Newbie here! hello to everyone. I am looking at buying an older houseboat. It has a steel hull that I was told by a non-interested party that the hull was solid and repainted a couple years ago. The engine needs work but that's a project for later. My biggest concern is that the roof is in bad shape. I am not familiar with the way a houseboat roof is supposed to look, but this one is obviously not right. It looks like someone has laid a 3/8 sheet of plywood over all the roof (both levels) and started to lay fiberglass over it. It's not very thick and they didn't do the edges so they are starting to rot. I only know of one leak inside but it doesn't look like anything near it would be leaking from the roof. So my thought is, because it is an older boat, and the previous repair was obviously not done right, then I need to rip everytning out and start over with a new roof. I believe the overall length of the boat is 36 feet. Does anyone have an idea what I should budget to pay someone to do this job? Is it as big of a job as I think it is? I'm pretty handy, I've built a few houses myself, but I have never done any fiberglass work. I don't really understand the process of how to apply it and get a proper finish. I have also heard of people using a rubber roofing system on their houseboat too. Does anyone have any opinions on this? The boat is being offered at an incredible deal, but if the roof is going to be outrageous to fix then I may pass on it. Sorry for such a long post. Your opinions are greatly appreciated!
