TOPIC: Glasspar G3 Leisurely Modernization - 128 Pic's

The G3 is a 1961 model. I had no idea this classic boat was a desired fiberglass classic when it was posted in the recycler.com on December 5th 2006. I couldent get over the lines it had and the great looking motor sitting on the transom. The owner was asking $450 for the package. I stared at the picture for an hour before I went to bed on the 5th and the next day I couldent stop thinking about it. I took a pic of the pic off the computer screen with my cell phone and the next day I couldent help but stare at it as the day progressed. After my work day ended I got right on the computer to the www.recycler.com/Error/Error404?aspxerrorpath=/asp/AdResults.asp and looked back on the ad that was placed and called the owner. It was winter time so the sun was setting when I made contact. The owner told me all the past history of this boat. He was the second owner of it. The original owner had it and used it untill 1982 then it was garaged in Barstow, California for 24 years. The Male owner passed away in 2004 and that same year his wife sold it to its current owner in Palmdale, California. He had all the original paper work from when it was purchased back in late 1961 which included all the original paper work from the 1962 Mercury 700 inline 6 short shaft motor.
Next thing I know I was driving to Palmdale to look at the boat. The sun was setting. The owner offered to sell it to me for $300 dollars so I was there. When I got to his house the g3 was parked in his driveway. Apparently the owners wife wanted it gone to make room for her car in the driveway because the city cited them when the g3 was parked on the grass.
My jaw dropped when I approached it for the first time. It was amazing. It was all original and complete including the special order upgraded factory bench seat that was falling apart. The owner came out to me and showed me what he knew about it. He said he had it at a boat shop and they quoted him $550 to get it running again. We looked at it for a while and agreed to the $300 price tag and he began to gather up all the paper work he had for it. He did'nt register it in his name but had everything needed including a bill of sale from the wife of the original owner that now lived in Florida.
After he gathered up all the paper work but before cash exchanged hand's he was showing me the throttle and while pressing on it something gave way and it made a cracking sound. He apologized and took off $100 to repair whatever broke in the control box. I was happy to pay $200 for the package which included a motor with good potential and an original American tilt trailer. The owner mentioned that this g3 had a following and its own web site, it was a desired boat he said... I was on my way home at 11pm. The tire's were iffy and I had a tire tread come off 30 miles out, about half way home. I limped it to a gas station in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night. A nice person pulled over to help me lift the trailer with a jack and I lucked out big time because the spare tire off of my truck fit the trailer hub. I was off again with some damage on the trailer fender that could be bent back later. I made it home around 1am.
The next day I had a new love. I couldent believe my eyes. I made contact to the G3 owners association archives.fiberglassics.com/g3/glassparg3.html where I met a bunch of great folks that we know here today. As time went on I learned alot. I learned this g3 although in great shape will need a wood replacement. I first needed a place to work. When we bought this house in 01 it came with a huge back garage that was only framed out. I needed to finish that before I can restore the g3 so I sold EVERYTHING I didnt need and placed the cash of each sale in an envelope untill I got $15,000 cash. Then in August of 2007 I took time off work and completed the entire back garage using the cash I raised from maybe 25+ sales of crap I collected and was laying around including 3 extra cars. All this was motivated from my newly acquired g3 I bought the year before plus it needed to get finished anyway. I spent all $15,000 on the garage......
Well I did a few other projects between then to now to get ready for this g3 which includes a practice Sea Swirl restoration so I can learn and have hands on experiance working with fiberglass. That came out pretty nice but I worked on it non stop for 13 weeks streight and when it was finished I felt like I missed out on 13 weeks of my life and summer was almost over so next time I will take my time.... I also had alot of extra material laying around and the back garage was getting cramped so I built two HUGE sheds I call the twin's to free up space so I can work on my g3. I finished them three months ago.
The time has come for me to finally, FINALLY after nearly 4 years of planning, preparing, learning and much more I NOW get to work on this magical g3 that has bassically in a way changed my life. You wouldent believe what I have done to get to this point. (Project wise)
I have just started the wood replacement modernization of this g3 and plan on posting the details on two forums. Here on www.fiberglassics.com/g3/mboard.htm and on www.goldenstateglassics.com/ . I hope to create a detailed account of this modernization/restoration and want others to possibly learn something by it.
I have purchased a 1986 Mariner 90hp long shaft from Ronald 64 that will power this g3 into the future. The reason for the title of this thread is because this g3 although original will be modernized with a long shaft transom to accomodate the newer motors of today and the 90hp long shaft that will grace this g3.
Stay tuned for updates with a thousand pictures and a detailed account of this modernization streight through to its second maiden voyage after nearly 30 years.
I would love to hear your thoughts and advice along the way. Im not a professional boat builder by any means and am learning along the way.
Sorry for the long introduction. I just want it to be known. Yours truley, Mike B.

The first pic is from the ad that was originally placed in the recycler. The pic that made me buy this boat...

The next couple are from a while ago...

PS.... I have already started the work. I started this thread because I can use some modivation and I will bring you up to where I am at today


Lastly, The best G3 YouTube Video ever made! (By Me)

This is what I plan on doing with this project...


Now my plan can change at any point. I wanted to keep the transom at the stock height and use a jack plate. There are a nunber of other folks doing just that today but with the Mariner being a long shaft and weighing 1/3 more then the motor that the hull was intended for there is only a few inches of free board already at the transom so with more weight it will be even less and I dont want to sink the thing, no way... So even though Im not thrilled about changing the original design I can always change my mind later on down the line and cut the transom back down to its original 16" height and reglass it over. I was planing on using a jack plate with the shorty transom and I even bought one already for this project. It is a cmc manual jack plate. It weight maybe 40 pounds alone so I figure with that and all the extra weight of the new long shaft I had better wise up and question the smarts behind leaving the original transom height. I already have experiance lifting a transom from my Sea Swirl and so it should be easy to do so.


The first pic is the original transom shot
So I have two choices of transom design's I can go with. I can lift it up to 22" or I can follow the natural curve of the rear deck and simply use my Jack plate that is collecting dust in the garage. I plan on using the jack plate either way. Im thinking I like the natural radius of a smooth transom.

Next, now I will have to paint the new transom regardless. My over all original gel coat has a few spider cracks which I dont mind, infact I like the 50 year old original look, so I have to decide if I want to paint the entire hull and make it look like a brand new boat or simply match the transom color and blend it in to what is there now and leave painting the entire hull for another day. I just want to be able to leave this boat out side under a cover and not have to worry and baby the finish so thats' something to think about.

Okay this boat will be equipped with something you dont see every day. It will have a motor that has a built in "Quick Release" so it will be able to easily be removed and placed on any other boat I desire in less then an hour's time. Since It will have a jack plate, that will stay mounted on the transom only the motor it self will be placed on maybe another jack plate that is already fixed to its transom. The cables will be ran above the splashwell and the control will have wing nuts so everything will remain connected. The steering and cable will remain in the boat so each boat will have its own steering and cable... I don't boat enough to have a seperate motor for each one and be able to keep up on all the maintenance that is required for these outboards so this will be a good hp rated motor to try my idea. It should be easy breezy and fun to prove it is worth the effort......

So any thought's on this posting will be appreciated. Have a nice day, Mike

The first pic is of the original transom
Second Pic is a beautiful 22" transom
Third pic is a smooth natural curved transom

I needed a motor stand for the old Merc that was coming off and I just happend to have a old engine stand that has been sitting on the side of the garage. I cleaned it up and wanted to paint it. I like the color Yellow and red. After a few days of painting it was time to remove the motor. The motor looks good sitting on its new stand. Im sure they will be together for a long time....

The g3 also looks good with out a motor. You can see the rusted out bolts and then the original mounting plate that I read is some what rare.

Controls are out. I believe that the base the gas tanks sat on are original although I can not confirm this because I have yeat to see any others however the aluminum trim that is part of the base looks like it was sprayed with zolatone and is an exact match as to what is on the interior of the hull so I have to assume it came from the factory.

The splash well comes out as a separate unit after a series of aluminum trim pieces are removed. I removed each aluminum piece and marked the back side with pencil to identify its location and bagged each piece with its original fasteners in zip lock bags then marked the bags with a sharpie marking pen. I will replace the fasteners with new stainless steel ones when it comes time to install them again.

I used a hack saw blade with tape on one end for a handle to remove the drain tube that was connecting the splashwell to the transom. It worked okay and took about 5 minutes. I made two cuts about a quarter inch from each other, removed the small slice and then was able to pinch the tube to allow it to have room to slide out of the hole.

Once that was out and all the trim surrounding the splash well was removed, the well simply slid out to reveal the raw plywood transom. Glasspar did not seal the transom's with fiber glass back then nor did they add any paint to help prolong the life of the wood they used in their hull's. The transom appears to be solid looking at it from this angle however I have yeat to dig in any further. It feels strong but it will be replaced. The original transom consists of 4 layers of 3/8 plywood. Im not sure if it's marine grade or not. The total thickness from outer skin to inner skin is 1 3/4" on the nose.

Okay the first series are pics of what I believe to be the original fuel tank base. I believe this is in fact original due to the fact of the the original zolatone color being on the actual aluminum of the structure itself and knowing the entire boats history. The next few shots are the actual original sprayed zolatone on the inside of the hull. Now here is where it gets good. I have the original upgraded factory seat in poor condition (see last 3 pics) and can prove that too is an upgraded option with pics of other seats like this but lets back to the topic. The seat brackets are original, we know that. These were sprayed with zolatone too. I think they did that #1. to blend in the color and #2 to protect the aluminum. Well that's my theory and im sticking to it. This rig has been preserved and just because nobody knows this is not my problem. The fact's are the fact's and the fact is this is ORIGINAL, HA, CALL IT A DISCOVERY Mike

Hull

Now the original seat brackets

Great to see you finally getting started on the G3 Mike! Awesome video on the Sea Swirl, BTW. Glad to hear you're taking a more leisurely pace this time, enjoy. (Although it appears you're still in WOT mode, LOL) The new avitar is "killer".

Thanks Mark! Im playing catch up. I wanted to start this thread here before I got too far into the fun. Pluss I have gotten a few e mails from members here to start a thread since I have brought up this g3 rebuild a few times. Its only fair I share with every one. This thread will be a good one for future readers to look back on.

My Hope Is To (in A Few Years) Restore the original Motor and have it back on this G3 WHERE IT SHOULD BE!!


Okay I will take the time with this posting to share some images of some of the original paper work that came with the g3 and 62 mercuty 700, enjoy.......

great story...very inspiring.

Awesome ......hope I run across something like this some day....

The next series of picture's are of the aluminum trim being removed, windshield removed and other various pics.. I am going to split the deck very soon. A Step by step visual, Mike

Before trim removal



pics of under side of deck (wood)

Okay, the black rubber rub rail could not be saved. It is hard as a rock and had to be chipped away ONE INCH at a time. I will have to now buy new rub rail.

This is the worst of the crazing on the tip of the bow. All the aluminum trim was photographed, marked and bagged in zip lock bage with its original fasteners.

This is the original padded dash thing and its fastner

Now its time to remove and protect the precious wind shield. I placed tape on the end of the screw drives so I didnt scratch the plexi glass

Next goes the steering wheel and cable, you might remember this thred? Its on the end and I uploaded 45 detailed pics of the progress www.fiberglassics.com/glassic-forums/main-forum/quicksilver-steering-wheel#13427

That is the original masking tape placed behind the ID. I think to hold the serial # to the plate it self untill it was secured to the deck

Bigfoot, will your next post come soon? I am sure I speak for others too... we are anxious to see more.
Dean

I must have missed this post the first time around...glad I caught it now...subscribed...