G3 Owners Association
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The Glasspar Boat Building Company
Glasspar Boat Building Company was founded in 1949 by Mr. Bill Tritt, where he began manufacturing fiberglass boats in Santa Ana, California.
Mr. Tritt was known for his passion in cars and boats prior to World War II. At that time he studied marine architecture and boat building. In 1947 he was paid to design and build a 20' racing sailboat. He chose to guild the boat of fiberglass construction. He and Otto Bayer built the sailboat named the "Green Dolphin", and four hulls were constructed in various lengths. This was Mr. Tritt's first experience in fiberglass boat production. Throughout that year he build various small fiberglass boats, and masts and spars for sailboats. With this experience, he became a pioneer in the fiberglass boat construction industry. Within the next few years, he formed the Glasspar Boat Building Company and moved his operations from Costa Mesa to Santa Anna, California. By the mid-1950s, Glasspar was producing nearly 20% of all fiberglass boats in the U.S. pleasure boat market.
Glasspar built boats that ranged from car toppers to twenty foot models. At the time that Glasspar sold its brand and operations to Larson Boats in 1969, Mr. Tritt was also producing 21 and 25 foot blue water capable boats. Boats models lines were given Mediterranean names, and often followed by a model type. For instance, a 14' boat was designated the Lido, which came in three configurations. The Sport-Lido, Club-Lido, and Lido (standard). Another famous line, known as the Mariner, included the Sport-Mariner, Club-Mariner, or Mariner (standard) model. Some boat models were also named for areas in and around Southern California such as Avalon on the island of Catalina.
Mr. Tritt produced the Glasspar G3 from 1959 until 1968. Larson Boats produced the Catalina G3 from 1969 to the early 1970s.
Models included, but were not limited to;
Sea Lion - a 12-foot runabout
Sears and Roebuck car-topper (developed and built for Sears)
Wing boats for Mantz Aircraft – carried under the wings of converted Navy PBYs
Dincat - a 12-foot sailing dinghy with FG mast
Dinkitten - an 8-foot sailing dinghy and popular yacht tender with FG mast
Privateer - a 20-foot cat-ketch rigged sailboat with unstayed fiberglass masts
Balboa - a 13-foot (4.0 m) car-topper
Superlight – a 10-foot car-topper
Marathon – an under-14-foot (4.3 m) runabout
Lido – a-14-foot runabout
Citation – a 16-foot (4.9 m) runabout
Avalon – a 16-foot runabout
G3 – a 14-foot (4.3 m) high-performance ski boat
SuperG – a 16-foot (4.9 m) high-performance ski boat
Seafair – an 18-foot (5.5 m) cruising class
Flying V-175 – a 17-foot (5.2 m) cruising class
del Mar – a 16-foot (4.9 m) cabin cruiser
Tacoma – an under-14-foot (4.3 m) runabout
Ventura – a 21-foot (6.4 m) fishing cabin cruiser
Meridian 21 – a 21-foot fishing cabin cruiser similar to the Ventura
Meridian 25 – a 25-foot (7.6 m) ocean fishing boat.
Bill Tritt's Resignation
30 Footer – A 30-foot flying bridge cabin cruiser that never saw production. It was designed and built at the Glasspar R&D department by Bill Tritt prior to his leaving the company in 1960. This boat was the straw that broke Bill's back. The Glasspar board of directors short-sighted decision to not build this model, along with aircraft parts and the entire automotive line, was the reason Tritt resigned from his own company.
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