About a month ago I bought an older Starcraft 15' boat for it's motor. The seller spoke no English and the translator didn't know boats. I was only really after the motor, so after checking that out, I figured it a good deal at $150 for the boat, motor, and trailer. The motor was good and that was all I cared about at the time. I had basically intended to just give away or haul the hull to the dump. The trailer was a mess as well.
I had pushed the boat and trailer back into the woods and forgot about it till the weather warmed up. I got to talking to guy today at the lumber supply while getting some plywood for another boat who started talking about some guy he worked with that fixed up an old boat and how he rebuilt the transom with no wood at all using fiberglass panels. He described the boat I just bought. It seems that the guy that I couldn't understand was a fiberglass guy in a body shop and he used solid fiberglass panels to build a transom panel. Apparently the boat's transom had failed and partially torn the outer skin, he cut the back corners of the cap off, removed the top of the transom and lowed in this solid glass transom panel bedding it in fiberglass and resin.
He then reattached the top caps and glassed over the entire exterior of the transom with yet another layer of fiberglass in all one piece. It looks untouched other than the top cap is no longer aluminum and is all fiberglass, and the aluminum corner pieces don't fit quite right anymore. The transom splashwell holes were never redrilled, and I can see some sort of shiny fiberglass panel through the old hole. The drain hole is also reworked.
The deck is redone the same way, he used some sort of fiberglass panels and layered them with glass mat in between forming a glass deck. This boat also has no stringers, as the new deck doesn't extend past the forward point of the splashwell tray.
It all looks rock solid but I've never heard of doing this before. The boat don't feel overly heavy, but I'm sure it added some weight. He also added flotation foam to the gunwales and under the bow deck. The boat had a 40hp motor on it and it ran great when I test ran it.
I am a bit leery about the boat both because I didn't do the work, and how it was done. The selling price also concerns me, the boat had a $300 sign on it when I found it, when I offered $150, he jumped on it. He also had all the paperwork for the boat and it was currently registered in his name, or at least the name on the title and his driver's license.
I was thinking of hanging a 35hp motor and maybe making use of it?
It's got two new seats, new pedestals, a brand new fish finder, and the entire boat was repainted in automotive paint fairly recently. If I hang a motor on it and put it on a decent trailer, it's ready to go.
I had pushed the boat and trailer back into the woods and forgot about it till the weather warmed up. I got to talking to guy today at the lumber supply while getting some plywood for another boat who started talking about some guy he worked with that fixed up an old boat and how he rebuilt the transom with no wood at all using fiberglass panels. He described the boat I just bought. It seems that the guy that I couldn't understand was a fiberglass guy in a body shop and he used solid fiberglass panels to build a transom panel. Apparently the boat's transom had failed and partially torn the outer skin, he cut the back corners of the cap off, removed the top of the transom and lowed in this solid glass transom panel bedding it in fiberglass and resin.
He then reattached the top caps and glassed over the entire exterior of the transom with yet another layer of fiberglass in all one piece. It looks untouched other than the top cap is no longer aluminum and is all fiberglass, and the aluminum corner pieces don't fit quite right anymore. The transom splashwell holes were never redrilled, and I can see some sort of shiny fiberglass panel through the old hole. The drain hole is also reworked.
The deck is redone the same way, he used some sort of fiberglass panels and layered them with glass mat in between forming a glass deck. This boat also has no stringers, as the new deck doesn't extend past the forward point of the splashwell tray.
It all looks rock solid but I've never heard of doing this before. The boat don't feel overly heavy, but I'm sure it added some weight. He also added flotation foam to the gunwales and under the bow deck. The boat had a 40hp motor on it and it ran great when I test ran it.
I am a bit leery about the boat both because I didn't do the work, and how it was done. The selling price also concerns me, the boat had a $300 sign on it when I found it, when I offered $150, he jumped on it. He also had all the paperwork for the boat and it was currently registered in his name, or at least the name on the title and his driver's license.
I was thinking of hanging a 35hp motor and maybe making use of it?
It's got two new seats, new pedestals, a brand new fish finder, and the entire boat was repainted in automotive paint fairly recently. If I hang a motor on it and put it on a decent trailer, it's ready to go.