TOPIC: New member 1970 GlasPly 16' Orting, WA.

Hi all,

Nice to be here!

This past spring I purchased a 1970 16' GlasPly with a 1971 Mercury 650 4 Cyl on the original Holsclaw trailer in nice original condition. I work at a boat shop and had a customer bring it in for new control cables, the customer didn't like the price because he was going to put the boat up for sale. I purchased the boat for $1100 then sold the 1980s Suzuki kicker motor for $550.

I bought new cables but couldn't get them adjusted correctly so in creeping on here I found Dr. Frankenmerc and made the drive (not far from me) to have him go though my Mercury.

Doc put in my cables, rebuilt my control box, did a water pump service, serviced the lower unit, run checked the motor - and with a clean bill of health we were ready to hit the water!

We went to a few small Washington lakes with lakeside camp grounds and then when I was confident in the boat we took it boat in camping at the north end of Washington's Beautiful Lake Chelan.

I'm lightly restoring/repairing broken or worn out things, but I really enjoy the "nice original" look.

Looking forward to many boat-in camping adventures next year! Thank you FG community and Dr. Frankenmerc!

Nice find, great pictures. You were certainly in good hands seeing the good Doc! Hope you are able to enjoy a good upcoming summer season! Pictures are always welcome.

That's a really clean rig. Looks like it just came off the showroom!

Lake Chelan is beautiful. I have an Uncle over in Wenatchee and on occasion I'll drive my Mom over there for a visit, very pretty scenery all around. We've been through the Chelan area many times. My Stepdad used to hunt Chelan up by Mitchell Creek, and the folks would go over there every fall to see the boat races. They have the best fruit at the local fruit stands, much better than what we get in the stores over here!

That 65hp should push your 16' pretty well once you get the prop thing sorted out. I bet the Doc has just the prop for your engine, and you could always dump it in at the Island Lake boat ramp to test it out Did you see the big stack of props he has in his shop? Quite the collection.

When I bought my 1970 16' the factory below deck tank was removed and there were 2 6gal portable tanks in its place. This was fine except I needed a bit more fuel and ideally to even out the boat a little so it wasn't listing. I was going to make a couple of fuel tanks, then I ran across these 10gal fuel cells with AN fittings for a good price and they fit almost perfectly below the splashwell. I will have a lower crossover to balance the tanks, breather lines connected across the top and 1 fuel feed line to the filter/engine drawing from the STBD tank. Yes, I know CG regulations on unleaded tanks, crossovers, drawn from bottom... Blah, blah, blah... Simply put, I don't care. It will be leak proof and safe before I hit the water with this new setup and it's still FAR better and safer than a 50 year old rotted out steel tank. I will now have the capacity to make the trip safely to Stehekin, WA. And back from our camp site that is about mid-way up lake chelan. Waiting for the fittings to arrive to finish the tank install. Next will be rewiring the whole boat to a busbar/fuse block instead of everything ran off 1 14gauge wire from the battery without a fuse....