ank you, for pointing that out. I’ll dig into that as well. Just trying to figure out as much as I can to make a decision on whether or not to move forward. We go for a test ride this week so I will know more when I see her up close and in person. It’s an hour drive from where I live so I’m trying to learn as much and be as informed as I can at the same time knowing I’m a bit naive when it comes to
This is from having zero knowledge of that boat in particular.
Fiberglass can be repairable to indistinguishable from new in some cases where aluminum is less so, but can also be susceptible to types of damage that aluminum is more robust against (e.g. abrasion). I come from the land of rocky lakes and traditionally heavily aluminum biased.
Also, historically glass boats still rely on wood for their structural integrity, often encapsulated to various degrees of success in the fiberglass. Wood rots - especially wood in compromised encapsulation that holds in moisture (while perfect encapsulation...makes wood last "forever"). And the formability of fiberglass as well as where and how it is strong means different techniques are used to mate the wood structure to the glass hull.
In short, with aluminum, if there's rotten wood, you pull it out, clean stuff up, and replace it with familiar mechanical fastening. With glass, you might need to cut stuff out, encapsulate the new stuff, and glass it back in.
Also because stuff may be enclosed, it can be easier for rot to "hide" without being visible.
Pay extra close attention to the soundness of structural elements and absence of rot, especially in the transom but really anywhere. And actually evaluating the transom condition is difficult without drilling to extract a core.
Looks like a previous thread here:
Hello everyone, Here is my 1968 Starcraft arrow that I got from my father as a trade with another boat that I had. I have ripped out the original back to back seats that I will be redoing and re-upholstering this winter. Then the fiberglass floor got removed with the old wood that was a...
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