Glen-L.com

One thing to keep in mind when building the motorwell, or rear deck : If it ever becomes necessary to rope-start the outboard, you might appreciate having a place to stand, while planting one foot on the transom top next to the motor, or on the boat bottom near the transom. On the boats that we buil...

Here is one thing to consider: If hull sides are fiber-glassed with 4 or 6 oz cloth (which won't show) and then varnished / bright finished, they will look great. However, if damaged, or deep scratched, or dinged (in the cloth/ bright finished area) it will be difficult to repair and still look grea...

Yes, the Ace design is unique in quite a few respects. Once a person is familiar with that boat, you can spot another one a mile away. Except there aren't many of them. I did not know about the Ace either, until 7 or 8 years ago when I came across Ed's website. I had been thinking about building ano...

That boat is an Ace. The plans for it were published in Science and Mechanics magazine in 1956; you can see the whole Ace story at www.sandeace.com It would be nice if you can send your photos and all info to Ed Waali; his e-mail is at the top of the website. He likes to compile info on all Aces kno...

This a Moeller tank held down with 4 heavy "marine" bungees from the hardware store. They have stainless hook ends. Won't last forever, but easily replaced. They are out of the sun, under a seat. This photo shows the tank just sitting on the battens, but I smartened up and added plywood platform wit...

Question for Billy C In your post, above, you mention removing fiberglass cloth. 1. What is the procedure? 2. Does it tear out little wood fibers as it comes off? 3. Is that surface suitable for bright finishing ever again, or, is it now pretty much suitable only for painting? I have bright finished...

That's a nice looking boat, and motor. The 500 was considered to be one of the very best. In case you have not been involved with vintage Mercury outboards before, here are some resources that will help: www.oldmercs.com Parts and manuals. You will need a service manual. www.marineengine.com Parts. ...

Looks like it has 2 steps in the bottom. Am I seeing that correctly?

I can't be completely accurate measuring hull depth on a finished boat. But my Squirt is a little more than 22 inches.
That's not including a skeg.

The trailer interferes with an outside measurement, and the seat and floorboards interfere with an inside measurement,
but that is fairly close, I think.

You should go to http://www.johnsoldmercurysite.com and ask this question. There are lots of very knowledgeable folks there who will be glad to offer advise. There is at least one who will do a professional re-build. I think that sitting outside for 25 years makes it a likely candidate for re-build....

I added a chine block to a Squirt. It's much like the breast hook. It was not on the original plans. In the same way that the breast hook defines, or establishes, the curvature of the sheer between the stem and first frame, well the chine block enables the chine to assume the proper curve near the s...

That's a great picture, with the boat in the pick-up bed.

We can see how you load it with the crane.
But, how do you launch it upon arrival at the boat ramp?

Don't tell us you just back down the ramp, until the boat floats off.....
We don't think you load it back onto the truck that way, either.....

Hi Gayle,

Would you want something like this ? Sort of like that Christmas card picture.
You may not need too many Squirt pictures, though.
Bill

Regarding your concern about the motor shaft length: If I read it correctly, you are concerned about the minimal freeboard at the transom cutout, and the motor sitting close to the water at rest? I believe that is not an issue. If you were to have a 25" shaft motor, then it would require a lot of wo...

You may have read about my Squirt. It has a 12 gallon Moeller built-in tank behind the seat. I opted for that, knowing I would never fill it more than half full. It seemed to be the smallest built-in type of tank that was readily available. It has a gauge on the dash; easily installed. My Squirt is ...