Re: Can anyone identify my new project?
The most promissing I seen was a guy restoring a cheetah.
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...210es-restore-not-looking-forward-510438.html
beautiful boat but in the end (after more than 1 year of work) the owner decided to chop it up, scrap it and purchase a new boat.
Looks like someone had this boat previously and parting it out to nearly nothing that is salvageable. Unfortunately seems like you committed to taking it. A lot of people do this because getting rid of a junk fiberglass boat is nearly impossible and reubuilding it is an incredible undertaking.
Here on these forums I have read through countless threads. They'll part it out to junk then list it on craigslist for free knowing that someone will think they should not pass up a free boat.
For 5-10k you can get a pretty nice sea worthy boat (in fact I think it is pretty common that you can pick one up for about $2500) You just have to be willing to be patient and relentless on your search for a good deal. Most take on rebuilders because they dont have the immediate cash and figure it would be a worth while task to rebuild. Your first boat should never be a major rebuild because after your done you may find that your desire for boating may not be as great as it once was.
Also when you consider the total cost of the project it is not just the supplies (wood, screws, fiberglass fabric and resin). If you don't have the appropriate tools (saws, clamps, drills, etc..) then you can plan to drop another $1000 for those. Remember breathing fiberglass dust (from cutting) and fumes (from laying new resin) is a terrible thing and you may as well bust out a carton of smokes if you don't have a respirator and protective suit.
Trips to hardware store (commonly overlooked) gas is not cheap and convenient hardware stores aren't either. You don't want to order everything on line especially when you find your self at a milestone in your project and you don't want to wait out a week to get more materials you did not plan for.
This is what I would do, ditch the boat there are tons of these on craigslist. Save up the 5-10k it will take to fix it up. Once your got your cash in hand for supplies and all. Search for boats knowing you have the funds. While searching if you stumble across something you suspect as a sea worthy boat, bring it to a marine surveyor have it checked over real well. It may cost to have it checked but you will get a good idea of what you got. If you still feel like rebuilding a junker, go get that free junker and rebuild it.
Oh yeah, if you don't have a trailer for that free boat, don't expect to find a free trailer. Most dump the boats to sell the trailers. A used boat-less trailer will go for about $300+ (more once you replace the tires and fix hubs). A trailer with a junk boat is just as worthless as the boat it self, since off loading the boat is a pain staking process.
So in a nut shell, my advice would be read the rebuild section, look for a completed rebuild thread (there aren't many) and look at the date on the first post. Go all the way to the last post (when the project was finished, normally years later) and see if this is the project you want to commit to.
