TOPIC: G3 Identification

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

I did order the Zolatone today from TCP GLOBAL. They suggested a larger tip and needle for my gun. It should be here this week so I can carry on.
Jim

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Jim:

Glad to hear my advice on the "Zolatone" from TCP Global helped you Sir!

Jim, on spraying the Zolatone I would NOT recommend using an HVLP
(High Volume, Low Pressure) type spray gun! I had ALOT of trouble when I tried using one of those guns and it made a huge mess in addition to the small gun CONSTANTLY clogging up!

Here is a picture of what a HVLP gun looks like:

What I WOULD recommend is one of the older style "pressure pot"
type guns that Glasspar originally used in the factories to apply
"Zolatone." I found one of these spray guns at "Home Depot" although any auto body supplier has them too. Here is a picture of the spray gun I bought at "Home Depot":

I will get you the exact part number for this gun if you want.
For what it is worth, that gun is made in the U.S. right down in Florida and it was reasonably priced at about $65.00. This gun has a 1.8 spray nozzle in it and I think the larger nozzle you can find the better it is for spraying the Zolatone. As I recall,
Zolatone recommends nozzles from 2.0 to 2.4.

Also Jim, you will need to apply some primer before you shoot the
Zolatone. You should be able to buy that locally at most marine paint or boat dealers. Here is a shot of the floor in our 1960
Glasspar Seafair Sedan after I applied the primer to the inside cabin and outside floor:

Jim, I know you are not going to work on the 64 until the 59 project is complete but thought I would show you the stringers used in open deck g-3's

Morris & Mr. Red
Thank you for the paint gun tips and view of the stringers. Maybe that's why floor seems solid, but I should try a couple of inspection plates as I have seen in your photos. I will wait until I finish what I've started. Was going to paint today but the deck was outside upside down and we had snow in the night. It's in the garage to dry so maybe paint tomorrow. I will use grey epoxy primer under the Zolatone. Will try to post photo of finished job.
Jim

WOW JIM,: Did not see your steering wheel post picture from last week . Heavy paint (?) BUT you are showing us one of those early $$ KIEKHAEFER Light Blue wheels LINK here www.google.com/search?q=kiekhaefer+steering+wheel&rlz=1C1CHNQ_enUS545US546&espv=210&es
_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=heSjUr29KNHwkQe_0YDQBw&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1140&bih=700
. EBAY LISTING $300 !!
Your motor PLUNGER end probable needs the TWO piece HALF CLAMSHELL
brass mount to bolt to the steering bar & then up to front of motor for turning. Here LINK & can getout of Atlanta & member here & in link JOE POOLE at Fergusen Poole , I bought one a few years back , But no old pic . johnsoldmercurysite.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=368
2) Your state hull #'s can be scraped / loosen by using a HEAT gun , or hair dryer & plastic scraper.. ENJOY.
PIC LINK of steer ADAPTER CLAM 2 PIECE classicglasspars.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&catid=2&id=22830&Itemid=545&view=topic

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

Morris & Mr. Red
Thank you for the paint gun tips and view of the stringers. Maybe that's why floor seems solid, but I should try a couple of inspection plates as I have seen in your photos. I will wait until I finish what I've started. Was going to paint today but the deck was outside upside down and we had snow in the night. It's in the garage to dry so maybe paint tomorrow. I will use grey epoxy primer under the Zolatone. Will try to post photo of finished job.
Jim

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Jim:

You are very welcome on the paint gun and Zolatone tips! I hope it all will help you. I will get some more info up here on the Zolatone for you in the next couple of days. There is alot more to spraying it than I thought and when I did our Seafair Sedan I called and talked to a
Zolatone Factory Rep about "what to do and what not to do." LOL!

Hello
Finished the Zolatone today, hull, under deck and splash well. This was my first time and I am happy with the results.
Strange stuff the way the colors sort of settle in, it looks pretty much like the inside of a new boat. Now I just have to figure
a way to turn the hull by myself, (any ideas?) I did buy a heat gun to remove the CF numbers, worked great. As I was
removing them I discovered that someone had previously removed them with what looked to be the hammer and chisel
method. Soon I'll be off to get a paint match for the hull, think I'll take the splash well. Also had a tip on engine to steering
cable connection today, thank you.
Jim

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

Hello
Finished the Zolatone today, hull, under deck and splash well. This was my first time and I am happy with the results.
Strange stuff the way the colors sort of settle in, it looks pretty much like the inside of a new boat. Now I just have to figure
a way to turn the hull by myself, (any ideas?) I did buy a heat gun to remove the CF numbers, worked great. As I was
removing them I discovered that someone had previously removed them with what looked to be the hammer and chisel
method. Soon I'll be off to get a paint match for the hull, think I'll take the splash well. Also had a tip on engine to steering
cable connection today, thank you.
Jim

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Jim, the Zolatone looks great on your G-3!! Nice job Sir! I guess you won't need my Zolatone "Tips" after all! LOL!

Like you, it was my first time wih the Zolatone when I did the floor in our Seafair.

Hello again
We got the hull turned over today, my wife's very handy with directions. Looks pretty good with only a couple of small
depressions from rollers on the keel. Do any of you folks have advice on proper Awlgrip color to match original G3 white?
Hope to get that part done this week. The boat does have some crazing in the deck, I plan to sand and fill with high build
epoxy primer.
Would that be the proper procedure, I don't have experience with this type of defect? It does not appear to be from contact
maybe flexing. Anyway, time to go start sanding.
Jim

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

Hello again
We got the hull turned over today, my wife's very handy with directions. Looks pretty good with only a couple of small
depressions from rollers on the keel. Do any of you folks have advice on proper Awlgrip color to match original G3 white?
Hope to get that part done this week. The boat does have some crazing in the deck, I plan to sand and fill with high build
epoxy primer.
Would that be the proper procedure, I don't have experience with this type of defect? It does not appear to be from contact
maybe flexing. Anyway, time to go start sanding.
Jim

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Jim:

On our G-3 we had considered initially using "Awl Grip" but decided to use gelcoat to keep it close to original. But,...with that being said, our fiberglass boat restorers who did the gelcoat work felt that had we gone with "Awl Grip" that the color called OYSTER WHITE was very close to the original color. You can go to their website and look at the paint chip colors to compare.

Hope that helps you Jim!

Goodmorning
RedG3 has given me pause to think, Awlgrip or gelcoat? Will painting lower the appeal of the boat? I have never
had experience with spraying gelcoat, is it much different from 2 part paint?
Also not sure about use below waterline for a trailer boat? I'm going to paint store today to seek their opinion.
It seems as the engine lower section is painted it shoul also be ok for hull. Any input from your experience would
be appreciated. Again, thanks RedG3 as I had not thought of this option.
Jim

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

Goodmorning
RedG3 has given me pause to think, Awlgrip or gelcoat? Will painting lower the appeal of the boat? I have never
had experience with spraying gelcoat, is it much different from 2 part paint?
Also not sure about use below waterline for a trailer boat? I'm going to paint store today to seek their opinion.
It seems as the engine lower section is painted it shoul also be ok for hull. Any input from your experience would
be appreciated. Again, thanks RedG3 as I had not thought of this option.
Jim

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Jim:

You are very welcome Sir!

Jim,...our G-3 was gelcoated by a "father and son" fiberglass
restoration and repair shop who have been in business for over forty years. When they explained to me the whole gelcoat process I knew it was way over my level of expertise! LOL! There is ALOT of sanding involved to get the surfaces buttery smooth. I have also seen some re-gelcoat jobs that look good and others that don't look so great, so there is some special techniques to it.

But with all that being said I don't think "Awl Grip" or any high quality marine paint will hurt the value or appeal of your G-3.

I am posting some pictures of the new gelcoat on our G-3 so you can see what a good job my guys did for us:

John's boat is beautiful, and I hope to see it in person one day.

On Bandit, I used Awlgrip. Like John's gel coat, to get the finish I was after, it needed sanding and buffing. Bandit was sprayed professionally by my auto body pro with the Awlgrip, then by his direction, I wet sanded it with 1500 then 2000 grit paper, by rolling it over a carpenter's pencil. It took a fair bit of time (though much less than sanding the boat during my prep to paint) but after I got it back from buffing, it was mirror smooth.

I don't have enough data points to recommend anything, this is just the route I went, and I am very happy with it. I can tell you that Awlgrip is used for new construction of large yachts, and is a durable finish.

I don't have any good up-close photos and its too crappy to get Bandit outside just now for close ups like John's pictures. I wouldn't think going either way has one bit of affect on value of your restoration.

Dean

BTW... I am currently working on a 1972 Rayson Craft outboard restoration. I intend to use the Awl Grip again... but I haven't decided if I will roll and tip the finish rather than having it sprayed... I haven't done roll and tip before, but with the wet-sanding step, I think I will get the same finish results, with a significant savings of cost.

Jim, as far a color, I used a white that was just off its brightest white... I could find out the color name/number if you really want it (have to call my paint guy) but the brightest white didn't look like white gel coat, so I went back a shade or two... it very well may have been "oyster white" but I just don't remember.

Dean

deanlofall wrote:

John's boat is beautiful, and I hope to see it in person one day.

On Bandit, I used Awlgrip. Like John's gel coat, to get the finish I was after, it needed sanding and buffing. Bandit was sprayed professionally by my auto body pro with the Awlgrip, then by his direction, I wet sanded it with 1500 then 2000 grit paper, by rolling it over a carpenter's pencil. It took a fair bit of time (though much less than sanding the boat during my prep to paint) but after I got it back from buffing, it was mirror smooth.

I don't have enough data points to recommend anything, this is just the route I went, and I am very happy with it. I can tell you that Awlgrip is used for new construction of large yachts, and is a durable finish.

I don't have any good up-close photos and its too crappy to get Bandit outside just now for close ups like John's pictures. I wouldn't think going either way has one bit of affect on value of your restoration.

Dean

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Dean:

Thanks for your nice comments on our G-3!! But, IMHO, your G-3 is every bit as nice as ours and I hope I can see your G-3 in person someday too. I would add that yours is more "original"
than ours with the "period correct Tower Of Power" on the transom!
I wanted to do that also, but there is literally NOONE out here that work on those older motors. They look so good on the back of the G-3's.

Good morning
Thanks for the regarding paint vs gelcoat. You all have helped me decide to use Awlgrip as that is what I am familiar with. On my last project I used the color Off White Revisited and it was very close to the G3 white. The last boat was an Atlantic catamaran I built from the designers plans. Built in Our barn in Ferndale Ca over a 4 year period. We sailed from N. Cal to Maine and back, that took 7 years. Now I'm really glad to have found this new G3 obsession and look forward to some lake fun this summer.
Thanks again for the guidance here.
Jim

This is GRACE in Portsmouth at mile 1 of ICW

NEAT!!! Glad you've caught the bug.
Al

Jim: Your accomplishment in the construction of and your adventures with "Grace" is an achievement that most of us mere mortals don't even dream of....
I'm sure you have additional documentation that you could share with us?? Movie, film clip, biography,
web-site?? What an awesome experience to look back on.
Ed

Good morning, quite a bit of dust in the shop this weekend. I was going to prime hull and deck but noticed spider cracks on deck, after much web time I decided it best to grind them back a bit. It wasn't to bad as cracks were mostly in two places. I filled with epoxy and micro balloons and will hope for the best.
Jim

Hello G3'ers
Is there a official G3 Owners Association? If so how can I make contact?
Regards, Jim

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

Hello G3'ers
Is there a official G3 Owners Association? If so how can I make contact?
Regards, Jim

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Jim:

At one time there was a "G-3 Owners Association" but I really don't know what happened to it?? If you bring up the name on Google or Bing you will find it, but there is not much there anymore.

Dean Lofall and some of his friends had a dedicated G-3 Website both here on FG and also through "Johns Old Merc Site" which I think was started by User Name Mad Props. That site is also gone now. Hopefully Dean can cast some light on this issue too.

Google , Glasspar clubs , Bill Davis is out your way also, and he knows most G3'ers out there. you can also look on facebook for some leads

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

Hello G3'ers
Is there a official G3 Owners Association? If so how can I make contact?
Regards, Jim

Jim, The G-3 Owners Association still exists. It is currently an informal group. Keith C., One of the founders and one of the Club's 3 ambassadors at large is still active. Per his request I have recently became the G-3 Owners Association representative to the ACBS. Our informal group is listed by the ACBS as a Marque Club. It is my hope to see the G-3 registry revamped or made anew in the near future,so we have a current listing of owners. Until then This forum with it's many changes over the years is the continuation of the original forum that was started by Karl, Chris, Keith and others. It is the current home of the G-3 Owners Association. Most of the original forum is stored here on Fiberglassic's in the g-3 Owners Assoc. archives. Those who post here are considered members of the association. There are original members of the registry still active in Florida Glasspar Club, The Glasspar Owners Association, The Mid-West Chapter of the Florida Glasspar Club, And The East Coast Glasspar Owners Association. Bill Davis (mentioned by Jeff)is SoCal. There are many in Central Cal and some in NoCal. Of course there are members in the Northwest HHaynes, Deanlofall, and Dr. Franknmerc and many others who post here.
Please e-mail me and I will send you information on those I know of in your area.

Al Wilson
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you all for G3 owners information. This forum seems like the place to be.
Jim

We are glad you are here. Say have you thought of writing a book of you trip?

Morris
Thanks for the encouragement. As for writing a book I don't think I have the attention span for that type of project, I'm more of a worker guy. I am making progress on the 59 G3, will be doing final touch on spider cracks before priming today. I sure hope they don't reappear. I'm just off the phone with a fellow that has a 1960 for sale, it's left hand steering, has windshield and tired motor. He claims it is solid but I think the price is high ($500). I seem to have caught some kind of bug that makes me want to get every G3 I see.
I met a member of the Arena family Tuesday and he showed me a couple of his Arena Craft boats he had restored to perfection. He sells Mcgreggor sailboats but had a couple iin his shop, he has a collection of the stored somewhere else. Anyway, I better get after it.
Jim

Jim it is starting to sound like you are developing the OBPR syndrome.
Be careful it starts out with g3's and build from there. It is classified by the CDC in a top secret document.

As for me I would talk the guy down to 300.00 or 350.00 and buy it. Windshield is worth that.

O.B.P.R Old Boat Pack Rat Syndrome, NO known cure. The CDC code is BONUTo! Symptoms as follows #1 Saving old unwanted boats from certain uncertainty. #2 An odd look from the wife every time you leave the house alone. 3# Finding boats following you home. 4# Developing a desire for Tailfins and speed.

Yep I would probably buy it. Have new grandson who will need a boat in a few years.

Sorry John, been away from the board for a bit... busy Christmas shopping!

The website was Madprops, and I expect that he took it down due to such low traffic. I only helped by providing the header graphic and offering the G3 T-shirts.

It would be nice to stand up another G3 site, but it takes a bit of work to get it going right. I have designed and managed several commercial websites over the years, and it would be fun to do a G3 site, especially if it were more of a resource of information and photos with a forum, but I am afraid that unless it were active like the old G3 Owners Association site (before it was retired) it would be a waste of time. If there were some official status to it then I am sure it would go... maybe Al Morris has some ideas. And of course, it would need to have a Wildmen like Glasspar NUT and Doc Frankenmerc to keep all us Kookyhuffers laughing.

Dean

The Holidays are over and it's time to resume the boat obsession. The G3 is primed, faired and ready for paint. I took a road trip and came home with a 1957-58 Redfish Shark and a 1957 Herters Standard. Also picked up some Mercury motors Mk75, Mk58, Merc 400, Merc 300 all supposed to run. Plus a load of extra parts and a new dog.

Oh Yea Jim!! You have the syndrome for sure! Nice finds. Sandy would be envious of the redfish. and I of the Herters. You definitely have O. B. P. R. May I say "ain't" it great.
Al

Anyone ever try the Whitest white shade that looks like it has slight blue cast to it?

Had to LOL at this post. Read it to my wife who thought I was crazy to drive 1400 miles round trip in 3 days to pick up a Carlson Contender, a Merc 1000 BP and a stray Husky.

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

The Holidays are over and it's time to resume the boat obsession. The G3 is primed, faired and ready for paint. I took a road trip and came home with a 1957-58 Redfish Shark and a 1957 Herters Standard. Also picked up some Mercury motors Mk75, Mk58, Merc 400, Merc 300 all supposed to run. Plus a load of extra parts and a new dog.

Oldskier wrote:

Had to LOL at this post. Read it to my wife who thought I was crazy to drive 1400 miles round trip in 3 days to pick up a Carlson Contender, a Merc 1000 BP and a stray Husky.

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

The Holidays are over and it's time to resume the boat obsession. The G3 is primed, faired and ready for paint. I took a road trip and came home with a 1957-58 Redfish Shark and a 1957 Herters Standard. Also picked up some Mercury motors Mk75, Mk58, Merc 400, Merc 300 all supposed to run. Plus a load of extra parts and a new dog.

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I know exactly what you guys are saying. We traveled almost 1,000
miles from N.C. to Michigan to pick up our 1960 Glasspar Seafair
Sedan. Here is a photo of that:

Good morning
I'm looking for suggestions regarding trim polishing. Any tips would be appreciated. In getting ready for assembly, steering and controls reconditioned but need seat redone. Thanks to all.
Jim

Hi Jim,

On Bandit, I spent hours and hours in front of a polishing wheel that I put on my bench grinder. Starting with black compound and ending with white compound. Once the pieces were polished and washed... I brushed on straight Penetrol, and wiped it off... just like you would apply oil to wood.

www.flood.com/paint-additive-solutions/index.do

This stuff is awesome. Recommended to me by a mechanical engineer who seals all kinds of metals with it to prevent rusting. Bandit's polished trim looks just as good as it did when I applied it in 2011. I was warned about sealing polished aluminum with clear coat. It ends up tarnishing under the clear and then you have a mess to deal with. Penetrol can be reapplied with a rag as needed.

For the rub rails, sponson edge trim, deck aft-edge trim, and grab handles... these are anodized. If you put anodized aluminum on a polishing wheel, it just turns black. You need to remove the anodizing first. Search the web, there are techniques discussed in detail. I used a Drain-O solution in a big bath I made out of sheet plastic and 2x6... I soaked it for about 20 minutes and the annodization turned into gray goo. Washed it off then had clean aluminum to work with. (WARNING: do this outdoors and don't smoke... the process creates hydrogen gas)

My rub rails and sponson trim rails were dinged and scuffed... I sanded them before polishing... started with a light 200 wet sand... then went to 400, then 800. Then using a polishing wheel on a high speed drill, I buffed them with black then white compound. They came out great... watch out with a drill/polishing wheel... it will grab the rail if not careful.

Dean

Dean
Thanks for the instruction for polishing the trim, I'll try it as the pieces in your photo looks great. I like the large Glasspar badge, is that an original piece? Also the decal on the transom is a nice touch. Again, thank you.
Jim

Jim:

Like Dean, we also had to do EXTENSIVE polishing and re-coating to the hardware on our G-3 and also on our Seafair Sedan.

One product that I have used which I highly recommend is "BILLET"
Metal Polish made by "Mothers." You can buy this at most "Auto Zone" Stores and it works better than ANY product I have ever used personally.

Shown below is a picture of what the "Mothers BILLET Polish" looks like:

Jim, here is a photo of what our grabrails looked like after we polished them on the G-3:

As Dean also mentioned, our stock Glasspar Metal Rubrails along the sponsons were very nicked and beat up. I contemplated buying new ones for the boat but decided against it when I found the new metal rubrail cheap looking and not built as well as the originals. I was told by some other Glasspar owners that you could NOT refinish the original rubrail because of them being a
"potmetal" type material. Well Jim,....that advice was TOTALLY
FALSE and WRONG! I found a powdercoating company near my home with an owner and metalworker who is very experienced with older types of aluminum and metal like the Glasspars have.

He did a great job in sanding and working out many of the nicks etc. and then put on a fresh finish of powdercoating in a color he
called "CHROME" which has a nice bright finish, but not to where it looks like actual chrome.

Here is a picture of how those came out:

John/RG3
Thanks, did you remove the anodization on the hand rails in your photo? As I try to remove some of the larger nicks I am sanding through the coating and creating two colors of metal that is noticeable even when polished.
What do you do to protect the finish? It's very fine.
Jim

Hi Jim,

The Glasspar decal on the sponsons was proper on the 1959 and some very early 1960 models. It is the "old style" logo. Thanks to Ken from Australia "Downunder", he had reproduced the logo as a vector file... and thanks to G3Bill from SoCal, I got a copy of the Ken's file, and he also sent me some good photos of the factory decal to compare. We had a few minor tweaks to make to match them exactly... but we got the Adobe Illustrator files right and to a very good die cut decal guy who makes them.

G3Bill's original decal on his '59:

Jkerrigan7373 wrote:

John/RG3
Thanks, did you remove the anodization on the hand rails in your photo? As I try to remove some of the larger nicks I am sanding through the coating and creating two colors of metal that is noticeable even when polished.
What do you do to protect the finish? It's very fine.
Jim

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Jim:

No Sir, we did not have to remove the anodized finish on our aluminum like Dean did. Fortunately, our G-3 is a "one-family"
owned boat which my Dad ordered brand new way back in 1959. The boat did sit in a garage unused for over twenty years but was well
covered with a very thick tarp. All the aluminum was heavily tarnished, but after alot of elbow grease and use of high speed
commercial polishing wheels (like Dean used) the aluminum (as you see it in the pictures) came out great! To protect the finish we are using a commercial grade aluminum spray which I will get the name of for you. A good friend of mine who runs a metal fabrication and boat shop helped me alot with how to do this.

After every use, I recoat the aluminum with the commercial
metal spray and preservative. So far it has worked very well and we do use our G-3 in saltwater occasionally.

Jim, if you can't get your aluminum to come out like you want, I would recommend sending it to a shop to be either chrome plated or powdercoated. I would be happy to give you the name of my powdercoating guy and I also have the names of some chroming shops that can handle the types of aluminum and metal we have on our G-3's. Don't let anyone tell you that the parts CAN'T be powdercoated or chromed because that is FALSE! As I said above, I was told the same thing by a few so called "Glasspar Experts."

It sounds like you are a guy like Dean and I that wants your G-3 to look as nice as it can! LOL!

Great information here! Thanks.