opinions on late 80's bayliners? I hear they have some issues

[bruceb58]

Yes, if you can find glass stringers.

There are way more issues with an 80's Bayliner than just stringers. I owned one and kept it up in pretty good shape and I am in a dry climate for the most part. It is just built with such low quality that there isn't much you can do to keep it from falling apart. Poor fittings, poor sealing of edges of plywood used. You just take a look at how the seat structures are built and you will shake your head. They don't even use stainless staples for the upholstery so they all rot out!. I can go on.

I would look for a boat with a fiberglass floor. If you keep the boat covered and the bilge dry, you should not have problems with rotten stringers.

 

[littlebunker]

I have a question that is almost definitely far too much to ask.

So, bayliner capris are super common. There are a number of boats that seem really common.... capris, sunfish, etc. Is there a common make/model or a manufacturer that I should keep my eye out for?

Like a fairly common model that had either fiberglass stringers or a fiberglass floor? Or a manufacturer that was known to use glass stringers, so that if I see that manufacturer I should think that they likely used glass for their stringers?

I'm sure it changes. But I guess my question is... What are some brands from the 80's I should be looking out for? clearly not bayliner.
What are some brands from the 90's I should be looking out for?

I know you all said/implied that modern boats will generally be pretty good. So I'll ask?are there any modern brands I should stay AWAY from?

thnks

 

[tpenfield]

Usually boats with glass stringers are the ones with very little wood in them, older Bayliner are not one of those boats. In the 1980's-1990's most boats were wood structure with fiberglass over. The better boats had a fiberglass floor instead of wood.

Many boats still have wood today . . . some are better built than others.

 

[ondarvr]

I have a question that is almost definitely far too much to ask.

So, bayliner capris are super common. There are a number of boats that seem really common.... capris, sunfish, etc. Is there a common make/model or a manufacturer that I should keep my eye out for?

Like a fairly common model that had either fiberglass stringers or a fiberglass floor? Or a manufacturer that was known to use glass stringers, so that if I see that manufacturer I should think that they likely used glass for their stringers?

I'm sure it changes. But I guess my question is... What are some brands from the 80's I should be looking out for? clearly not bayliner.
What are some brands from the 90's I should be looking out for?

I know you all said/implied that modern boats will generally be pretty good. So I'll ask—are there any modern brands I should stay AWAY from?

thnks

Go back and read post #3

 

[Scott Danforth]

Chris Crafts are built today with engineered stronger tubs, so are mastercraft. Basically higher end brands. Most boats still have a fair amount of wood encapsulated in fiberglass

Regarding boats from the 80's, they all will need work like ondarvr stated early on.

Boats have a design life of 10 years for low end boats such as the 80's bayliners or 20 years for today's mid level boats.

If you buy an old boat, most need work.

 

[littlebunker]

woah sorry double post.....

 

[littlebunker]

Go back and read post #3

yeah I guess even if that was mostly true (I have no doubt that it is), I figured there would be a few brands out there who stuck to just one construction technique. I find it hard to believe that every boat builder in the 80s and 90s used both fiberglass and wood stringers totally randomly.

Just hoping that there was one or two companies with a little consistency! lol. guess i should have expected.

 

[ondarvr]

Few companies used glass stringers in the 90's and even fewer in the 80's, and even the ones that did switched back and forth from time to time and on different models, so it's hard to nail down something for sure. And even the ones that did have glass stringers frequently had so much damage to them they needed to be replaced anyhow, it was the rare boat that was well built.

While replacing the stringers is a hassle, the floor and transom will still need to be replaced, so you're already in there and dusty.

The other issue you need to decide on is what kind of boat you need, and that depends on how you plan to use it, the wrong boat with glass stringers is still the wrong boat.

The option is to buy a newer and better boat that you can use right away, or find something to rebuild and have it for the following year, there isn'’t a huge difference in cost if you value your time.

Some people just want to go boating or fishing, other want a project because they like rebuilding things, you need to know which category you fit into.

 

[littlebunker]

yeah.... i want it both ways! lol.

Ideally, I'd find a boat that has a solid hull but everything else needs replacing. I'm happy to replace the floor, I'm happy to rewire, I'm happy to rebuild every bit of it. I just want to be able to fish out of it while I rebuild it!

My dream would be to find a nice empty, sturdy hull that I can just lay a plank down as a bench seat and fish out of it like that while I rebuilt it from the hull up. My problem with stringer replacement isn't so much the work, it's the fact that I can't use the boat while I replace the stringers!

Is there any way to tell if a boat has glass stringers or wood stringers? I know that it's basically impossible to tell if the stringers are rotten, but are there things to look for?

thanks!!

 

[ondarvr]

You can't use the boat if the transom and floor are being replaced, or if it's being rewired or repowered, it will pretty much be on blocks until it's almost finished.

" I know that it's basically impossible to tell if the stringers are rotten, but are there things to look for?"

Yes, any boat older than 15 years will probably have rotten wood in it, anything over 10 might be supsect, newer and you're pretty safe. So going back 30 years it's going to be tough finding a solid hull to build from.

Skim through the rebuild threads, you'll get a good idea of what you should expect to find in a 20-30 year old boat, and you'll get an idea of how many boats had all glass stringers.

Sounds like you need to go aluminum.

 

[tpenfield]

littlebunker

You seem to be making an assumption the there were boats made in the 1980's and into the 1990's that had fiberglass stringers. However, those boats that you are imagining are virtually non-existent. There may be 1 or 2 brands that used glass stringers, but I can't think of any. It was not until the late 1990's and into the 2000 era that you started to see boats with glass stringers. As stated, most are going to be higher end boats, but there is the VST hulls which several brands use. (Larson, Glastron, if I recall). You mostly see the VST construction on smaller boats.

Some of the higher end center console boats are now made with fiberglass over foam core structure. The newer and higher end boats put you in an entirely different budget range than a 25+ year old low end boat.

 

[redneck joe]

I rebuilt my aluminum boat in a few weeks and could have been fishingnout of it within one week,

 

[tpenfield]

I think I meant to say VEC hulls. Not VST.

 

[Scott Danforth]

yeah.... i want it both ways! lol.

Ideally, I'd find a boat that has a solid hull but everything else needs replacing. I'm happy to replace the floor, I'm happy to rewire, I'm happy to rebuild every bit of it. I just want to be able to fish out of it while I rebuild it!

My dream would be to find a nice empty, sturdy hull that I can just lay a plank down as a bench seat and fish out of it like that while I rebuilt it from the hull up. My problem with stringer replacement isn't so much the work, it's the fact that I can't use the boat while I replace the stringers!

you want an aluminum utility boat with a 9.8 tiller by that description.

 

[wrvond]

<snip> Boating is an expensive, maintenance intensive hobby

This cannot be emphasized enough to prospective boat owners. Most simply don't get it.

 

[ezmobee]

If you want to get on the water cheaply with the least chance of financial ruin, you want an aluminum hull with an outboard motor (of a brand well supported with parts). The wooden components of an aluminum hull are the deck and transom. And they aren't connected. If these things are rotted they can be replaced (separately) in a couple weekends. Starcraft SS's are simple bowriders like the Bayliner Capri's you're discussing and are fairly easy to find.

 

[redneck joe]

and time consuming

 

[JASinIL2006]

littlebunker

You seem to be making an assumption the there were boats made in the 1980's and into the 1990's that had fiberglass stringers. However, those boats that you are imagining are virtually non-existent. There may be 1 or 2 brands that used glass stringers, but I can't think of any. It was not until the late 1990's and into the 2000 era that you started to see boats with glass stringers. As stated, most are going to be higher end boats, but there is the VST hulls which several brands use. (Larson, Glastron, if I recall). You mostly see the VST construction on smaller boats.

Some of the higher end center console boats are now made with fiberglass over foam core structure. The newer and higher end boats put you in an entirely different budget range than a 25+ year old low end boat.

Yes, Larson started using non-wood stringers in some of their smaller boats around 1996 or '97. Mine is a '97 bowrider and it had engineered fiberglass stringers.

 

[jkust]

I don't think I saw this but what is your budget? You can pick up one of the oldest VEC models for very little money.

 

[littlebunker]

Lots of good info above. thanks.

I just feel like I've seen a number of of boats from the 80's that at least SAY they have non-wood stringers. all of this is anecdotal of course, but it looks like glasply switched to glass stringers in the early 80s (http://www.glasply.org/vb4/archive/index.php/t-1524.html) and seaswirl had some fingerglass stringers by 1980 (http://www.fiberglassatlanta.com/pictures-photos-videos/1980-sea-swirl-17ft-yellow/) and a company called mastercraft starting using them in 82 (https://books.google.com/books?id=o...v=onepage&q=1982 fiberglass stringers&f=false).

That was a pretty quick google search... maybe I'm wrong about a lot of things that I just said!

I would love an aluminum hull, but there just aren't as many of them. Plus I am looking in the 20-25 foot range. I saw that starcraft makes some good ones... cheiftain or islander or whatever.

Then let me ask this question: are starcrafts considered to be... what, semi v? deep v? i googled and found these photos, the hulls of starcraft aluminums tend to be shaped like this:



or this is another example:






what can I expect in terms of performance? The bayliner looked like it had a nice deep V, will a starcraft be able to handle chop as well?

thanks