Batboat Rebuild: Dashboard Aluminum Trim

Correction 6/7/2010; I got this discovery all wrong. The upholstery aluminum trim mentioned below isn't what was used on the original 1966 Batboat's dashboard.

I recently got a scanner, scanned in this photo I found on ebay, zoomed into it, and see it is an entirely different aluminum. Some of which is still on my boat and measures 3/8 inch. I'm keeping this post up because of other information in it. lol

I just interpolated the width of the 1966 Batboat dashboard trim against a one inch vinyl pleat. It appears to be the same width as in mine; 5/16th inch.

My vessel was built three years after the TV show boat and, like many other details in the '66 Batboat, that trim was one of Glastron's stock parts.

The above is the glove compartment piece from my 1969 V-145/Batboat. I bet its the same stuff. If so, it will not be hard to find at all. The same aluminum trim was used by Glastron in many of their boats in the 1960s and its the stuff people sometimes throw out when fixing their boats up.

Here is how it was upholstered to most of the vinyl in my boat. Looks nice and neat from the front...

... but the back is different.


The back of the channel in the aluminum was cut to make it easier to bend into curves and then stapled through the vinyl to the plywood.

The channel is 3/8 inch and ply 1/4 inch.

The metal is rounded at the end and the upholstery foam under the vinyl looks about 1/4 inch. Not too slim and not too puffy. That is how I am going to upholster my craft, just like Glastron did in '69.