I was offered a boat the other day that for some reason caught my attention.
It's a '66 AeroCraft Maverick, 16 1/2' long. It currently has a running 50 hp Chrysler outboard on it, it's on an aluminum roller trailer and seems all in all pretty sound. The boat needs seats installed, and probably some basic maintenance to start with. The transom seems surprisingly solid.
Has anyone had any experience with an older AeroCraft glass boat?
The floor is the odd set up, there's a drain on both sides, at the bottom, there appears to be no floor at all, just one layer of glass with a few supports. The current owner said he layed plywood inside to prevent dropping the anchor or anything else through the hull. (He carpet covered two pieces of PT plywood which are cut to fit like a glove and are easily removed). I removed the two floor panels and the bottom of the boat appears to be original in that there are no signs of any stringers or other structure being removed. The fact that it's got no stringers is what has me concerned but the hull seems amazingly solid with no flex. It weighs in at about 800 or so lbs.
I see no floatation other than the fact that both gunwales are sealed with lables warning not to drill or compromise either side. They apparently are sealed air chambers for floatation?
I can find very little on this boat online, the only thing I can find is a brochure for one year newer at fiberglassics.
(http://i38.tinypic.com/196pna.jpg)
Under the wood floor, I do see the outline of where there was two back to back seats glassed right to the hull, they have been removed and area is ground nearly smooth.
Could they have build a glass boat with no stringers? No floor? How well would a single layer hull like that survive? The bottom of the hull is thick, but still only one layer of glass. At over 300lbs, I was afraid to walk on the inner hull. The boat is currently in use but will be coming out the water soon. (The owner is moving and won't have a place to keep the boat in his new location).
The boat is rated at 100hp, but it seems to move pretty decent with the 50hp on it, being only about 6' wide, I don't see it being able to handle the 100hp Evinrude I've been trying to match to a boat?
Any AeroCraft info out there?
It's a '66 AeroCraft Maverick, 16 1/2' long. It currently has a running 50 hp Chrysler outboard on it, it's on an aluminum roller trailer and seems all in all pretty sound. The boat needs seats installed, and probably some basic maintenance to start with. The transom seems surprisingly solid.
Has anyone had any experience with an older AeroCraft glass boat?
The floor is the odd set up, there's a drain on both sides, at the bottom, there appears to be no floor at all, just one layer of glass with a few supports. The current owner said he layed plywood inside to prevent dropping the anchor or anything else through the hull. (He carpet covered two pieces of PT plywood which are cut to fit like a glove and are easily removed). I removed the two floor panels and the bottom of the boat appears to be original in that there are no signs of any stringers or other structure being removed. The fact that it's got no stringers is what has me concerned but the hull seems amazingly solid with no flex. It weighs in at about 800 or so lbs.
I see no floatation other than the fact that both gunwales are sealed with lables warning not to drill or compromise either side. They apparently are sealed air chambers for floatation?
I can find very little on this boat online, the only thing I can find is a brochure for one year newer at fiberglassics.
(http://i38.tinypic.com/196pna.jpg)
Under the wood floor, I do see the outline of where there was two back to back seats glassed right to the hull, they have been removed and area is ground nearly smooth.
Could they have build a glass boat with no stringers? No floor? How well would a single layer hull like that survive? The bottom of the hull is thick, but still only one layer of glass. At over 300lbs, I was afraid to walk on the inner hull. The boat is currently in use but will be coming out the water soon. (The owner is moving and won't have a place to keep the boat in his new location).
The boat is rated at 100hp, but it seems to move pretty decent with the 50hp on it, being only about 6' wide, I don't see it being able to handle the 100hp Evinrude I've been trying to match to a boat?
Any AeroCraft info out there?