Re: Damaged aluminum boat- worth it?
Walk away from that thing, it's not worth the headache to fix a low end boat like that.
Your money would be far better spent even if you bought and restored an older boat.
I had a 2003 Starcraft last year which I bought for it's motor and trailer, the last owner had re-powered it and put it on a 2008 roller trailer, then dumped it on the ramp. The motor was up but the hull took a hard hit. The damage was at the stern on the starboard side, no where's near as bad as the damage on that boat. I stripped it of it's motor, controls, dash electronics, trailer, steering, windshield, and seats. I put it on an old painted bunk trailer that still rolled and listed it on CL as a "Wrecked Starcraft hull" for $1850 OBO. The second guy to look at it bought it for $1500 cash, dent and all. That was when aluminum was still sky high at the scrap yard. I figured he was just looking to scrap it, but later found out he completely put the boat back together, including re-decking it, a new 4 Stroke motor, all new dash, new paint, and what appeared to be about 25 lbs of JB weld or Bondo to fill in the dent. I sold the trailer for $850, kept the motor, sold the seats for $450, and sold the windshield for $175, and sold the flush mount controls it had for $75. I took the money and bought a new set of surface mount controls, and plan to hang that motor on another boat soon.
The boat your looking at has none of those goodies, it's just a hull with some 9 year old interior pieces and a dash package still installed. Hammering out the dent will mean gutting the boat, chances are the ribs are bent too, so they will most likely need to be removed and replaced as they will most likely crack if reshaped again. If it were a belly type dent in flat aluminum, it might be different but that's a nasty spot to have damage like that. There's no money to be made, it's value in my eyes is scrap weight minus the interior disposal cost. You might be able to sell of the seats and pedestals and the gauges but that would never total $1000. I'm not sure it would be worth all the aggravation for even $100.
. Its just my opinion but that seems high for a damaged boat hull and that is a big dent.
