My future boat project. Opinions please

[Dieselboy73]

Hello to iboats. I'm a big fan. I read the forums just for general knowledge and fun but I am planning my own project soon. My goal is to have a decent, cheap, reliable, economical fishing boat. I have a 1985 celebrity Calais 180v I got for free. It has a 4.3 mercruiser on a ez loader trailer. It's rough lol. Now I also have a 1979 bayliner 18ft that my dad and I restored but it suffered an accident and destroyed the hull in the bow. Comparing the two boats they are extremely similar. Now the bayliner has a mercruiser 120 that ran great with a new poly fuel tank and lots of other new parts. My plan is take the two and make one good one adding a bow mount trolling motor and fishing deck as well as some rod and tackle storage. I'm sure there are way better boats for this but this is what I got and I think it will be fun. Any thoughts and opinions?

 

[ezmobee]

Free fiberglass boats are almost always rotted. Did your Bayliner restore involve redoing the deck, stringers, and transom? There's lots of similar projects going on here and it is certainly do able but it's a LOT of work and the fiberglassing materials are expensive. You will spend a ~$2k to do it properly and that's just to get it back to a solid structure and deck. For your use a nice aluminum hull seems more ideal. A Starcraft SS or similar would be perfect. They were available in I/O or outboard.

 

[GA_Boater]

Free and cheap almost never work out that way. "Rough" Celebrity doesn't sound like a good starting point. Some photos might help.

 

[Dieselboy73]

Oh I know nobody gives away good stuff!! I did replace the decking, stringers etc.. on the bayliner and had intended to do it on the celebrity as well. I was planning on using the fuel cell out of the bayliner and using that. I say it's ruff cuz it's dirty. Luckily neither boat has ever sat outside. There been in a dirty barn but covered. I'd much prefer a nice aluminum boat and if I find one I may go that route but for now I may go after these fiberglass rides. I'll post photos soon

 

[Dieselboy73]

Let me restate that. They haven't sat outside in the past 10years. I don't trust the celebrity at all. It feels solid but I would want to replace. No hurry on these things.

 

[ezmobee]

As long as you've got your eyes open going into it I say go for it. We've established you're not one of those guys who thinks he can slap some new plywood and carpet over a rotted deck and call it "restored". Good luck! The DIY fiberglassin' knowledge available on this site is second to none.

 

[Dieselboy73]

Yes I'm not an optimist by nature so I know the work I have in front of me. It's more for fun and being able to do a little customization while I'm at it. Honestly this project is to learn a little more about doing the finerglass and stringers and paint etc. I have a century Arabian in my shed that I want to do a real awesome Reston on in the future so I can learn more on this one now.