= 1966 Batman Batboat =

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-27T16:06:00.006-04:00

The Batboat project is nearly wrapped up for the winter. If I'm lucky I may be able to get one coat of 2 part sealer rolled on the back deck before the temp drops again.

I just finished putting it on display in front of my house for Halloween.

In November I will update the blog with a backlog of stuff going as far back as June.

The boat is nearly completed.

2011-10-15T13:32:00.002-04:00

I'm still working on the boat. If the weather is good tomorrow I will be doing the last things on the boat for the year this week.

A backlog of blog updates will follow.

Weather permitting, I'll cut the rear deck side scallops, long block sand the entire rear deck (going to hate that) and paint the first coat of 2 part sealer.

By the last week of October it will be displayed on the front lawn during day light.

I just put in a quiry to Petitt regarding the shelf life of my EasyPoxy boat paint. May not be able to use up the can I have until spring.

More on the Moonraker II boat

2011-08-20T16:50:00.005-04:00

Here is more information about the Moonraker II boat I blogged about earlier.

http://commanderbond.net/6210/restoring-moonraker-ii.html

They did a nice job on it.

It was the same model, but not color, as the one used in the movie. The gray metal flake gelcoat was added and was completely rebuilt from the bottom up.

The Batboat made its debut 45 years ago today.

2011-07-30T00:26:00.009-04:00

On July 30, 1966 the BATMAN feature film premiered in Austin, Texas, near where the boat was made at the Glastron Boat factory.

The Batboat made its debut in the movie and its premier in Austin was a contractual stipulation between the Greenway Productions and Glastron.

There were two boats created: Batboat I and II. "I" was used in the movie and TV show and II for Glastron to use in promotional events. Only one is known to survive and its in storage in Texas.

The above photo is of Batboat II near the Port-O-Call Inn (formally Guy Lombardo's Port-O-Call Inn) Tierra Verde, Florida.

Here is Adam West on the day of the premier, which was held during Austin's "Aqua Festivle."

A James Bond "Moonraker" boat reproduction

2011-07-29T23:02:00.006-04:00

A while ago I blogged here about the boat used in Moonraker, the James Bond film.

In early March, 2011 the replica was on eBay. I presume it was the one built by Invision Boat Works in Reese, MI from molds of the original which they restored.

The boat license numbers are Michigan, which begin with "MC".

Described as "Moonraker II" the seller gave the impression it was the original but a close look at the photos prove it was actually the reproduction. Tisk tisk. lol

It did not have the rear canopy, none of the weapons and the upholstery was made of new material. Beautifully done, though.

Asking price was US $24,900 but the auction ended with one offer for $8,000.00 and went unsold.

Accurate color of the Batboat I and II.

2011-07-29T22:09:00.007-04:00

Through some keen detective work I have always believed that the dark blue metallic flake gelcoat that was used on the 1966 Batboats I and II was the same used on other 1960s Glastron boats such as the Jetflites and other models.

There is a 'Metallic Blue' Jetflite on eBay right now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330594620621

If one wanted to Pantone color match the blue and measure the size of the metal flakes for a Batboat project, this is probably one of the boats to do it with, IMHO.

Coincidentally, this comes with the same motor mine came with. '58 Evanrude 35 hp.

Still working...

2011-07-12T20:55:00.007-04:00

Making a great deal of progress. The front end is almost finished. Will begin on the rear deck and fin this weekend, if weather permits.

Haven't had time to post updates but stay tuned! the best has yet to come!

Work is ongoing

2011-06-09T14:22:00.003-04:00

Still working on the boat. Too busy for updates lately but they will follow.

The above shows the templates for the air scoops.

April 13, 2011: I got lucky and found this...

2011-04-13T21:34:00.005-04:00

I lucked out BIG TIME.

A couple of days ago I was driving home from work and saw this on the side of the road, put out for trash day. An original 1960s era boat "sleeper seat".

There were a set of two but one was in bad shape. Brought this one home with me late last night. You have NO IDEA how this is going to help out with rebuilding my Batboat and making the upholstery.

These are called "sleeper seats" because they fold out and you can sunbathe or sleep on them. Some boats came with a canvas top, transforming them into campers. Mine did.

I can't believe I found this in the year 2011 only a block away from here!! Saginaw is an exit town and you'll never see this type of stuff here. Maybe 20 years ago but in 2011?!?!!?

This isn't the correct seat used in the original 1966 Batboat, however, it sits at about the same height. I also can take it apart to reverse engineer its assembly to help upholster a correct pair. :)

The new "Sleeper Seat" in the Batboat before I measured its correct place.

Its in the boat now and sitting in it I can now see how some things are going to look and fit from the inside. :)

February 19, 2011; Surprise find at the Detroit Boat Show!

2011-04-13T21:05:00.012-04:00

Almost two months ago I was at a boat show and happened upon a restored Glastron 1968 Jetflite. It is the only model of boat that had the seats I've been looking for. The same used in the original '66 Batboat! This particular year of boat was in red.

Had I known a Jetflite would be at the Detroit Boat Show I would have brought a ruler with me. lol

This is owned by Wilson Marine, a boat dealership here in Michigan. Will contact them later on and see if I take measurements in the future. :)

It is most likely on display in one of their large showrooms along with their other stuff.

They did a great job restoring this boat. This is the first restored Glastron I've ever seen.

The aluminum around the outer windshield measures 3/4 inch. The base is slightly thicker. I suspect the same trim was used on the Batboat. At least it looks like it to me. Will see if they will let me get a measurement later on.

Sorry for the lopsided photos. :/

Off topic: Naugahyde Zodiac closeout for hobbyists

2011-04-05T19:53:00.003-04:00

JoAnn Fabrics over here is closing out their Naugahyde Zodiac vinyl. Its the metal flake that you'll mostly see upholstered on carnival kiddie rides.

This is also the same stuff I'm using in the Batboat but in blue.

Blue
ZD 21

$9 per yard where I am at. The normal price $24 per yard. I assume this close out is nation wide. Find it in the "red tag" area.

I came home with a yard of the Burgundy ZD 24 to recover my bench press and speaker cabinet.

The other color they have here besides Burgundy is Charcoal ZD 27, if I am not mistaken. There may be more in your area.

Please note because of the clear layer where the metal flake resides, there is no UV coating. No such thing exists in metal flake vinyl.

For more information on the Zodiac vinyl ---> http://www.garysupholstery.com/naugahyde/ngzodiac.html

Back to work

2011-04-05T18:05:00.014-04:00

In February my cowl arrived which got me revved up about working on the Batboat again. All revved up and nowhere to go, however. Still too cold outside.

More parts that I ordered came in and it just got me even more stir crazy. Much worse than last winter!

I got a pair of welded steel fenders from eBay for $72, almost $30 less than they are locally. Really great stuff! 9" wide x 32" long x 15-1/4" tall. I opened the box as soon as they got here, rushed outside and found they fit perfectly on the trailer except the boat was in the way.(!!!)

Here they sit in my stairwell. The economy in my part of Michigan is poor. I can put them on Craigslist but I bet I'll be stuck with them for a very looooong time. :(

I promptly ordered another set. This time PVC plastic from iBoats.com.

It warmed up in mid-March and I put them on. Took much longer than I thought but they look great.

Its important that the fenders are on early this year because I'm taking the Batboat to Flint to pick up large sheets of plywood needed to finish the boat.

Another very important thing is the transom tie-downs. These will keep the boat centered on the trailer in case of an accident. I used two bow eyes that are a spitting image of the original that Glastron used in the 1966 Batboat I.

On March 18th it was warm enough outside again to get back to work.

I used the blister card as a template to mark the holes and drill.

Perfect fit.

Now to caulk them in permanetly with 3M 5200 caulk. The next day the temperature dropped below the 40 degree surface temp that the manufacture's application instructions call for so I waited TWO MORE WEEKS to finish this job. :(

March 30th and the snow is finally gone again! Back to work.

This is permanent, below the water-line caulk. The best you can get for marine use.

I caulked them in good on the inside of the transom. Water will never leak in.

It looks like a mess but its under the splash well and after painted over with Bilgecoat no one will ever see it.

Turned out really good on the outside, also. Excess wipes up cleanly with acetone.

Now to wait 7 days for it to cure. No problem there. It snowed again a couple days later.

This is my brand new, never used caulk gun. Paid nearly $2.30 for it last fall and it broke the first time I used it.

Don't buy "cheap" folks. The rivets broke on through. It would not puncture the bottom seal of the caulk tube (that I didn't know I had to take out). A run to the hardware store for the $3 gun saved the day.

What a pain!

The next afternoon while on the way to an all day stay in Royal Oak I stopped by Michigan Lumber in Flint to price the plywood. $24 for a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/4 inch Douglas Fur exterior ply. A bargain!

I'll need 6 sheets but that is for the next post. Until then I am keeping busy working in the yacht yard and with my business.

Stay tuned! The best has yet to come!

Still working on the boat.

2011-03-28T10:33:00.004-04:00

Lots going on around here so no new posts for a while

Work starts on the boat as soon as we break 40 degrees here in Michigan, however.

The story of the origin of the original Batboat I was working on for here has been put on hold. I run an internet biz and sales are booming right now. Not much free time this month.

The new steering wheel.

2011-01-21T15:10:00.007-05:00

The new steering wheel for my Batboat arrived on January 21st.

Delivered to my door by a uniformed UPS agent.

I ordered it from Mooneyes along with some other custom auto odds and ends. http://www.mooneyesusa.com/shop/product.php?products_id=2440

There are some differences from the original but it still exceeds my expectations.

The original was of an unknown diameter, this is 15 inches. It had three holes per spoke, this four. Original spokes were spaced evenly, this isn't, perhaps to allow uninterrupted view of gauges.

There are more differences but as of this typing this is currently as close as I could find in a new steering wheel.

Its so well made I have no complaints.

PC is back up and running!

2011-01-13T21:18:00.001-05:00

Stay tuned... the origin of the 1966 Batboat is imminent!

No origins history for the Batboat for a while. My PC is down.

2010-12-28T19:52:00.002-05:00

All it had was a virus, a bogus virus protection software that installed itself and wanted me to register it.

I got it to the mall and all of a sudden they say my video would not work. When a monitor is hooked up, no picture.

I take it home and no picture so took it back to see what is up and they said one of the RAM chips died. yada yada yada.

Thankfully, I had backed up nearly everything to an external harddrive the night before.

No more posts from me for a while, including the origin history of the Batboat I had promised. I have a feeling that it will be a while before I'll have a computer to work on.

1966 Batboat Origin Story Emminent. Stay Tuned!

2010-12-01T20:21:00.004-05:00

I recently got a hold of Xeroxes of some of the original 1966 correspondences between the Glastron Boat Company and Greenway Productions and their contract to build the Batboat. Will be reading through it all tonight. :)

Stay tuned to this blog for the origins of the 1966 Batboat.

On The Set Of The "Batman" (1966) Feature Film

2010-12-01T18:53:00.005-05:00

These photos were recently posted at the 1966 Batman forum.

Apparently, they are among many others from the filming of the movie and series originating from Adam West's personal collection.

These are the only ones featuring scenes with the Batboat, and to my knowledge are unpublished as of this writing.

New Photo of Batboat II Surfaces

2010-12-01T15:09:00.005-05:00

Batboat II displayed outside a New Jersey Glastron dealership , May 20, 1967.

The scan was posted at the 1966 Batmobile Forum by johnwb88.

Photos of the original Batboats are rare enough and this is just one of the two dead-on photos I've seen to date looking at the side. This pix is indispensable for finishing my Batboat next spring.

Batboat-Style Steering Wheel Is Now Available.

2010-12-01T00:02:00.009-05:00

The steering wheel I mentioned a while back [http://batboat.blogspot.com/2010/08/good-news-batboat-style-steering-wheels.html] that is similar to the one used in the 1966 Batboat is available now from Mooneyes. http://www.mooneyesusa.com/california-metal-flake-4hole-spoke-steering-wheels-p-2357.html

What makes it different in appearance from the Covico wheel used in the original Batboat is the spokes are not symmetrically spaced and there are four holes in each spoke instead of three. However, as far as I have found, this is as close you'll currently get to it in a new wheel.

The New Wheel

An original Covico steering wheel offered by Glastron. They listed it as an option only in their 1966 catalog.

Here are details I turned up a while back on the steering wheel used in the original Batboat.
http://batboat.blogspot.com/2010/04/steering-wheel-identified.html

As of this writing, this new wheel is available as 15 inch width. To my eyes it looks about the same size used in the original Batboat. Covico steering wheels were available in 5 sizes ranging between 12 to 17 inches so who knows for sure.

I found a couple more photos clearly showing the Batboat steering wheel and will scan them later.

An accessory for the boat.

2010-11-30T23:39:00.007-05:00

I ordered something to go with the boat now that I recently paid off nearly all of the debt incurred since the recession began. Its custom made by Will Reeb [http://www.willspad.com/cowls.html] and he says it ships in January.

His cowls are of high quality craftsmanship and considered second to only those made by another maker, who's cowls are in the high hundreds of dollars.

I have the motivation now to loose 10 pounds so I don't stress the stitches in my tights. lol

I made my own utility belt a while back. All I'll need is boots, cape, gloves, and shorts.

Batboat Rebuild: Finished for the Year.

2010-10-21T01:50:00.012-04:00

On October 14th I was satisfied enough with the cure of the paint that I put the deck back on for the winter. Did it myself with little effort.

Days before, I did a little fiberglass work inside it. Mostly small patches and laminated over filler I caulked in the bow the year before.

As soon as June arrives I will begin to finish this Batboat. There is not much left to do now. The rest is probably easy compared to what I did this year.

Starting to look like a real boat now! :)

I still have to do a lot of sanding and repairs to the splashwell.

Below is somewhat how I hope my boat will look like when done. Its a different hull but I can pull it off.

1966 Batboat II

I did unusually well financially in September so I ordered a Kodak Zi8 camera. It takes good, basic megapixel photos and HD video. Below are my first pix of the boat.

When I order a high speed SD card I can take videos lasting more than 10 seconds. Here is my first video.

Perhaps a few future updates will be videos.

Batboat Rebuild: Painting The White and Finding Adhesion Problems With The Blue

2010-10-21T01:22:00.005-04:00

The first coat of white was rolled on the hull on September 29. By now I've become and expert at painting with EasyPoxy. The first and second coat were so perfect and flawless I decided to not do a third.

Rolling on the layers thin enough to almost see though does the trick. The second coat of white gave such a good coverage there was no need for more.

In comparison to a photo of the original #2 '66 Batboat.

My craft is a different model than the one the original Batboat was based on. The white areas followed the lines of the hull. Mine does not have that hull design so the shape was based upon the original boat but also in keeping a little with mine.

By October 3rd I decided the paint has cured enough to remove the fine line and masking.

There were some adhesion problems with the blue paint. As I carefully peeled off the fine line tape some of the blue just peeled right off with it.

Not only that but I found a spot along the bottom edge where I accidentally rolled a little white on the blue. I started taking it off and the third layer of blue peeled off with it.

After seeking advise at the iboats forum I came to the conclusion that the blue came off where the fine line was perhaps because that is where I pushed the tape down too hard when I ran my finger along it for the last time. The solvent in the white paint may have attacked the blue through the tape making it lift and stick to the tape.

It pulled up and it looked like blue gold leaf stuck to the tape. None of this peeled off beyond where the fine line tape was, thankfully.

I've got some touching up to do in the spring!

Usually this is where people would get the heart sinking feeling, however, I don't have those feelings any more. Being that I live in North Eastern Michigan I have become accustom to day by day disappointment and bad things happening. This did not phase me and I'm ready for some light sanding and touching up next spring. lol :)

Batboat Rebuild: Getting Rid Of Over 20 Tires

2010-10-21T01:04:00.005-04:00

Luckily Saginaw County Mosquito Abatement Commission accepts old tires at no charge. I used to work there a long time ago and know all about tires and those little bugs. As I collected the tires I drilled holes in various spots to let water flow out.

There were over 20 tires to haul on September 20th. This took three trips.

I shoved them in really good.

Another load is ready!

It looks dirty but the inside of my backseat was protected with at car cover spread over the seats and floor.

The next day the finished paint job looked great and I took off the masking paper and green tape.

Fine-line tape was left on. To mask the area off for the white painting area you just run fine line along the edge of the old fine line put on for the blue and peel that off. This leaves no overlap or gaps in the paint jobs.

Batboat Rebuild: Painting The Sides

2010-10-21T00:43:00.005-04:00

On September 14 the weather was good enough to draw the pattern on the sides. I was able to transfer the original Glastron "scoop" design with no problem. The "point" of the original was 10 inches from the stern. I moved it back to 2 inches to more closely resemble the original Batboat.

From there I eyeballed the rest with pencil. No more than an hour had passed and I was finished. Both sides were a perfect match.

Next I used custom auto fine-line tape to mask it off.

The First Of Three Coats

The white area was masked off with dollar store brown packaging paper and green painter's tape. I ran out of that and used Blue painter's tape that was laying around and later found that blue tape is crap for outdoors.

The first coat was painted on the 17th and several days later the third and final was finished.

Batboat Rebuild: September 9th. Flipping the Hull Over

2010-10-21T00:18:00.004-04:00

The boat got flipped. Thanks to unaccountable "friend" I did it myself.

Was able to roll it upright and put it on the trailer without any damage at all.

I hooked it up, cranked the wench to pull it from the bed of tires and on to the trailer. Now I'm able to work on the inside of the boat before winter gets here. :)

I was worried that the still slightly soft paint would be damaged but lucked out.

A couple of small spots got scratched but no big deal. The layers of the two primers were rock solid but the EasyPoxy was not. Paint it on thin folks!

I attempted to eyeball the lines of the cigar shaped white area, pencil it in and make a pattern out of cheap, lightweight dollar store wrapping paper.

The wind blew it to shreds.

I did get to trace the original Glastron scoop details from the sides and used those as the basis for the rest.
The idea is to take a pounce wheel, or pattern wheel, roll perforations through the paper....

... place the pattern on the boat and rub it with dark sidewalk chalk. This transfers the pattern to the hull.

This technique is shown in an indispensable DVD set I found on the net. More on that later.

Batboat Rebuild: Rebuilt Trailer and EasyPoxy Painting

2010-10-20T23:24:00.008-04:00

On August 25th the gloss white and "Electric Blue" Easypoxy paint and some chopped strand mat fiberglass cloth was delivered by UPS.

Two days later I began to paint the stern and bottom of the hull.

But first....

....Holy Anvil and Hammer! I got my trailer back from the blacksmith the next day!

I visited Barney's Blacksmith the day before to see if it was ready and he almost had it in 100 pieces on the shop floor! I thought a simple spot weld or two would do and drove home worried about the cost.

Turns out he repaired and rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up and only charged $100! I am eternally grateful. He did a wonderful job on it.

It is now level and true, not twisted and bent up. Just like new. :)

The next day I put the first coat of EasyPoxy "Electric Blue" on the hull. For this I used 4 inch foam rollers, found at most hardware stores. A member of the iboats forum who had just finished working on his fiberglass boat highly recommended them to me.

12 ounces of paint was poured in the pan at a time and I rolled it on easily. There is a trick to keeping a wet edge but its not hard to figure out.

I only coated the stern and bottom going up to the tip of the bow because I still had to flip the boat over and thought that in doing so the paint job may be damaged. That had to wait for later.

That high gloss EasyPoxy Electric Blue marine paint really pops! Unlike the primers I used, it does not take much to get a nice coat. After rolling it the paint spreads out and fills in imperfections very well.

Another two coats need to go on it and then after a 7+ day cure time it goes back on the trailer.

I came upon big problems with the paint. The next day when I sanded with 120 grit the soft paint gummed up the paper quickly. Here is the result. The paint is still like gel.

Much later when painting the white I found the best way to work with EasyPoxy is to roll on coats thin enough to see through a day or more apart otherwise it will not dry properly.

Roll it on real thin folks!

By the first week of September I had three good layers on it and it was ready for the flip.

A Batboat in Texas is up for sale.

2010-10-20T20:47:00.004-04:00

An email from MadProps from the Fiberglassics forums came in moments ago.

http://houston.craigslist.org/boa/2016948501.html

Around 2006 or 2007 a man named Mark Towle built this Batboat out of a Gold and Sand colored Glastron 1972 V164 Bayflite.

It just popped up for sale on Craigslist.com.

The scant online pix of this vessel has been an inspiration to me and I've been keeping track of it on the net from time to time since I bought mine in December 2007.

It was created around the same time mine was, also.

Batboat Rebuild: August 21st and 22nd Topside and Foam

2010-10-20T19:30:00.010-04:00

This Trailer Needed Welding and Reshaping Badly

Well, this week the Batboat trailer was in the shop getting fixed, the dark blue and gloss white marine paint is on its way and the splash well was permanently joined back with the top side. Things were moving along smoothly again and I hoped to have the Batboat on the trailer by the first week of September.

On the 21st the other side of the top was laminated together.

You will notice a small gap in the joins. They are the same size as the grinding disc used to cut the two apart. If joined flush other problems would develop when its time to attach it back to the hull!

The next day, August 22nd, after the fiberglass resin had cured I used insulating foam to fill in the ends of the structural portions of the top side. Its closed cell foam and will not absorb water.

This foam will keep bugs from wanting to turn the Batboat into an ant farm and will also keep condensation from forming inside where the old foam blocks are.

I flipped over the topside and got started.

This is great stuff. It expanded into the gaps very well and cured rigid and hard to the touch.

While the foam was curing, 1.5 oz chopped strand mat cloth was laminated to the underside of the splashwell joins.

First, however, peanut butter (wood flower mixed with polyester resin) was used to fill in the gap spaces.

These repairs are stronger than the actual fiberglass used to build the boat.

Batboat Rebuild: August 18th Rejoining the Splashwell to the Topside

2010-10-20T19:09:00.006-04:00

Today I prepared to rejoin the -repaired splashwell to the topside.

One side at at time was fiberglassed over several days. It was difficult to keep both sides plumb because the topside lost its shape during the length of time the splashwell was detached.

Lots of clamps and wood blocks were used.

The gelcoat was taken down to the fiberglass with my grinder...

...and several layers of 1.5 oz chopped strand mat and 1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth were laminated on top.

Some of the polyester resin dripped on the wood which bonded it to the gelcoat a little. No big deal as that gelcoat was to be removed anyway.

Later on I would wrap the wood with plastic shopping bags to keep the fiberglass resin from bonding to them.

I think I rolled on the second or third coat of primer to the hull. Can't recall.

Batboat Rebuild: August 14th Sanding and More Painting

2010-10-20T18:55:00.005-04:00

I spend another day sanding.

The primer was used as filler. When long block sanding the surface becomes more smoother than before. Probably 90% or more of the first coat of primer was removed.

The gray areas are high spots, the white low spots. Above you can see one of the holes I filled.

I stopped to grab my black spray paint can. This helps in finding low areas, also. Once all the black is sanded off you are left with a very smooth surface.

Here is the black guide coat.

Almost gone.

Totally gone.

The 2nd coat of primer was rolled on afterward.

With the tools I have this is the smoothest surface I'll ever get. But still, I sanded after the two coats to follow. More on that later.

Batboat Rebuild: August 4th Splashwell Fixes and More Painting

2010-10-13T16:51:00.007-04:00

On August 4th I continued with the splashwell fixes by turning it upside down and fiberglassing over the open ends of the topside structurals.

These were open ends. I figured it would be a good idea to close them to keep bugs and moisture out of them.

Created in the factory for structural support, they consist of lengths of open cell foam covered with fiberglass cloth. It isn't the foam that provides the strength. It comes from the fiberglass formed over it.

At the same time I laminated more fiberglass cloth along the damaged areas to give them more strength and make the surface more level.

When that was done I painted the hull with Petitt EasyPoxy White Undercoater. This is the primer layer needed for the EasyPoxy paint I planned to use.

It rolled on really nice.

Here shows the first coat of high build primer rolled on the Batboat's hull. Looks like a gallon will give three coats total. I sanded in between each coat.

Batboat Rebuild: August 3rd More sanding, repair and painting.

2010-10-13T16:34:00.004-04:00

All day was spent sanding down the imperfections. I hope I'll never have to do anything like this again. The sanding was far too much to handle. Still was having extreme muscle pain.

It's now more smoother than before. Perhaps half of the primer was sanded down to get it this way.

Second and last coat of $100+ per gallon sealer is on the Batboat. I got two thick coats from the gallon kit and that's all but was more than enough protection for the hull. :)

Rested and hydrated myself then I filled in holes in the topside. :)

The sealer is flexable. It coated the paint pan well also. Good stuff.

Before filling holes the topside was washed down with dewaxer.

I used poly resin mixed with talc. Bad move. All fills eventually shrank, some cracked and it took over a day for them to cure.

I dread redoing these fills. Will do that work next year.

Batboat Rebuild: July 30, 2010 Filling imperfections and fixing the splashwell.

2010-10-13T16:17:00.008-04:00

I started the day with the first fixes to the severely damaged splashwell. The rear was straitened out with clamps and long wood blocks so I could bond with fiberglass.

There were still a lot of imperfections in the hull and those were filled with epoxy resin.

The wood blocks were wrapped with plastic bags to prevent the polyester resin from bonding them to the splashwell.

Some holes and other damage were filled in.

There were over a hundred holes in the topside. All were drilled with a 1/2 counter sink to aid bonding the filler to them.

Batboat Rebuild: GEESH! Even MORE Sanding! Some painting, though.

2010-10-13T15:45:00.009-04:00

I started out early on July 29, 2010. The plan was to finish the sanding on the hull, topside and splashwell and apply the first coats of sealer.

I had been keeping the tarp on the hull all summer to keep the airborne honeydew off it.

The stern is finally filled in with woodflower and poly resin (peanutbutter) and sanded smooth.

Bottom and sides were finished also.

The big hole was sanded smooth. After painting over it this repair will be invisible.

More sanding on the topside and splashwell.

Before the hull gets its first coat of sealer I made a tracing of the Glastron "scoop" design. More on this later.

The gelcoat sealer I used was Interlux InterProtect 2000E. It is a two part epoxy primer that prevents gelcoat blistering and seals existing blisters

First the hull surface was throughly wiped down with tack cloths, washed with Pettit bottom dewaxer and wiped clean with unused cloths. It took all contaminates off, including the honeydew, and dissolved my rubber gloves. Power stuff.

Interlux InterProtect 2000E requires solvent proof rollers. I only found them on the internet.

Wearing a respirator I mixed the parts and started rolling. It went on thick.

The hull of the Batboat has its first coat of epoxy sealer. The end is in sight, at least for working on the hull. lol!

While stripping paint from the splashwell I found this metallic safety decal. Perhaps I will have one reproduced for the Batboat detailings.
This was a pain to sand due to all the angles. I don't like thinking back to those days at all. lol

Batboat Rebuild: Even MORE Sanding.

2010-10-13T15:28:00.004-04:00

On July 24th and a bit afterward I finished up sanding the hull.

The days I was working on the boat this year were about 6 to 8 hours each. Mostly all sanding and followed painful muscle cramping and spasms.

Bow is finally filled and sanded.

I ran out of Watertite for these long areas so I mixed up polyester resin with wood flower as filler.

Poly resin and wood flower filled the above later. The spot I ran the reciprocating saw through the hull a year or two ago. lol.

No more Watertite filler for the transom also. Poly and woodflower was a good fix days later.

Batboat Rebuild: Gelcoat Repair

2010-10-13T15:04:00.005-04:00

July 16th, 2010 I took the grinder to the hull and ground down all the spider cracks, crazing cracks and blisters. These were filled in with a two part epoxy filler.

All the damaged areas now stick out.

The large hole repair was smoothed out with the grinder.

There was lots of damage to the bow gelcoat.

The filler I used was Interlux Watertite Epoxy Filler. Its really good stuff and you have to wear a respirator when using it.

Just mix a small amount of one part A with one part B and fill the gouges. It begins to gel within a few minutes

Its easy to sand also and at the time it was $54.34 per 1 liter kit.

So far so good!

On and off for the next week I filled holes and sanded.

I ran out of Watertite just before reaching the stern. Looking back on it, I used too much in the other areas. This resulted in too much time spent on sanding excess off. The 1 liter kit would have been enough for the whole hull.

Batboat Rebuild: More Sanding

2010-10-13T14:45:00.003-04:00

In May I brought home a new air compressor. These are essential for fiberglass boat overhauling due to the amount of dust you'll end up with.

Indispensable.

July 14th was topside day. I began to strip the blue paint off to ready the gelcoat for sanding and repair.

The next day I long blocked with 60 and 80 grit. The black sports stripes and thick metallic decals were prized off with a heat gun.

The center detailing of the bow had vinyl lamination with 1 inch molded in pleats. This was the same type, but not color or metallic, used in the 1966 Batboat.

Didn't get as much done with the as I planned but have 90% of the paint stripped off the topside. Didn't touch the splashwell until much later.

Batboat Rebuild: Filling A Hole (or two)

2010-10-13T14:09:00.006-04:00

Surprise! The plan for July 11th was to repair two holes I found and get the topside ready for sanding.

I wish I would have checked under that Bond-o BEFORE putting in the deck! Someone must have hit a blunt object while out on the water and the gouge was filled in with the water loving, soft Bond-o.

Everything seemed fine last year from within the hull but next time I'll know. There is fiberglass osmosis rot and it all had to be ground out. A quick and easy job.

There is about 75 to 80 ounces of alternating 1708 biaxial and 1.5 chopped mat strand fiberglass laminated into these two holes with enough "dip" for epoxy filler.

The patches are thicker and stronger than what the hull was made out of 41 years ago. :)

Getting the rest together to work on tomorrow.

Batboat Rebuild; Sanding, sanding and more sanding.

2010-10-13T13:02:00.012-04:00

In May I began to strip the household paint off the Batboat hull to prepare it for repairs and repainting. June I started sanding only to find that the majority of the bottom and stern had sever damage to the gelcoat.

I figured that this craft sat out on the ground for a number of years allowing moisture to seep into the gelcoat and expand during the winter.

All of the really bad blistering damage to the gelcoat is consentrated in one area (outlined in yellow). Looking closer, this is mostly where white gelcoat is on top of a blue layer of gelcoat and where blue is on top of white and blue.

To fix this I had to sand the gelcoat needs to be sanded down to reveal all the blisters and cracks. This was a huge pain in the you know what and its all I did nearly all summer.

Sanding, sanding and more sanding.

Above are sanded blisters. This was an unpleasant time for me and still don't like talking about it.

One of the purposes of sanding gelcoat is also to smooth out surface imperfections. Here I could start to see the weave of the original fiberglass cloth. The white areas indicate high spots and the black is low.

When these fiberglass boats were made it started with a mold. A mold release was sprayed into it then polyester resin gelcoat was sprayed on top followed by layers of fiberglass cloth.

Polyester resin shrinks slightly as it cures revealing a slight weave pattern. It isn't visible in the final result as it leaves the factory unless one is looking for it.

This is a lot of hard work. I work out and excercise regularly, however, the odd many positions I was sanding causing a lot of severe, painful muscle cramps. There were days where I couldn't stand living in my own body. Not even stretching before and after sanding were much help.

Sanding the hull was the most miserable and painful experience I've had in recent memory.

This work continued all month into July.

I devoted all of July 4th to getting all of the latex paint sanded off. I used a flexable longboard with 60 and 80 grit sandpaper then switched over to a palm sander.

The next day the muscle soreness was so intense I spent that and the next day in bed with bottles of beer and hard liquor. Hated to do that but it was last resort. The cramping and spasms were unbearable.

These are "spider cracked" areas. It happens where the gelcoat is flexed beyond capacity. Water gets in and expands from winter freezing causing more and more delamination. The best fix is to take a grinder and remove the gelcoat down to the fiberglass and fill with epoxy or polyester filler.

The original Ocean Blue and Sand gelcoat.

Finally, finished!

Now to pop the heads off all the blisters. :(

The gelcoat was in poor shape in most of the rear half bottom of the boat.

These are at several point in the trihull bow and eventually I ground the gelcoat down to the fiberglass and filled in epoxy filler.

The work place I picked in the back yard was a spot with with no trees to dropping stuff. One thing I didn't count on was this maple tree that had developed a bad infestation of scales. The scales bugs excrete honeydew which I now discovered is airborn. My car parked over 80 feet away on the other side of the house was even coated with the sticky goo each morning. And so was the Batboat.

I found that a wipedown with mineral spirits dissolves it quickly.

The back yard.

South American Submarine

2010-10-13T12:54:00.003-04:00

This submarine was confiscated not too long ago. Apparently it was used for illegal activity in South America.

I don't know what else to say. If anyone knows more about this strange craft please let me know.

still working on it....

2010-09-07T16:43:00.002-04:00

The bottom, bow and stern are all painted. The paint is undergoing a week+ long cure then I flip the hull over, put it on the trailer, paint the sides, and work on the interior just in time before the outdoor temps drop too low to fiberglass.

Much to my disappointment despite all the work I did not much was accomplished this year.

I'll post a backlog of updates in the not too distant future.

My boat in a 2006 Canadian TV show.

2010-09-07T16:28:00.005-04:00

My Batboat was built in 2006 for the Novi, MI Comic convention marking the 40th anniversary of the first airing of the Batman TV series in 1966.

A production crew was also there shooting footage for a TV show titled "Fanatical." This would be the first episode and it centered around two people who are really into Batman stuff. One of the guys is Scott Sebring who is also one of the people that run the 1966 Batman forum.

He was dressed as Batman at the 2006 Novi convention and much to my surprise he was filmed along side what was to become my Batboat.

The vessel is mostly seen in the last 1/2 of the episode. A very pleasant surprise! I saw it for the first time this week and never knew this existed.

Here is Scott's blog entry accompanied by a video of the entire episode.

Enjoy.

http://www.scottsebring.com/?p=562

Good news. Batboat-style steering wheels are being made available again.

2010-08-12T19:30:00.009-04:00

[A while ago I detailed the type of wheel used in the original 1966 Batboat ---> http://batboat.blogspot.com/2010/04/steering-wheel-identified.html.]

I just got a reply to my email to Mooneyes.com regarding blue metal flake steering wheels.

They will be available again around October 2010 but only in blue, green, red and silver, have 4 holes in the spokes instead of three and use same adapter as Grant steering wheels.

Close but no cigar but currently this is about as near as I'll get to having the type used for the original Batboat in 1966. eBay prices for a scant original is in the hundreds of dollars.

As far as I can determine, Mooneyes is the only one in the world currently offering 13 1/2 and 15 inch metal flake steering wheels.

They should be around $70 -$75 plus shipping and be a new and improved design over the ones they used to offer last year. I'll have a blog entry when or if I get one of them.

Above are the steering wheels that were discontinued last year.

Still working on the boat.

2010-07-27T20:10:00.002-04:00

There hasn't been any updates in a while but I'm still working on the boat. I begin to paint soon. Stay tuned.

Sanding the hull

2010-06-26T00:14:00.008-04:00

Before I can prime and repaint the Batboat all surfaces of the hull and topside need to be sanded.

Not all of the black paint could be stripped off which is good. I've been using it as a "guide coat," an indicator showing areas that have been sanded thoroughly when gone.

I've been outside sanding when time allows and the job has been going by quickly. So far I'm about three hours into it and 1/3 of the hull is finished.

They tell me sanding is suppose to be done with 80 grit sand paper but it took too long so I switched between that and 60 grit in some places.

The two pix below show the hull as I was stripping off the black paint in April and how it looks after sanding.
The gel coat needs to be wiped down with Pettit 95 Fiberglass Dewaxer before and after I start sanding an area.

When this boat was made a mold release was prayed in the fiberglass mold and some of it may still be on the boat. This Pettit mold release solvent will get rid of residue and many other contaminants thus helping the two part epoxy sealer I'll be using later adhere to the gelcoat.

There is a significant amount of blistering within the gel coat. Above you can see how the white didn't stick well to the blue and had to be sanded down.

Still have this side to do then I fill in holes and low spots with marine epoxy puddy and roll on a bunch of coats of two part epoxy sealer which acts as a primer for the paint.

Above is the topside bow. This aluminum was used as a frame for the vinyl. The vinyl was applied with adhesive. Years of moisture underneath the material has caused a lot of damage to the gel coat. Significant cracking all over. I've got a lot of sanding ahead of me. LOL.

Chroming without exorbant cost.

2010-06-10T02:04:00.003-04:00

I am gearing up for working on the Batboat this weekend, if the weather permits it.

Until then, here is an informative video from Jay Leno's Garage demonstrating a newer process to rechrome old, pitted pot metal and other junk.

If the above video does not load its here too. http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/segment/restoration-blog/spray-on-chrome/

Stripping paint off the Batboat and finding lots of bad stuff underneath.

2010-05-18T20:31:00.009-04:00

There is an old saying that says there are only two happy days one has owning a boat. The first day is when it is bought and the second when he sells it.

In mid April was the only time I began to think that maybe I took on more than what I could handle.

Stripping off the latex paint revealed serious delamination and cracks in the gelcoat. Blistering is severe nearer to the stern.

Gelcoat is the outer skin of a fiberglass boat. Fiberglass isn't waterproof and gelcoat makes it so. However, if both don't laminate together right or the gelcoat is cracked problems will happen.

Gelcoat scratches, blistering and cracks are everywhere.

Stripper from Lowe's was used to get the paint off. The 15 minutes recommended is too much. It lifted the paint off but also softened the gelcoat in test spots. One minute from brushing it on was all that was needed.

On and off for a couple of weeks I worked at stripping paint, finding more and more damage.

The large flames were carefully peeled off with a scraper and heat gun. I calculate that the flames on the original Batboat made in 1966 were a little more than 6 inches height and these were over twice that.

The original white and "Glacier Blue" of the V-145 Glastron runabout finally shows through.

All of the really bad blistering damage to the gelcoat is consentrated in one area (outlined in yellow). Looking closer, this is mostly where white gelcoat is on top of a blue layer of gelcoat and where blue is on top of white and blue.

Advice from boat forums, watching instructional youtube videos and reading over repair product information helped me to decide to keep working and finish the Batboat.

It isn't as bad as it first seemed but this will add a week or two to the project and unexpected $$$.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 51 April 11th, 2010. Batboat flip over.

2010-05-18T19:51:00.011-04:00

I found the remaining auto tires needed for the flip. They were in the weed covered ghost town neighborhoods near the rail yard. With now over twenty on hand I called my friend Jeff Davis and asked him to help me flip the Batboat upside down.

I didn't bother to tell him how much it weighed until after it was done. lol We were going to lift and flip over around 600 pounds ourselves; Information that was better kept to myself.

Two tire columns at the stern and bow were for support. The two columns near the middle were in position in line with the deck so there wouldn't be a weight load on the fragile upper sides of the fiberglass.

It took some figuring out but we did it with no damage.

It sits in the only spot in the back yard where a maple tree won't drop its sap and the pine tree doesn't drop its needles.

The plans for the pallets were scratched and two were stacked under the boat.

The tire columns needed to be a little higher and straight. I couldn't quite lift the stern high enough (600+ pounds) for Jeff to squeeze two others in. My car jack did the job.

It wasn't safe leaving it crooked like this.

Two tires with rims fixed every thing.

Four tires stacked on top of pallets supported the front of the hull and and the ones at the bow were removed.

The top half of the boat was taken off by removing many, many screws fastened through the aluminum rub rail.

As luck would have it, all but three screws came out easy. The remaining were bolted in and rusted. It took longer to drill those out than all the others combined.

The aluminum rub rails are irreplaceable and were put aside somewhere safe later.

The top half came off with no effort.

Topside, splashwell and hull are ready for summertime repairs and eventual new Batboat features!

The tire supports are steady and solid.

The drips you see on the stern are excess polyester resin and woodflower "peanut butter" from last year's transom repairs.

There is a great deal of damage under the hull to fix. I'll find a lot more as I stripped off the latex paint.

The worst has yet to come!

On the job training.

2010-05-18T19:08:00.007-04:00

In late March or early April my neighbor came over and one of the things I showed him was the tires in the back yard and recited the history of the boat. Some days later he came back and asked if I would like to work at a marina.

I lucked out. Everything I need to do the Batboat hull (sand, fill gouges, paint...) I've learned on the job with two stately mahogany wood yachts. Coincidentally, this employment ends around mid June, the same time I'm able to start work on mine.

One yacht is 30 foot long and the other 48.

Its fun job that I like a lot and the owner is a real friendly man to work for.

Stored next to those vessels is a celebrity. One of the boats used in African Queen (1951) starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. It was used in a few sequences and right now the owner is restoring the original motor.

Early spring hull repair preperation

2010-05-18T18:47:00.006-04:00

In late March through early April I gathered the things needed to flip the Batboat upside down.

I have to repair and paint the bottom of the hull and removethe topside. More on this later.

There isn't much to show but for those interested, this stuff will make a two man, 600+ pound boat flip easier.

I asked people for auto tires and nearby Charter Cable gave me wood pallets.

All of this junk normally belongs in a dump but actually will let me turn the boat upside down without much damage.

These pallets were intended as supports but the idea ultimately didn't work.

Thirteen tires so far. It would take eight or nine more to safely flip the boat.

24 Foot Long Japaneese Fiberglass Boat from 1961

2010-05-07T00:11:00.006-04:00

The 1960s was an era of experimentation in the fiberglass boat industry. Here is an amazing boat that has left me speechless so I am sharing it here.

Last December a member of the FiberGlassics Forum bought a large lot of Mercury boat motor files dating from 1950 to 1962. Somebody saved them after Mercury threw them all out, apparently(!!!!).

This was among the collection of over 500 pictures, a 24 foot long by 12 foot wide vessel made by Yamaha in Japan. Its a tunnel hull with glass windshields, built in radio, and rear steps.

The connection this craft has to Mercury is the two 800 model outboard engines.

It is not known if this was ever mass produced or was an experiment/show boat.

Click on the image to see a larger picture.

James Bond "MOONRAKER" (1979) Boat Found!

2010-04-27T21:10:00.011-04:00

I found a pleasant surprise a day before my 40th birthday! One of the thought to be wrecked customized Glastron boats used by 007 in the film Moonraker (1979) starring Roger Moore.

About 25 minutes down the highway is a small town called Birch Run, MI. Strangely, they have a large building called the Birch Run Expo Center that frequently hosts events. Never been there before. A radio ad caught my attention for a Boat and Fishing Show. I figured it would be a cool thing to go to the day before my birthday.

The radio ads started about a week before the event and just mentioned "see James Bond's Moonraker boat." I had to hear it several times before I heard what I though I heard.

I went mainly to check it out, get ideas on how I could display the Batboat, and see the new boats displayed to get an idea of what basic items missing from mine would look good in it and what would not. (A lot of it, like the tilt steering, looked too plastic or chrome "new.")

On Sunday, March 7th I went and there it was.

They let me take all the photos I wanted. Here they are.

Days later I did a websearch and found that 007 fans thought the Moonraker boat disappeared. Didn't know what happened to it. It was badly damaged in early 2006 and then gone. (An article detailing the damage is at the bottom of this post.)

The owner, the Ian Flemming Foundation, chose a fiberglass boat restorer near here, Invision Boatworks of Reese, MI, to fix it and make a duplicate to sell at auction. Its unbelievable to me that since around 2008 a movie prop like this has being hiding away near where I live and I didn't know it.

As far as I have determined, this event is the first time the Moonraker boat has been seen in public since the accident in February 2006. Could be wrong, though.

What I am certain of is that this blog post is the first time photos of the restored boat have ever been seen on the Internet.

Its hard to see but look close. A metal frame work supports the fiberglass roof. The custom fiberglass roof and side supports consist of five pieces. The metal and front window area holds it all steady.

The interior is very cramped. The vessel this was based on, a 1978 Glastron CV23 HT, wasn't intended to have a roof on it. Not much room for poor Mister Bond. But then again, he ejected on a hang glider before it went over the falls in the Amazon jungle.

Under the dashboard is a cubby hole with cushioned seating areas extending to the bow. This is a 23 foot boat. Upholstery and carpet is gray. I believe the box under the steering was a speaker playing music.

The information card detailing this boat's history. Some sources on the net say four boats were used in the movie. This says three.

There weren't too many angles I could shoot of it and the inside was too dark to photograph details.

While talking to the lady who was there with the boat I commented that I had a Batboat that I was overhauling and we talked about it briefly.

The two old crafts had something in common; the smell of mildew. lol!

She told me a lot about the recent history and restoration and that all of the weapons in the boat worked. I must have gave her a good impression because she gave me a new embroidered Invision Boatworks carrying bag, boat key chain and pamphlets.

The mines are department store inflated bouncing balls painted silver.

Switches for Mine Eject, Torpedo Launch and Roof.

I have an old camera that saves photos to a 2.5 inch floppy disc (!!!). If I am lucky, I can get 22 photos before it is full. These are all the pix I took.

For $10 people could pose and have their photo taken. Here's mine. One day before my 40th birthday dressed to blend in with a Boat and Fishing show. lol.

The scene in Moonraker where the boat appears....

The article about its sad misadventure...

Moonraker Boat Destroyed

February 9, 2006 – DSBG The Ian Fleming Foundation is suffering from a major loss after receiving word that the Glastron speedboat, used during the Amazon river chase, was destroyed in transit after completing the Boats Of Bond show in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Doug Redenius' e-mailed friends saying, "It seems the transport person who was hired to bring the boat back here pulled it without a cover, without any tie downs and without checking during the entire trip. The only thing left of the boat at this point is the hull & windshield....everything else has been completely destroyed!"

The Ian Fleming Foundation is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the study and preservation of the history of Fleming's literary works, the James Bond phenomenon, and their impact on the culture of the Twentieth Century. It has been formed with the goals of procuring, restoring, and archiving Ian Fleming's legacy for the general public. This legacy includes manuscripts, books, periodicals, movies, movie properties, recordings, and merchandise produced over the last four decades. Some of this material has been "lost", some resides in museums, and a large amount has been collected by private individuals. One of the goals of the Foundation is to search out the "lost" items and to restore and preserve them. The publication of the Goldeneye Magazine was a major fund raising activity allowing them to work toward those goals.

Steering Wheel Identified

2010-04-01T20:18:00.016-04:00

Hot Boat magazine ad from 1965

I was going to keep this to myself to make it easier to find one, however, since a company making similar ones (Grant) stopped production on them until they relocate to Mexico, the vintage wheels are now getting top dollar. I can't afford $300+ eBay prices so I'm letting the cat out of the bag.

The round steering wheel used in the Batboat in the movie and TV show was made by Covico. Diameter is unknown but looks, to me at least, around 15 inches and I believe it to have been "CA Royal Blue." Possibly with a Deep Dish profile.

The Covico wheels were aftermarket parts for custom cars and boats.

Thanks to the guys at the http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum, not only do we know who made it but they gave me some background info on the company. One member actually worked for Covico and made them.

The evenly spaced spokes were the dead giveaway. Other companies made them with two spokes farther apart to not get in the way of viewing dashboard gauges.

Ad in a 1963 Almquist custom car catalog

Covico started around 1961 in Covina, California. Their wheel line was eventually sold off to Grant but they still were in the business of dipping them in rubber coating. They were made of thicker steel with a thin molded grip cover instead of the hard plastic you'll find on later wheels.

There were no identifying markings on Covicos. The company is still around making marine steering wheels.

Grant makes metal flake wheels specially for Mooneyes but with non-symetrical spokes, pictured below. As I said before, these are out of production due to relocating to Mexico.

California Metal Flake Steering Wheels made by Grant for Mooneyes.

It seems that Glastron offered the Covico wheels as an option only in 1966. They are not shown or mentioned in any other '60s catalogs.

Here are the ones shown in that '66 Glastron catalog.

Metallic blue and white Jetflite V-143 Super Sport.

Close up of the Jetflite V-143 dash.

Deep tan and white Futura V-150 Super Sport.

Dark jade and white Gulfstream V-204 Super Sport.

Dark jade and white Bayflite V-163 Super Sport.

Dark blue and white Crestflite v-172 Super Sport.

Dark blue and white Carribian V-234.

One of the earliest known mentions of Covico steering wheels, Hot Rod magazine Nov 1962.

Batboat flip over is eminent

2010-03-02T23:14:00.003-05:00

The weather seems to be warming here in north east Michigan and I am just sitting here thinking and dreading about flipping the Batboat upside-down so I can repair, sand and repaint the bottom.

Was just outside and found I can lift it off the trailer by hand from the bow and sides but not from the center of the stern. Two people can handle the job. Starting next trash day I am searching the city for old auto tires to stand the boat on.

This pretty much shows what I have to look forward to, however, my fiberglass hull is more flexible and fragile than their wood craft.

High rez COLOR photo from the '67 Glastron Boats catalog.

2010-02-10T18:19:00.004-05:00

As we all know, back in 1966 the Glastron Boat Company was contracted to build a Batboat for the movie and TV show.

Before shipping to the studio they shot a series of photos. Two of the several consistent characteristics of these are the bow tie steering wheel and what I call the "long underwear" Batman behind the wheel.

After 5 or 6 years, I finally have a scanner again and am sharing my backlog of stuff for the first time.

This is the only COLOR photo from Glastron I've found to date, as discovered on the second page of a '67 Glastron boat catalog I bought off of eBay.

Original image is 1 1/2 by 3 3/4 inch.

Scanned at 600 dpi on a Canon 5600F, descreened and NOT sharpened, it is the best image I can get off the page.

The file uploaded here --> is TIF format and size is over 6 MB.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/hip/batboat/color_batboat_67_glastyron_cata...

Here is a smaller sized JPG.

Still working on the vessel when time and $ permits.

2010-01-27T13:49:00.006-05:00

Batboat rebuild is still a go, however, the slow economy and weather has pretty much put things on the back burner for now while I work on other things. Every now and then I put some time into planning the fins.

The actual fins will measure a little over 5 foot long and nearly 3 foot high, all in proper proportion to the 1966 original. Just need better weather and a few extra $ then the Batboat and I go to Lowes to pick up some paneling to make a template.

I decided that all fins will be removable and suspect the orignal boat had it that way. One will be a duplicate of the original as seen in the '66 movie and the other two are being designed to mount on the port and starboard, like in the '60s comic books, so I can ride it on the water.

Two years after finding all the '60s photos I'll probably ever see and zooming in on BATMAN (1966) dvd screen captures, I made a model out of a a trusty pizza box, helping me figure out what needs to be done. :)

However, for the next month things will move slowly.

I finally found out what the original make of the '66 Batboat steering wheel was; an aftermarket hot rod custom auto part. Stay tuned, if interested.

Lawn Mower Engine Powered Sears Boat

2010-01-08T23:44:00.002-05:00

Here is an idea. Every once in a while everyone ends up with a lawnmower that is on its last legs but the engine is still good.

Yet another unexpected eBay steal!

2009-12-30T03:10:00.008-05:00

Two weeks ago I won a set of two rub rail end-caps on eBay (pictured above, to the left and center). Only one was found remaining on the Batboat when I got it and it was broke. (pictured above to the right)

Except for that one cleat resting in Davy Jone's locker somewhere at the Zilwaukee boat launch, these decades old stock parts are the only fixtures missing from the 1969 Glastron V-145 Batboat.

Sadly, despite being used on a variety of different boats 35 to 40+ years ago, they are still rare and hard to find.

Over the summer someone at the forums offered me a pair for $25 each. However, I fortunately won these on eBay for $5 plus $4.95 shipping.

The aluminum caps are made to cover the ends of the rub rail at each side of the stern and have a lip to cover the ends of yet another stylish metal piece mounted along the top of the transom.

I thought it was going to be tough to find replacements reasonably priced. The seller almost gave them away to me, considering.

I lucked out!

Batboat Rebuild: trailer improvements.

2009-12-30T00:54:00.011-05:00

In late November through early December I worked on the trailer coupler. Most of the time was waiting for layers of paint to cure, finding spare time and good weather.

While mounting it, I found out what NOT to do if one decides to paint a trailer coupler.

I hope you learn not to make the same mistake I did.

First, however, the package with the new safety chain set from iboats.com had arrived; Seasense brand Stainless Steel Trailer Safety Chain, Class 1, 2000lbs.

I am extremely surprised, happy and impressed with the set. Heavy, shiny and high quality. Most importantly, they are made of stainless steel that will never rust and the safety links won't come undone while on the road. Well worth the $28.

A "Trailer Jack Wheel Stop" was added to the order. With the Batboat on a paved driveway now there is a problem with the trailer moving when I'm in it, sometimes causing the jack to collapse, slamming the front end into the concrete. Problem solved for $2.90.

All the stuff

After a week of shopping around I had a new coupler.

For some reason, all of the big box retailers in this area carry the Reese couplers but oddly only WalMart had them with extras and $10 lower in price.

WalMart had the 1 7/8 ball couplers with a tethered pin and spacers to accommodate my 2 inch channel; things to keep an eye out for. Other places carried Reese and other brands but with no extras. Lowes, Meijer, Gander Mountain, Handy Andy, Menards, and more. I don't get it.

Also, while the competitors priced Reese couplers at $20+, WalMart stocked them at $11.86.

Spacers that reduce the 3 inch channel coupler to fit 2 inch channeled trailers.

I wacked the tounge into shape to clamp the coupler on it square to enable the drilling of the bolt holes.

Clamp held it and the spacers into place.

Important information about installing a coupler!

The two holes on the top are NOT for mounting but are there for manufacturing. They anchor the raw steel plate in the forming press to make everything symmetrical.

An iboats forum member explains "Without an anchoring system the dies could pull the plate off location giving a ill formed product. Like too much material on one side of the ball socket, not enough on the other for example."

Use all four side holes.

I had already paid $2 for its stainless steel fittings so one rear top hole was also used.

Before mounting it, I painted the coupler.

To property paint this I did the following. The oily factory coating was removed by scrubbing with Acetone and a rag. The metal surface was scuffed up with coarse grit sand paper and cleaned with Acetone. The next day, White Krylon primer spray paint was built up in many thin coats followed by thin layers of Sunshine Yellow Krylon and left to cure for several days.

Why yellow, you may wonder? It was left over from making my trusty Batman utility belt! lol

The coupler turned out nice.

When time and weather permitted, it was mounted to the trailer.

One thing I never considered was the fragility of Krylon paint, sadly. A little chipped under the pressure from the washers as I tightened the bolts on top and also on several spots while handling it.

The dings aren't visible unless one looks closely for them but I regret doing the spray paint job. I strongly recommend that if you want to color the coupler, dismantle the locking mechanism first and take the main body into a professional shop to get powder coated!!! Put the locking part back in and leave it bare. The act of locking it down digs into paint if painted.

I hope you learned not to make the same mistake I did.

However, considering that the Batboat is the main priority and the trailer is at the bottom I am not that worried about it too much. Perhaps I will take it off, remove the paint and have it powder coated in the future.

$6.75 worth of various stainless steel 3/8 inch bolts, washers, lock nuts, nuts, and more prove this coupler is never falling off! :)

The chain looks great on it and is the right length for my hitch set-up.

At last a coupler mounted square on the tounge. I will finally be able to back the Batboat into the water without it veering off in strange directions. lol!

New York Times article, slideshow and video on finned boats.

2009-12-06T23:12:00.005-05:00

The New York Times' website devoted a space in the cars section to finned boats.

Here is the article. On the right side of the page, half way down is a short video.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/automobiles/collectibles/16finboat.html

The slide show.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/08/16/automobiles/collectibles/0816-finboats_index.html?ref=automobiles

I see some Manta Rays, Meteors, Glass Slippers, and a few more rare gems in there. Less than 10 of some models are known to have survived.

Funny boat launching blooper.

2009-12-03T20:28:00.000-05:00

Trailer repairs and Batboat rebuild is on coming.

2009-11-24T16:36:00.007-05:00

Several have emailed wondering if the Batboat rebuild is still oncoming so here is a small update.

UPS delivered the stainless steel safety chains a while back, I bought the new trailer coupler over the weekend and got one of the three through-bolts today in hope to have the coupler bolted on the trailer by early December.

Depending on the weather and finding free time, the cleaning and painting of the new coupler will take a few days to finish.

After the trailer is fixed, the current plan is to go to Michigan Lumber in Flint for the plywood to make the fins and laser eyes. They sell the finer quality Douglas Fir plywood there and it is stored on flat shelves, not on forks like the warped plywood is at all big box retailers here.

First, mock-ups and patterns of the new Batboat details will be made of some type of low cost fiberboard. It all depends on how much funds I have and the weather.

These large 4' by 8' sheets of board will be hauled home in the Batboat; the most important reason to fix the trailer first. Stay tuned.

Batboat Rebuild: trailer and fiberglass cloth, November 11, 2009

2009-11-12T01:28:00.012-05:00

Those following this blog know there are problems with the Batboat's trailer. I now suspect that at one point it was in a fender bender evidenced by the bent coupler and several small twists and dents in the frame.

Its getting too cold to do fiberglassing and woodwork outside so I will put the focus on making the trailer safe. It WILL be boring to most of you but I hope that those who are working on their own Batboat will find time saving information here.

On this day I took off the coupler and safety chains. The work lasted less than an hour.

The old chains were zinc plated and mostly rusted plus I never trusted their hook connectors. A new set enroute from iboats.com are made of stainless steel and have better connectors.

click this link to view --> SeaSense Stainless Steel Trailer Safety Chains for 2000 lb loads.

Above is the coupler. It connects to the car's trailer hitch. The yellow lines represent the correct level position of the trailer. As you can see this thing is bent out of wack!

It was welded to the tongue (the forward beam tip of the trailer) in three spots and I freed it off with the grinder and a hand vice clamp.

Two spots were cut through...

... and the coupler was bent and twisted off.

The rest of the attached coupler and welding was smoothed out with a grinder flapper disc. I wacked the beam back into shape with a hammer and coated the bare metal with spray primer to help prevent rust.

I'll get a new coupler after the chains get here.

Sundown was arriving meaning it was time to cut the lawn before it became too dark. When I opened the shed there was a nice surprise waiting for me. The rolls of remaining 1.5 Chopped Strand Mat and 6 oz Hexel fiberglass cloth fell from where they were shelved, unrolled on the floor and absorbed at least a month's worth of rain water, mud and all were well spotted with mildew! Totally ruined!

I kept these rolls and all of the scraps for nothing. About 2 yards combined of uncut cloth and a bunch of odd pieces were worthless. Oh well, at least the really expensive stuff, the 1708 biaxial, seemed okay. I'll check for mildew tomorrow! (checked it and it's fine but moved to the dry basement now.)

Can't use this for fiberglassing because the dirt and mold will promote rot! >:(

Batboat Rebuild: Day 50 November 8, 2009

2009-11-11T02:35:00.008-05:00

On this day I started refurbishing the Batboat's trailer turn signals. The wiring was a twisted mess and the lights stopped working while I was using the Batboat to move my things from the old house. Had to leave it parked until I found time to fix them.

Later, somehow the plug got squashed while the boat was in the drive way!

The trailer lights had two sets of cables spliced together at the end with crimps and electrical tape, each with their own plug. It all had to go.

As you can see over time this became a tangled mess hanging under the trailer with too much length.

Ripped it all out but I kept the lights, which were perfectly reusable.

A new set of lights was something over $35. To save a few bucks I rebuilt them. The lights would be rewired with this new harness I found at WalMart for $12+.

There was trouble running the wires through the trailer's main beam. Wouldn't go in more than a few feet before getting stuck. Looking round the yard I found a simple solution. Take a garden hose and run it through the beam out to the other side, stick the wires into the hose a few inches, wrap them together with tape, and pull the house back out; A quick way to thread wires through a hollow beam.

It was getting dark and I continued two days later by taking apart and rewiring the signals.

I got the lights into the house and worked on them with the soldering iron for a few minutes, put them back on the trailer, connected the harness ends, put in new bulbs, and they worked perfectly.

BEFORE

AFTER

I never did anything like this before and probably spent two hours over the two evenings reverse engineering and working on it. They are now as good as new and I had lots of fun.

BEFORE

AFTER

The next job is to replace the trailer coupler. It is bent all to heck! I could never back the Batboat into the water without it veering in strange angles.

Batboat Rebuild: Seat Mystery Solved Part 2

2009-11-04T00:25:00.016-05:00

The 1966 Glastron fiberglass boat catalog that I mentioned here three weeks ago came in the mail a while back. (I paid $13.89 for mine and another recently sold for $26, he he he.)

The pointed seat design shown in a '66 Jetflite V-143 Super Sport appears, from the back, to be a closer match for the ones used in the original Batboat than the '67 Jetflite V-143 mentioned in another blog post.

'66 Jetflite V-143 Super Sport

1966 Batboat

'67 Jetflite V-143 Super Sport

It looks like when it comes to having my own seats made I'll need to get hold of one of those and interpolate the dimensions of the Batboat's to base a new pattern on.

The Jetflites are the only boats built by Glastron with those pointed, turned up seating and are unique to that model.

Catalogs show Jetflite hulls had the seat bases molded into the deck from 1965 to 1970. From '66 to 69 pointed seats were used but not in 1970. The model was discontinued 1971.

The Batboat's seats were specially made and upholstered in glitter blue vinyl, as shown above. This is one of the scant close up glimpses of the original seat. It doesn't get much better than this, sadly.

The 1966 Jetflite V-143 Super Sport

The '66 catalog also shows the same type of metallic blue steering wheel used in the original Batboat.

As a side note, the model Glastron based the Batboat on is on the '66 catalog cover; Dark Jade Crestflite Stern Drive V-174 Super Sport. According to the back page specifications, it was only available as Dark Jade and White in 1966 but the photos show blue, also shown below.

Batboat Rebuild: Dashboard Aluminum Trim

2009-10-13T23:43:00.011-04:00

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.

Batboat Rebuild: Seat Mystery Solved.

2009-10-11T16:58:00.012-04:00

Color Photo From The 1967 Glastron Boats Brochure

Researching how the original 1966 Batboat was built is sometimes kind of tough. It was one of the least used Bat-vehicles in the show (once in the movie and twice breifly on the show. The show appearances were filmed during the movie) and there are only a scant 2 or 4 original photos showing detail.

Sorry for the bad screen capture! One of the rare shots of the interior.

One of the last items that had left me stumped were the seats. There are maybe two or three photos that show them clearly but from behind. The BATMAN movie dvd shows them from above but for a split second.

I posted a quirey with images at the Classic Glastron Owners Association forum and one of the historians, 69 JETFLITE, came up with the answer the next day.

It is possible they are the seats used in Glastron's Jetflite models. I looked through my 1967 Glastron brochure and sure enough, there they are!

The Classic Glastron Owners Association site has a scan of the 1966 brochure showing the top of the seats and they are better dead ringers for those in the Batboat. A 1966 brochure is on the way here from eBay so I can take a better look.

Above: 1967 Jetflite Super Sport V-143
Below: The Batboat In 1966 Before Delivery To Hollywood.

The post '66 Jetflite chairs seem to have the same turned up/ pointed appearance on the top but are narrower in the middle pleated area. The above photo shows a reupolstered pair.

The 1966 Batboat had both tops and bottoms pointed, however. If I can get a pattern off a top, the bottoms can be made the same way. Just need to find a junker '66 seat. That will have to wait for next year, delivery of the '66 brochure and more photos to verify. :)

Glastron forum member FergusonPooleInc says the 1967 seats were blue metallic, the 1968 red metallic, and the 1969 were gold metallic.

Cool.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 50 October 10th, 2009

2009-10-11T14:08:00.012-04:00

I worked on the new dashboard today. This modified Glastron V-145 craft needs a new dash because it and the seats need to be moved back one foot to be in the correct proportion to the 1966 original Batboat.

When Glastron built their Batboat for the BATMAN movie they did the same thing to a V-174 Super Sport.

The "lap" of the seats should be about dead center of the length of the craft.

1/2 inch plywood makes up the dash of my boat with about 1/4 inch of fiberglass on top for strength. I'll be using 3/4 inch marine grade ply and a couple layers of 1.5 oz chopped strand mat fiberglass.

The Original Dashboard

On top of that will be some kind of satin polished aluminum or stainless steel, as seen in the original.

I'll figure out what size the metal trim is when I find out the diameter of those Mercruiser gages. I have a hunch, however, that it could be the same trim Glastron used in many of their boats at that time, including mine; 5/16 inch polished, rounded aluminum. (shown in the below pix of the glove compartment.)

A pattern for the new ply was made with "dollar store" package wrapping paper.

I've got a lot of mileage out of that roll over the past two years!

The paper was scored with open scissors along the top.

The glove compartment doesn't have a top to trace on...

... so a rough cut was made, paper taken off the dash, folded in half and the compartment area was cut the shape of the driver's side.

Pattern was clamped back on and after few adjustments the steering hole was marked.

Many of the angles of this '69 V-145 boat are 75 degrees. The dash is no exception so the ply will be cut at 75 degree angles.

This used to be quite a nice looking sport boat at one time. Hard to see it now but the dash had a modern style to it.

Glove compartment featured aluminum lined, padded "Glacier Blue" Naugahyde vinyl...

... the rest of the dash surface was covered with wood grain vinyl, as seen from under the dash.

Padded "Glacier Blue" Naugahyde vinyl was under the windshield, the steering column was chromed and the steering wheel was black with a chrome hub. The Glastron logo in the center of the hub with a wood grain background.

The hull and topside was originally white with "Glacier Blue" details.

The longest ply I have left is 4 foot. The new dash needs to be 4 foot 2 inches as the Batboat gets wider a foot back. A solution has been figured out.

Top and bottom are cut at a 75 degree angle...

... and with a few adjustments, its uniform to the original.

The dash, windshield area and laser eyes are all connected. The cold is averaging 45 degrees now but I'll work on it when able.

Batboat - Whizzwheels Blister Pack

2009-10-09T17:33:00.004-04:00

http://www.thebatmobile.nl/ provides images for hobbyists to make reproduction packaging for their old Batman toys.

Here's one for the 1967 Corgi Juniors #1003 Batboat Whizzwheels Blister Pack.

They have several more cool '60s Batboat toy boxes but they are too big to post here. Go to http://www.thebatmobile.nl/ to check them out.

Vintage photo of my boat.

2009-10-09T17:08:00.008-04:00

I found this pix in a flicker account while Googling.

Its of the Batboat before I owned it on display at the Motor City Comic Convention, held at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, MI, May 19-21, 2006. The miniature Man-O-War was built for this convention celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Batman TV show.

I understand the autograph tables of Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Yvonne Craig, and Lee Meriweather were facing the Batboat the entire weekend but I have yet to find any photos showing it.

It will be cool to put together a scrapbook. Most images that have been given to me and found were shot at this convention.

I'd like to have some other shots taken at other meets and conventions where this appeared from 2006 to 2007, like the one at the bottom of this blog.

Have you any photos of my Batboat on display? Or with cast members? There are two shots of Yvonne Craig autographing the fin.

I'd sure like to have some more. :) Contact me through this blog or dnemeth01@charter.net.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 49 September 20th, 2009

2009-10-09T04:28:00.006-04:00

Today I took a few moments to fill in the odd low spots under the bow along where the deck meets the hull.

These will be a mold and dirt traps, especially after the foot board is put back in. When filled in flat it will also be easier to wash out the bow and keep it dry.

Using a great deal of PL Construction Adhesive.

PL caulk spread smooth using fingers.

Next spring I will grind the surface of the PL smooth and fiberglass over it. The weather is cooling off too much to risk buying more resin and I haven't the money to buy one more gallon due to the move to Saginaw.

The last new cartridge of PL Adhesive of the year was opened. Seven 28 oz cartridges used on the Batboat so far! There is still some left over for next year, believe it or not.

There were a few spots on the deck with exposed bare plywood from my grinding bubbles down too far into the chopped strand mat fiberglass a week ago. I waterproofed them by glopping a bit of adhesive on top. Will pop them off and fiberglass over those next year.

Winter may be here but there is more to come to the 1966 Batboat Blog! Stay tuned!

Batboat Rebuild: Day 48 September 13th, 2009

2009-10-09T04:01:00.006-04:00

A couple hours was spent today grinding down the bubbles in the 6 oz woven hexal fiberglass.

There were too many but there were no bubbles in the 1.5 chopped strand mat, however, so not many areas need to be patched.

I did this wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt. For weeks I had a rash on my upper arms from contact with the tacky fiberglass surface. Wear long sleeves, folks! lol!

Weeks ago, when the plywood was measured and cut for the deck it was a snug fit, however, after fiberglassing the underside and grinding off the excess I dug into the wood a little. Not a good fit any more. After installed, most places where the deck sections met the hull had a half inch or more gap.

Rolling fiberglass over the deck to meet the hull creates a slouch in the cloth were these gaps are. Today I filled these dips in with PL Construction Adhesive and intend to glass over it next summer with 1.5 CSM, otherwise, they will be dirt and mold traps.

The caulk makes the surface smooth and even for fiberglassing.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 47 September 7th, 2009

2009-10-09T03:22:00.005-04:00

Moved into the new house now. Feel more calm and much more rested. No more muscle spasms. No more nuisance. lol!
There was exactly 40 oz left of resin in the can and it was exactly enough to finish glassing in the last two and a half feet of deck under the bow. Everything turned out perfect!

I finished up the bilge by grinding off the excess 6 oz hexal. With what little mixed resin I had left in the bucket was used to glass on small strips of 1.5 along the edge of the bowl to fix rough spots left from grinding.

The hard parts of rebuilding my Batboat are finally over.

Looking over what was accomplished I placed some of the old Glastron sport details back in the Batboat get an idea on what can be done next.

The dash and foot stop will have to be moved back one foot and the splash well needs to be fixed. I can't wait to get started.

The above shows a large fragment of the original blue deck covering, stamped "1969" on the back, laying next to gray "Deco-Dot" vinyl flooring made by Nautolex.

As of earlier this year, the blue Deco-Dot I wanted was no longer made and unavailable. Instead, I'll be using vinyl looking very close to the boat's original as mentioned a few blogs back, which is also no longer made but I got some days ago. ;)

The area behind the strip of wood will be painted with bilge paint tinted blue. Can't use vinyl because the gas cans go back there and the vinyl will get wrecked.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 46 August 21st, 2009

2009-10-09T02:45:00.005-04:00

Burnt the old stringers today. They were dry and went up really fast. Kind of sorry to see them go.

I worked up the bilge area by laminating strips of 1.5 oz CSM to create a bowl. I think there was about 2 to three layers of fiberglass all with much overlap.

The PL I caulked in the gap from days before had set so the rear of the deck got glassed to the transom using 1708 biaxial cloth.

At the same time I finished the last remaining 7 inches of bare deck with 1.5 oz CSM.

The 1708 and 1.5 oz cloth were covered with 6 oz hexel woven fiberglass for added strength and smoother surface.

I kept an eye on the clouds all that day. The wind was blowing hard, and the tarp still roped to the trailer yanked around with the gusts as I worked. There was a couple short periods of light sprinkle. I keep mentioning the weather in this blog to stress that if you make your own Batboat you'll need a garage or someplace out of the elements.

I took a break by heading to the gym before it closed and came back to bed the triangle deck piece to the tip of the deck with PL Adhesive.

I had a problem with gaps around the parameter of the deck where it meets the hull. (More on this later.) The fiberglass cloth slouched into most of it. This was my last day living in Zilwaukee, IIRC, and I put some PL Adhesive on the fiberglass in these areas under the bow to prevent the slouch when finishing it at the new place.

I quit about 7:45 to eat and play a computer game.

After a really bad year and a half my misery in that town is finally over. Bad economy, badgered by cops several times and had worse case senerio bad neighbors. There was still some stuff to move but I was all but gone from that house. The first 4 or 5 years were fine, however, I'll never move back to Zilwaukee.

Worked on the Batboat for about 4 hours that day. :)