TOPIC: 1961 Dorsett Eldorado

Hi guys,
I am new to the forum and fiberglass boats. Im located on the south shore of Long Island in New York about 30 miles from NYC. I do my boating on South Oyster Bay. I currently have a 13 ft Glen-l wood runabout, and an 16 ft aluminum runabout. I wanted a fiberglass retroboat to round out the fleet, and so both my kids have access to the water. Which brings me to my 1st question: Is this boat fiberglass? It doesnt look that way to me, the registration says "Plastic". Im concerned about the integrity of the hull and was toying with the idea of put a layer of 7oz cloth on the bottom of the hull. It has a lot of stress cracks on various parts of the hull and this boat will be used frequently (a few times a week at least). Im gonna run a Merc Mark 55 on this one. Here is a video of my boat.
Thanks,
Jim

Welcome to the site Retroman. Nice looking Dorset that you have there. It is all fiberglass construction These boats were very well made and were abit heavyer than most boats of that era. Stress cracks are common on boats of this age and unless they are cracked clear into the fiberglass you really don't have to worry too much about them. Unless you plan on doing a complete resto of this boat you could just leave them or at least have the lower hull paint with a good quality bottom paint.Were you thinking of putting the glass on the inside of the hull? Post some more pics of the area you are worryed about. Afew more members will jump in her soon and offer more ideas on what you may be able to do with the cracks. Good luck with your project. Skip.

Nice find on the Dorsett Jim, and welcome aboard! Even with the transom work needed, you still have a good base for your project there IMHO. Looks like a Holsclaw trailer to me, somebody disabled the tilt feature by putting bolts through the beams where the tongue meets the frame rails. Several good rebuild threads on those in the trailer forum, good info in the library here as well.

Keep us posted on your progress, I'll let the good folks with much more knowledge than I advise you on how to handle the stress cracks.

Welcome aboard. Pics would help but I think what has been said about all there is. Hard to tell without seeing it. I'm not impressed with the trailer that much. I'd clean it up and use it.

fiberglass is fiber reinforced plastic.

thanks for the info. I will post some pics this weekend. Your advice is much appreciated
Jim