glass. Seacast in the transom, very much considering because of the amount of time compared to tearing the hole thing out. Money is not a issue on the resto job. I love the boat and design for what I will be using it for.

Custom dash/both sides
all new electronics and electrical
all new seating and bases
custom live well/built in cooler/storage
New paint/fiberglass/some gel coat
New stainless rails on the front/which are gone now

I will keep the forum updated

Thanks again

th

 

[Darren Nemeth]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

read over all the threads I started here. the messages are a primer for anyone doing a deck and stringer replacment.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Well no problem. Regardless if you use seacast or plywood for the transom the "proper" way will be to pull the cap off or (if you do not) you will have some substantial glass work on your hands.

Pulling the cap is fairly quick and all you need is about 4 people to lift it right off.

The best thing we have is the lack of salt water. Freshwater stuff and our climate is kind on boats.

 

[BassinVt1]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

I will consider it. Thank you

 

[BassinVt1]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

I have read a lot of your post Darren thank you also

 

[keepNitreel]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Nice find, I like the way that merc looks hanging of the back.

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Hi there BassinVt1 , welcome aboard !! Sweet find , I and just finishig a 1976 15.6 sportster !! so keep them pics comming !!! John

 

[BassinVt1]

Re: 1976 Glastron V166 restoration

Hello all!! thank you everyone again for the great replys. decided to take some great advice from Bobvt. Top half of boat will start coming off on friday and replace the transom with wood. Also Bob, the splashwell next to the transom, I will be tearing that out as well, how do you feel about a permanent transom pump right there with a utility hatch? sound like a smart idea? or overkill? tim