Re: Buehler Bolero restoration help and info please
cmcgowen - I own a Bolero and your boat appears to be all there and original in terms of hardware, etc. The upholstery is not original but it looks like it was done over the original seats.
Judging by the pic of the pump, the transom wall doesn't look to bad. In those years, Buehler's transoms were exposed on the inside of the stern rather than the wood being sandwiched between fiberglass. They generally went over the exposed/inner side with a coating of epoxy and some paint. If you feel it looks fairly solid, I'd leave it......keeping in mind that the transoms on these boats don't need to withstand the same load as an outboard or sterndrive.
As for the stringers, believe it or not, they only run the length of the engine bay. From shortly after the rear motor mount, to the transom, the stringers are hollow.....the only wood being plywood which simply creates the structure over which the glass was laid. That said, you're really only looking at cutting the tops off the area in that engine bay, removing the rotted oak (yup) and either glassing in some new wood or, perhaps, filling it with something like Seacast. Either way, if you had a chance to see the boat with the motor in it, and noticed how close the exposed flywheel is to the floor of the bilge, I'm sure you can conclude why you don't want to run bad/soft stringers on those boats.
By the way, many that have restored these boats forego replacement of the foam under the floor. I won't call that advice (as it wouldn't be the best) but, once waterlogged, it will never fully dry........adding significant weight and contributing to structural issues if it freezes (floor swelling, etc.). The earlier models did not contain foam.
Feel free to post any specific questions you have. Happy to help.