TOPIC: One sad G3 tore up from the floor up.

They say a coat of paint hides a multitude of sins but there's no hiding the way this G-3 was rebuilt the last time. The front seat surprisingly is the original frame but it was a write off upholstery wise. When they put in new stringers they didn't glass them in, they just sistered them to the rotten ones (!) and screwed a piece of regular plywood down for the floor. It looks like they took a horizontal slice off the dtern to redo the transom but then they glassed or bondoed over the seam ! This is going to be fun since I have to do the job without splitting the hulls as I have neither resources nor space and tools to do it that way. I'll throw up (no pun intended) some pictures and if you have any ideas I'll really appreciate them. I've got every similar project bookmarked so let the research begin.

Not pretty.

But there's potential.

It was originally cream or beige ?

Lots of work.

But I've got some beautiful pictures you've posted to refer to.

SO MUCH SANDING TO DO.

But I was sure happy to find this in the bilge.

Here's that seam that makes me think they sliced off the transom. Am I wrong ?

No advice to offer, but good luck with it. Lots of potential, but pretty intimidating too.

Good wishes are appreciated too. I picked a real winner for a first go at restoring an old glassic. But now that I've learned her history and seen what can be done with a G3 I can't back down. Damn the torpedoes eh ? LOL.

If you don't have one of these ? You don't know yet that it will be your
new favorite tool. You can get all kinds of blades for it.
This is the Harbor Freight version, that works just fine, and is cheap.
It's the variable speed oscillating multi tool. Can get it for 25 to 30 bucks.

I've been dreaming of an excuse to get one so Thanks ! I can show this to the Wife and she can't say no. LOL.

Yep gotta love the multitool!!!!!!!!!! It will help with splitting the deck from the hull if you so inclined. In for penny in for a pound.

Bob

I'd like to be able to split the hulls but they bonded over the rear seam and I'd probably do more damage than good. I'm going to be doing a lot of crawling around inside that little hull.

Since it's raining too hard to tear down the old Rude I figured I'd finish the pressure washing since you're gonna get wet anyway. LOL. Here's a few of the cleaned up version.

Pretty ugly.

But looks good up front.

Looks like they rolled on the white paint I've been blowing off right up to where they crawled UNDER the trailer and BRUSHED it. That's gonna require 60 grit.

That's about all I can do this year but I'll feel better about storing her till spring now.

Worthy project, but man, that's a lot of work ...

On the plus side, you'll be into the transom, so you can seriously beef it up and do a tasteful job of raising the center section so it will take a modern 20" lower leg

Of you can build it to accept a Jack Plate so you can really trim it for speed

There are some over at the Glasspar Owners site that are running up to 100HP on beefed G-3's and flying. Good hull shapes for that sort of thing

classicglasspars.com/

And I'll bet you've found the G-3 site ... www.g3owners.com

I would add two suggestions. The first is another tool from Harbor Freight, the 4 inch cut off grinder. It costs about $14 plus $5 for the life time warranty which you should buy. I went through three of them and only paid for the first. HF also cells a diamond toothed grinder that is excellent for grinding off old fiberglass, particularly the fillets. The second is to consider removing the deck as it makes everything needed to repair the hull so much easier. It's not hard to remove the rub rail and rejoining the deck to hull isn't difficult if you build some top braces to hold the edges of the hull from spreading while you work on it. You can use long bar clamps but will risk cracking the unreinforced edge. I made very suitable braces from scrap 1/2 inch A-C plywood. Also, don't remove the outer skin of the transom if you can avoid it. If you keep it in place, you can use it to scribe the curves top and bottom to build a bending form to fabricate the new transom. I can provide some pictures if nee to see what I'm talking about.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner guys but it was a tough winter and we are just coming out of hibernation. I'm re-reading everything you folks have told me about doing the G-3 and it's going to be put to use as soon as my back yard can support my weight. It's a bloody bog back there right now. The good news is my other project, the 1960 Humber Regal is going to be getting wet as soon as Lake Erie is ice free and they pull the ice boom out of the water at Fort Erie. The outer skin on the transom of the G-3 was done VERY poorly as you can see and if I can't save it with some decent bodywork I won't hesitate to scrap it and start fresh. I have every intention of hanging a 100HP white and chrome Merc on her so it'll need to be solid. I was thinking about having an 1/4 aluminum bracket formed that will cover most of the transom inside and out anyway. If that's a bad idea please let me know. As always this continues to be the best site for old glass and I hope everyone came through the winter without too many scars. Thanks for your help and suggestions. Mark.

Where is this happy face coming from ??

I do not have a G3 but do have a Glastron JetFlite that is similar in size and construction. I did not separate my hull and deck and was able to do the inside work by having the hull mounted on a simple rotisserie.

I also had to rebuild my transom. Unfortunately, the first shop that worked on the hull did a poor job of trying to rebuild it so I had to work from their false start. The original transom board was wide at the bottom and tapered to a narrower top. In analyzing the transom forces, the loads are mostly at the top so I changed the configuration and tied the new transom boards into the upper deck areas beside the motor well. I had also previously installed a large aluminum angle that transferred loads from the upper transom into the bottom of the motor well. I feel that the new structure would easily accept 150 HP but do not plan to add to my current 65 HP.

You can view the work I have completed on my thread titled 1963 Glastron V143 JetFlite under the Member Projects. If you have questions about any aspects of my project, I can be reached at 417-739-1448.