TOPIC: My first boat - 1969 Fiberform Runabout

I picked up this boat recently from a friend's family. I soon after found this site. The boat is in pretty good shape, but I can see that I'll be checking this site for advice regularly.

The boat is what I'd call good original condition. I took it out on the Willamette river last weekend in Portland, OR. She worked just fine and I had a great time.

I have a couple of questions for the group:
1. How fast should this boat be? She is equipped with a Mercury 1000 100hp. It starts fairly easily, and seems to run smooth. I found that with the throttle all the way forward I was showing 27mph on the speedo (I didn't think to try testing with a GPS)
2. Keeping it original - I want to add more fishing functionality to the boat. I'm thinking lakes and salmon in the rivers. I want to add a kicker motor, rod holders and a fish finder. Will the addition of a kicker be in bad taste?

Thanks,
Glen

Here are a couple of pictures

The addition of a kicker is all up to you,put a pad under the mounting bracket so you don't mess up the gel coat.The rod holders can be mounted on a 2x4/6 that incorporates some sort of padding where it rests on the gunwales. C-clamps work well for securing the 2x6.This way no drilling and easy removal if you want to show her off.IF I was displaying her I would remove the kicker/fishing gear for the show,other than that it's your ride to customize.I would think you should be hitting a solid 35-38 mph.As you noted a GPS for a accurate speed is step one.Then a tach so you know what RPM's you are hitting.I believe that is rated for4800-5200,so that would be your sweet zone.May be over propped if she is slow coming out of the hole.Under propped if she jumps out.Make sure you are getting full movement under the hood when you have it floored.Cable off after noting where it stops then manually move it and see if it stops in the same place.Next would be a compression test along with a general tune-up,including timing.If you hit all the parameters mentioned and she's still dragging I would weigh her and see if you have some waterlogged issues under the sub floor.Nice looking boat!

Welcome Glen, good to have you aboard. Looks like you found a very nice example of a Glassic there, congrats on your new ownership. We'd love to see some more pics when you get a chance, we love pics around here.

I have to pretty much agree with JT (Mr.88) across the board with his comments. It's your boat, to do with whatever way makes you happy. I'd try to avoid drilling holes in her as much as possible, but sometimes it isn't possible and they can be fixed down the road if you change your mind on location or decide to sell. Good advise on the motor too, the gang down in the Merc Outpost section can help you get her tweaked in. Sounds to me like your speed is a little low, probably nothing a little "TLC" can't take care of.

Enjoy, and keep us posted on your progress. Get ready for lots of boat ramp/dock conversations and "thumbs up" as you motor across the water!

Glad to have you here Glen.
Looks to be a pretty clean Fiberform.
I like the motor color also. Like JT says, that 1000 should push that boat into the mid to high 30's. And love doin' it.
Like the guys say, pics, pics and more pics.
There is a wealth of info here from everything from the hitch to the prop. There are always projects going to learn from and questions never go unanswered. So enjoy.
Neil

Thanks for all the great advice.

I saw online some fishing rod holders that are flush mount and stainless. i.e. they just look like holes in the gunwhales. This would mean a bigger hole, but the look would be fairly clean.

I'll try and post some more pics, but for some reason I got some error messages.

Here's a shot of the motor.

I'll take some real shots at the river soon