SEABUDDY
ON BOATS

Note, the custom wood covered fiberglass transom

This is an inboard G-3. She is the custom creation of a Jersey Speed Skiff and classic 1962 Chris Craft Golden Arrow 19’ boat owner. Her builder owns and races the famous Orange Crate, the 1965 JSS class vintage racer. This 1960 Glaspar is owned by an accomplished marine craftsman. His work speaks for him. Just take a look at his race boat Orange Crate in any racing pits and see it for yourself.

Custom G 3 Glaspar 1960 classic fiberglass boat

Skip started with a 1960 Glaspar “Center deck”. He instantly got around one problem with a classic G 3 by putting in a souped-up inboard engine in his Glaspar fiberglass boat at the correct balance point for the hull by using a v-drive transmission. Using a Buick Aluminum small block 215 cubic inch V-8 gave him plenty of power with a 318 lb. engine weight. This aluminum head and aluminum block engine was used in both Buick Specials and in Pontiac Le Mans cars in 1961-63.  These engines were rated from 150 to 200 HP, when stock. This classic fiberglass boat is not stock. Seabuddy does not know the power that Skip coaxed out of his Buick engine here. I do know that a different crank can bring the displacement up from 215 to 305 cubic inches. Do more parts changing and a 340 cu. in engine is possible, but not easy.

Cockpit photo of 1960 G-3 Glaspar classic fiberglass boat

Mickey Thompson entered racing driver Dan Gurney in a “stock block” Buick Indy Racer of his own design in 1962. Their car did not finish  the race. Apollo Gran Turismo cars also used these Buick engines in 1962-63 for a limited run.

V Drive shifter in this custom G-3 Glaspar fiberglass boat

Now, a Chris Craft Golden Arrow 19’, is another classic that Skip owns. It is a Cavalier Division Chris Craft boat model. She is a high styled plywood ski boat runabout with a center arrow stripe on her foredeck. Seabuddy projects that some of the wood touches that Skip’s custom G-3 displays may have come from his Golden Arrow 19 footer’s styling. A Golden Arrow is a rare boat. Only 170 of these boats were made by C-C.

A stock Glaspar G-3 is a 13’ 7” fiberglass model boat of about 390 lbs. in boat weight that is rated for an up to a 60 Horsepower, short shaft, outboard motor. The most seabuddy ever powered one of his G-3s was with a 85 HP Mercury Marine “Tower of Power” engine. Seabuddy understands that Bill Tritt’s Glaspar Boat company made 16,000 boats in 1960 and while the outside of all of them was fiberglass, there was plenty of plywood in the floor and transoms of Glaspar boats.

Skip has promised to bring his G- 3 to the 26^th Annual Antique and classic Boat Show and Festival held on the expansive grounds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. Maryland on June 14, 15, and 16, 2013. Look for seabuddy there, too!

Wood was added to the transom and note the racing caviation plate

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