[oddball]

Greetings gentlmen I am very new to boating so plz bear with my questions.I am looking into buying an 1969 sunliner 46ft houseboat on the ohio river, I just looked at it today and have some questionsI looked at the engines and was told they are not running, but what concerned me more was the rust in the engine bay.The boat has just been painted but i can see all kinds of pits under the paint.When i walked thru the boat the floors were uneven.what do I need to look for when buying a steel hull boat, what are the main items that need tobe checked before buying.he is asking $10.000 thanx for any help u can give

[flashback]

I am very limited in knowledge of steel hulled boats. but i can tell you one thing to watch out for. where I dock my boat, we have a do it your self work yard so folks can repair their boats. I have seen older steel hull house boats in the yard being worked on and have seen many of them with the hull plates rusted so badly that you could poke a screwdriver right through the hull. what even scared me more was the owner repairing the rusted out areas with bondo.. I would think the proper way would be to remove all rusted metal and re-weld new plates in... anyhow, if i were buying any boat that old and that big, I would get a survey on it...good luck

[oddball]

thnx for your input, I did find an article about steel hull boats today and the main concern was rusting from the inside out .

[magster65]

True, however, steel is durable, inexpensive and easily repaired. Like Flashback says, make sure you get a survey on it.