Can't wait to see the boat out on the water. Give it a few years to forget about the time and money as the boat will be as solid as the day you did it. This year is going to be the year of boating and maybe a little less working
I can't wait to get it out on the water. I've got a date. April 26th I'm headed to Wisconsin to pick it up. They want to do a test drive, so I guess we're going t cruise around Lake Winnebago a little bit. It'll be half built, just a quick test drive to make sure it floats and everything is working. I should be getting the trailer for it back from the painter within the next couple weeks
I knew that I was going to take on this project when I bought the boat. I looked into the possibility of upgrading the drive train before I bought it. I was hoping to get a few years on the old set-up first, but somebody failed to tell me the outdrive had cracks in it when I bought it, and you can only look at a boat so hard in a half hour when you're shopping... So the project came early for me :noidea: . I had fun working on it, I wish I could have planned it a little better on the financial side of it, but no regrets and I didn't cut any corners.
There's really three choices for this: Buy a brand new boat, buy used boats and replace them with other used boats as needed or buy a used boat, keep it and fix it as you go until you're done with it. IMHO, unless you live on a lake, buying a brand new boat doesn't make financial sense, at all, not for the way boats get used here in the Midwest. You can pay serious money 50k-100k+, you'll still have to buy canvas, and neither the boat or trailer will be set-up the way you want it. My dad always bought used boats, and replaced them with other used boats as needed. On top of the purchase, he still had to put some pretty serious money into some of those boats. One was a lemon and a total waste of about 4k, not counting work that was done to it. He had a 16' Starcraft that ran like a top. I learned how to ski behind that one, and he had a really nice 19' Rinker. The Rinker was pretty solid. He took us tubing and skiing with it, Walleye fishing on Erie, and Salmon fishing on Lake Ontario. I remember being on Ontario in some pretty serious waves on that boat. He had a Ski-Nautique that was a beautiful ski boat, pulled me and my brothers all at once, but could not putter around and fish very good at all. So when I bought this boat, my first boat, I thought a little bit about his boats and how I wanted to use my boat, and I decided I was buying one and keeping it. Otherwise you lose all that money you invest in canvas, upholstery, the mechanics, etc. I maintain that in the long run it really ends up being cheaper to buy used (make sure it is a sound hull) and repair it as you go. I'm hoping to get 25 years or so out of this Starcraft and I fully expect to replace the engine again at some point. Hopefully my transom holds up and next time it will be a simple drop in.:encouragement:
