I found a couple of photos of my boat from the early 1980's.





This photo is after the boat was taken apart and I had openned and inspected the engine internals.  The engine was wrapped in shrink wrap on the stand and still is sealed up since 1997 when we moved.

   Now that we got rid of that silly Don't ask, Don't tell policy, We're getting our first look at some of the NEW CHANGES in our military.

  This country wanted change, and we're getting.............with both barrels.

Looks like Malibu Barbies jeep.

 

^ Nothing better to do late night
< Confused at first, gets it now
v What?

Finished grinding out the old gelcoat and puddles of resin on the inside bottom of the hull.  There are a couple of areas where the glass did not have a good bond between layers, so I ground them out.  I'll build thase areas back up with layers of glass and resin.  I then need to get the hull off of the trailer and squared up.  I plan on bedding the stringers in epoxy putty on the bottom and ends before glassing them in.  The stringers will be cut to fit the steps in the hull, corners will be rouded over and fillets will be molded out of epoxy putty.  Once the stringers are glassed, I will fair the surfaces and lay a layer of light weight cloth and wet it out for a clean smooth surface.  I still need to sand the sides before I paint the interior.





I'm thinking about modifying the new bulk head so it has a couple of storage compartments with hatches.  If I have room, perhapes they will be long enough to store water skies.  I'm also thinking about having an anchor locker in the bow with a hatch on top of the deck.  Not sure about it though, it depends on what kind of flush mount lid I can find and how much room there is.  I'm also considering having an engine cover to help quite things down a bit.  Lots of ideas, not enough time.

Yesterday and today I was able to remove the second stringer from the hull and have started sanding with 36 grit on my DA.  It sure is slow going.  My compressor has a 25 gal tank and is not able to keep up with the DA or die grinder.  I'm thinking about buying a smaller compressor and running it in parallel with my current one.  I want to cut out the front bulkhead and set up the new one so it can be used for storage.  It is supposed to get down in the 20's here, so progress will be slow.  I want to have both stringers replaced this week.  We'll see.

Sorry about this dumb question, but what is a puke tank for?

Should I fill the bow with foam for floatation?

What other areas would be good for foam?

What engine is it mounted on?

Why are you changing over to single carb?

Thanks

GT,

I appreciate the comments.

That is why I posted, I want to get feedback from you guys so I don't make any major blunders.

Question-The bulkhead in the bow is glassed in so I can not see how far the stringers go past it.  Do the stringers normaly extend throught the bulkhead or are they terminated at the bulkhead?

1977 GT Resurrection
Let me introduce myself.
Way back in the dark ages, 1979, I was attending the local J.C. trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  Some people might say that I never did figure that out.  I caught Hot Boat fever and the only way I could afford to cure the fever was to build one.  I stumbled across GT boats in Pacheco, CA and found my boating Mecca.  They had a hull lying in the grass.  The gel coat on the bubble had a brownish tinge and spider web surface cracks.  Reluctantly, they sold the hull and a used tandem axel trailer to me for about a grand, or close to it.  I was now the proud owner of an 18 ft, bubble deck, semi-v, river racer hull and a rusty trailer.  Now what?  I had been hanging out with some friends who were into v-drive drag racing.  They of course gave me a bad time about even considering a bubble squirter instead of a real boat.  Through them, I was given 3-4 BBC in various stages of failure.  From those engines, I was able to build a 402 BBC.  Through another friend I bought a new Berkeley 12JC-A-H pump directly from the factory which was 15 miles from home.  I made my motor mounts and found a set of used Glen Wood water jacketed exhaust manifolds and OT pipes.  I layed out to cut the holes in the hull to mount the Jet and chickened out.  I just could not do it.  I was able to get the guys at GT to mount the pump for me.  I can’t remember how much they charged, but it was worth it. FYI, my layout was correct.  I mounted a 40 gallon belly tank and started shopping around for some seats.  About that time, another friend’s boat sank.  I bought his seats, go peddle and some other parts he had.  So after about a year has passed, we are ready to put this Rat Rod in the water.  The boat topped out at 100 mph, in the driveway.  The boat ran like a scalded dog in the water.  It sure loved that UNOCAL premium leaded gas.  I ran that boat in the Sacramento Delta and Lake Berryessa in Napa.  I never did clock the boat; GPS wasn’t around for us citizens to use yet.  Fast forward to 1989.  I decided it was time to get the boat and trailer painted and freshen it up.  I tore it down and got the hull off of the trailer.  I had a buddy paint the trailer with black Imron.  I was on a roll, the engine was opened up and looked great, new gaskets and ready to install.  Then life changed.  I fell in love and got married, bought a house that needed a full remodel, had a kid, moved across the country and the boat sat until now.  We live on the other side of the country and decided to buy some property on the river.  When you go to the river, you have got to have a boat.  She said, you need to put your boat together so we can use it next summer.

Life is good for those who are patient.

So here we are, resurrecting a 1977 GT Hot Rod boat.

I registered on this site and have read a lot of your posts and am looking forward to sharing and learning how to best get this boat back in the water.

SAM in L.A., that’s Lower Alabama.