TOPIC: 1969 Glastron Jetflight 143

I purchased this boat last August for a low price with a Mercury 850 motor. I'm still contemplating whether to have it restored or find a boat that is lake ready. The interior needs restoration and was thinking of replacing with the pointy seat style . The boat is white and blue. I have seen some photos of the interior on these and it appears to have metal flake or sparkle look to them. If anyone is familiar on that interior, please let me know if this is the case. Also if the vinyl on the stripe on the bow has metal flake look as well.

First off welcome aboard! I have restored a 1968 jetflite, and I can tell you the interior is metal flake vinyl, which i was lucky enough to find at a local fabric store. The center strip going down the bow of the boat is the same metal flake vinyl as the seats. When I did my upholstery I had the center piece pleated with 1/2 inch foam for backing to really make the pleating stand out. If you do go the original route, you should know that you can not get marine grade sparkly vinyl. The UV rays will reflect off the metal flake and break it down from the inside out, but dont let that scare you off if you cover it up when not in use like any sane person would do with a boat that they spent thousands of dollars to look amazing would do, you should be fine. Plus the sparkly vinyl looks AWSOME!!! when done. One thing I would check on with that jetflite is the floor, glastron used a open cell foam for floatation that just absorbed water and rotted out the floors and stringers if it got wet. Hope this helps if you have any more questions just ask.

I will add that I saw "1968jetflite"'s boat in person last year and it looks A-MAZING! That Metallic really caught my eye. You just can't stop checking out the boat...it takes you right back to when it was new!

I think I am almost convinced to having it restored . It will probably cost me twice as much as buying one already done. But you can't take it with you

Thank you for all the info. We have a place on Lake Winnipesaukee and our next door neighbor had the same boat as yours in the seventies . It was named " Take Five ". We would go waterskiing and cruising in it. He would tell me it had brakes, go real fast then cut back on the throttle. It had a 115 on it ! I will probably reach out to you if I decide to have it restored . I've also been looking at the one on the Fiberglassifs site, the 1970. But like the look of the 69 with the single stripe and the pointed seats much better. But between upholstery, new transom and to get out the surface cracks and repainted, it will probably cost thousands more than to buy one lake ready. Your boat looks awesome !
EdC

1968jetflite, that boat looks so cool. It looks like a Sportscar for the water!!!

I knew 2 guys in late 60's with this boat. One had a 110 merc and was named "Pokey". This was before power trim so quite fun watching it plane off and high speed runs in rough water. The other guy put in a 350 chevy with V -drive! He could jump it 3 feet off the water from an idle. I believe he would hit over 80 and it was break neck quick! I believe it is still around. These hulls are cool imho.

I saw a blue and white one for sale with an inboard. I'm leaning on having mine restored but when you cannot do it yourself it is expensive. I'm good at selling things, breaking things but not fixing them. I'm going to try to get some pics of mine up.