Anybody Seen A Pair of These?

[Seadog]

These are pix of my 1970 AS 222.   I'm trying to show the 'Floor Panels', that were in the hull, in a floor baitwell forward of the console.  I've researched this quite a bit and no-one knows for sure if these panels were factory installed or after market.  In the last picture you can see the grass in the yard under the trailer, thru the panels.  Anybody got these of know anythnig about them?
I contacted Aquasport and found out Aquasport was sold to Genmar in 1980, so nobody there knows either.
Any help or insight would be appreciated!

[Argo]

There is another thread with this subject on it.  they had a glass bottom option on them that had glass windows in the hull in the early 70's or something like that.

[Seadog]

Argo - any idea where that thread might have been?  On what forum and about when?  Any other info that might help me find it?

[Wilson]

We talked about it on this forum.  But I will have to look to find it.

found it, but its not all that informative.  You could also do another search on the Florida Sportsman Boating forum site.  

http://www.classicaquasport.com/viewtopic.php?t=33

[Seadog]

Thanks Wilson. Yep - that sounds like the panels all right.  From what Hedgemere225 says on that thread, it sounds like the panels were an option at that time. I'd feel a whole lot better about the panels if I knew they were stock and not after market.  I still haven't decided wheather to keep them, glass them over, convert the infloor bait well to storage or trash the whole thing.

[Radioshop]

Those are just too cool, I've never actually seen one.  Wow!  Thanks for those photos.

[Wilson]

I would see just how sturdy they seemed an whether or not there are any stress cracks around them or not.  If they seem like they are good and strong why not keep them and do something cool?  I think you've got something special there.  

Are they glass or plexiglass?

[Seadog]

I think they are plexi-glass or whatever material that was similar to plex-glass in 1970.  They aren't glass for sure.  They seem pretty solid, don't see any signs of stress around them.  The thing is, I've never had this boat in the water, so I don't even know if they are water tight or if they leak.  Bought the boat out of Miami last March, and have not had it in the water since, and as you can tell from the pix, I've made a real mess of the whole thing.  I think the panels are pretty cool too, but the layout for use of that compartment is strange:  The surface of the panels do not lay flat with the plane of the hull on the inside or on the outside, but make a small gradual depression from the plane of the hull to the panel surface of maybe 1/8" to 3/16". Hope that makes sense.  So what happens is water will not drain all the way out of that compartment wheather its used as a bait well or storage compartment.  That just drives me nuts when that last little bit of water stays in a compartment and won't drain all the way dry.  But because these panels are about 14" square, that small depression to the panel surface from the hull plane, over 14" square turns into quite a bit of water that won't drain out, and that really drives me into orbit.  So I've got sort of a dilemma (sp?) of what to do with that compartment and those panels. I want to keep them but drainage is going to be a real problem.

[Captain]

From a friend of mine offline:

My boat is a 1972 222 flatback and it does not have the window.  The window was production on 222s in mid-to-late 70's v-hulls.  It may have gone later, but I am not sure.  I think it was an option that was targeted at the S. Florida market.  I have seen several, and may have seen on on a 19, but the blat was so torn apart, I'm not sure.  Remember that a lot of these boats were sold in the NE as well.  I found my hull in Massachusets.

[Seadog]

Hey thanks Captain! Good to know some history on these things and I'm glad they were factory installed.

[captflatback]

I have 2 flatbacks with the windows in them ones a 1967 and the other is a 1969 both are 222s. I talked to a person that did some of the mold tooling back then and he said that there isnt to many of them around. But it was a option back then.

[Seadog]

Good to know Captflatback - Thanks! Mine was plumbed as a baitwell.  Are your two plumbed the same way?

[captflatback]

Yes, they were both that way. I'm going to add a 45 gal livewell to both. A friend of mine owns a fiberglass shop in tampa and thats were my 1967 is and he makes these custom livewells for them and rebuilds old aquasports and prolines too.

[Seadog]

Mine was plumbed with two of these water pick-ups.  One pick up was oriented with the strainer facing forward under the hull, for the water intake.  The other strainer had the strainer faceing aft, for the overflow side.  I'd never seen or heard of this layout before, using that strainer backwards for the discharege.  Did yours have something similar?  Did the discharge / overflow drain work good?

[captflatback]

Yes the 1969 has that same thing the 67 does not. I am going to take them out and put a thru fitting and a valve im not going to use them for a live well.