1972 Starcraft 16' open bow needs floors

[beerkeg]

I've been looking around for a project boat over the winter. My original sights were set on a 16' bench seat type boat which I could hang a 50hp motor I've got on.
I answered an ad on CL today for a 16' StarCraft but its a lot more boat than I was originally looking for. Its got full floors, two side consoles and an old not running 50hp Mercury 500 motor.
The hull looks great, the paint is good, the bottom still shiny but the floor is like stepping on a rotten tomato. The transom wood was replaced last year, the guy has receipts.
I wasn't looking to spend big bucks for a boat but the guy wants $400 for the boat the way it sits on an old rusty trailer.
The trailer isn't an issue as I'd likely just buy a new one rather than deal with rust here.

Does $400 sound reasonable for a semi clean looking 16' open bow aluminum StarCraft that needs a new floor?

I was looking at the boat pretty close, it don't look like that bad a job, just remove the consoles, remove the forward bench seats and pull up the rotten wood and replace. I'd likely just coat the new wood with resin or bed liner, not vinyl or carpet so the cost of repair would be basically just whatever the 1/2" plywood cost me and the bed liner. Probably under $300.

I offered him less but he said the price is firm. I like the style of boat and I haven't seen many like it for sale lately.
The biggest thing is that it won't need a repaint right away. I can do the deck and be out fishing in a few weeks.

 

[Woodonglass]

There will be/should be foam under the floor, and it's probably waterlogged and will need to be replaced. Probably looking at $500 minimum to effect repairs.

 

[beerkeg]

I'm not too worried about the foam, I can get used chunks of hard foam insulation at work for nothing.
I was more wondering if $400 for one of these needing a floor was a fair price or should I keep looking?
Most that I've seen have been around $1400, minus a motor or a bit more for one with some old two stroke motor. This one has an older Mercury but I have no clue on its condition but I really don't care about the motor since I'll be hanging a newer four stroke.
I had a buddy go by there and low ball the guy at $200, and he wouldn't budge on the price.
He's says he's trying to get the cost of the new transom job back out of it. He has a brand new supersize pontoon boat in the driveway so my guess is that's why he's giving up on the 16' boat.
Besides, I suppose he could get close to what he's asking in scrap weight alone. I junked an 18' Lonestar a few years ago that a tree flattened out and it brought just over $500 after I pulled out all the wood and foam. The trailer brought another $35 minus its tires and bunks.

The trailer under this boat is usable, I'm sure I can get $100 for it from someone who doesn't care about it being pretty, and the motor has to be worth a few hundred even if it won't start or run the way it is. (I just sold my last two stroke, a 1971 Johnson 50hp for $300, it hadn't run in 10 years, but ran fine prior to that. All it needed was controls.
It wasn't listed long when it sold.

I redid the floor in a 1965 StarCraft Stardust years ago, it only took me a day or two, most of the time was sealing the wood panels and regluing the vinyl to the new wood. I could probably recycle the vinyl flooring in this boat but I don't think I want to deal with trying to clean it all the time. Its not torn at all and really don't look faded.
The boat looks great, it just when you step in the middle of the floor its like standing on a trampoline, the wood is gone from below the Nautolex flooring down the middle.

If I buy it, I want to make it easy to clean, it'll be a fishing boat for the back bays so it'll get bait, blood, and fish slime all over it at times. Past experience taught me to avoid carpet and vinyl flooring. bed liner is the way to go, if not just epoxy paint and some sand for grip.

 

[Renderwurx]

You will want to check the transom as well. Depending on how it was stored/treated... it is likely bad after all that time. Water makes it's way in over the years and sits there. A sheet of 3/4 marine plywood may be in your future as well.

My 89 transom:

 

[beerkeg]

The transom was just done by a local boat shop, he has a receipt for $412 for the job.
The wood, where I can see it, looks brand new.
I think he thought he could just do the floor himself but when he couldn't get the bolts out that held the side console in place he bailed. I can stand on the leg of the motor and the transom is rock solid.
It probably wasn't done the way I'd do it but its fine for right now. If it don't last its only a few screws and bolts to change it again. My neighbor did his 15' Starcraft transom by just removing the motor, removing all the through bolts and lifting the transom wood straight out the top. It didn't take him but a weekend.
If I were doing it, I think I'd be coating the wood with something to make it last but if the original lasted 40+ years, the plain wood in there now will likely outlast me.

 

[Renderwurx]

Good deal on the already replaced transom... that makes the boat even a sweeter deal!

 

[beerkeg]

Does $400 sound reasonable for one of these boats needing a new floor then?

Its been listed for months on CL here with no takers, yet the guy won't budge on the price.

 

[kcassells]

No brainer. Pics would really help. But for $400.00 potatoes, foam, floor...I'm not a tinny but most the problems seem to be the rivets and leaks. Again usually repairable.

 

[beerkeg]

The plan was to go grab it after work today or tomorrow but its gone, I called this morning and he sold the motor off it, and told me he'd let it got for $300, when I got done work and called, it was gone, he sold it before noon.
There's another one for sale in the area without a motor for $600, it just popped up tonight. It supposedly needs floors and seats. Its a year newer too.

 

[82rude]

Maybe its the same one being flipped,lol.

 

[beerkeg]

The pictures are very different, the first one was a 1972, this one is a 1973, the one I found this time has an antenna and radio mount under the dash, and the transom isn't new.
He's asking $600, but maybe I can get a few bucks off that but I kind of doubt it, most like it are listed over $2500 in all sorts of shape. I started looking for a complete boat but soon realized that wasn't going to happen on my budget. It has to be a little at a time.
One thing I did realize today after taking a ride, (in the rain), in a buddies 16" SS, is that I'd want to close off the front somehow, either a center panel or some sort of wind break in the center. On his, he has a middle windshield panel that folds closed, none of the one's I've looked at have this. But its open below the windshield. It was 50° on the Delaware river this afternoon with fog and rain the whole way home, there was no way to escape the mist or cold air while at speed.
He's got a bimini top that attaches to the top of the windshield frame, and two side curtains but it needed something to block of the area between the consoles. And a windshield wiper.
All of the 16ft Super Sports I've looked at have had only two separate plexiglass windshields, with no center section.
Were there standard and deluxe models? His is a 1973, and its got padding all around, the front bow area has three lift up seat cushions with storage below, all the one's I'm finding have vinyl covered wood with no padding at all except for the two seats. His has back to back seats, these all appear to have had single seats. (Haven't found one with seats in it yet).
My plans were to build two seat boxes, with seats that swivel and a top panel that lifts up for storage, or possible a place for the battery and fuel tank.

 

[reelfishin]

When it comes to those hulls, if you want one, sometimes you just have to jump on one when it comes available. They don't make them like those older boats anymore and those with them don't like to part with them.

You can't buy an empty row 14' or 16' row boat for $600 these days.
So long as its not smashed or dented up or got huge ripped open holes, its fixable.
That's the beauty about an aluminum boat.