Old I/Os = Money Pits?

[Scott Danforth]

What i was saying is that some production boats that were built with all glass stringers and non rotting transoms are around now relatively cheap, as neglect has taken them over just like the old ones that were tossed in the yard and uncovered or poorly covered. The damage to these is not structural, but cosmetic and/or mechanical.

Its alot less expensive and time consuming to restore a boat without having to remove and replace stringers, bulkheads, and transoms. Most times even the engine/drive assembly can remain in place

Foam still gets waterlogged.

Plexus joints fatigue and fail

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

No matter what old boat you are looking at having as much knowledge as you can before pulling the trigger is priceless.
Any older boat will require work being structural, mechanical or both but just having an idea what ONE might be up against is a real benefit.
Depending on a persons budget, time and capabilities it can be a rewarding experience to bring an old girl back.

 

[zool]

Foam still gets waterlogged.

Plexus joints fatigue and fail

Depends where they put the foam, but yeah lots of stuff gets past its useful life after 20 years, but not having to strip out stringers and a transom is a big leg up from a total 80's or 90's ant hill.

When Yamaha bought Century in the mid 90's, they went all composite below the deck and in the transom, at least on their CC's and they put no foam below the deck except under the casting platform on the bow. They are still 2 piece hull designs, so there is wood in the tub construction, but that can be fixed from above.

Id rather spend $3000 on a 2003 composite bowrider, then get a free 90's plywood or balsa cored bowrider.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

@zool awesome information!

 

[tpenfield]

Funny thing is that people don't seem to gripe about restoring old cars. You would think the same about restoring old boats.

I guess restoring old cars is more 'fun' . . .

 

[Scott Danforth]

Funny thing is that people don't seem to gripe about restoring old cars. You would think the same about restoring old boats.

I guess restoring old cars is more 'fun' . . .

truth is old cars get started by one person, sold as a project 4-5 times and then finally get finished by the 5th or 6th person.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

I would also think people have a better idea how a car is put together compared to a boat, hence not as many surprises. I can say it's a learning curve but a good one.

 

[stresspoint]

its the end of the project that i enjoy when it comes to doing a boat , i v restored a couple of old cars , a couple of motorcycles even an old 1985 truck.
nothing compares to the pleasure i get from my boats.

 

[tpenfield]

truth is old cars get started by one person, sold as a project 4-5 times and then finally get finished by the 5th or 6th person.

I want to be the '7th' person

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

I want to be the '7th' person

good one!

 

[zool]

Thats got me pondering, which is less enjoyable, tackling a rusted chassis or mushy stringers? To me both are considered frame off restos........I seem to favor the boat thing.

 

[Lou C]

I want to be the '7th' person

As long as you don’t have to redo what owners 1-6 did lol

 

[Scott Danforth]

Thats got me pondering, which is less enjoyable, tackling a rusted chassis or mushy stringers? To me both are considered frame off restos........I seem to favor the boat thing.

itching for 4 days or picking rust flakes out of your teeth for 4 days......

both cases of "did I get all the rot" nagging at you for weeks

I have done both, and will probably keep doing both.

 

[LaqueRatt]

You guys have addressed most of my concerns and I thank you all for that. I just knew something was fishy (pun intended!) seeing fairly decent looking boats for almost free. Most that supposedly still ran. I'm still not real clear on how to find the rare gem that I can just spiff up a bit and use, but I will proceed with caution if I find something I really like.

I've never restored a boat, but have fixed up and restored a few cars. Only one was a major project and as owner #3 I did all the dirty work and painted it, but ended up losing my storage/project garage which I shared with a friend. Which left me with no good place to work or keep the completed car, so dumped it onto owner #4 for a nice profit, but still quite cheap for a rare car.

Not ever tearing into a boat I'm only guessing what it would be like, but I'd think dusty and itchy for sure. Carpentry and glass work I'm well versed in, but never done glass on this kinda scale. I can't even imagine buying resin in 5 gal buckets. Heck a quart lasts me for years. Worst part of working on a rusty old car is the grinding. Cleaning up the old metal, cutting out what is wasted. When it comes to the bottom, you're doing it right over your head, so a boat would be better in that respect.

The fun part to me was the welding, the bodywork, painting, and then FINALLY putting all the pretty parts back on. IMO and just guessing again, I put enough time into my Camaro to re-do a half dozen boats. We're talking thousands of hours over several years. Sometimes it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Plus your work has to be nearly perfect as most of it can't be hidden. Like the wooden parts of a glass boat.

I'm curious about one thing though. For 88 Capri: Did you know what you were getting into or were you shocked to find all that bad wood? To me it's one thing knowing what you're facing, but finding it's way worse than you thought can be demoralizing. My Camaro was like that. The further I tore into it the more work I found. At times I thought I should just part it out, but it only had 50k miles on it and I love old Chevies.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I'm still not real clear on how to find the rare gem that I can just spiff up a bit and use,

it takes experience buying many that are trash to understand the one gem. and as I stated prior, that gem will have been wiped down with a diaper and the price will reflect it.

Not ever tearing into a boat I'm only guessing what it would be like, but I'd think dusty and itchy for sure. Carpentry and glass work I'm well versed in, but never done glass on this kinda scale. I can't even imagine buying resin in 5 gal buckets.

average boat restoration is 15-20 gallons of resin, about 4 sheets of plywood, about 30-50 yards of cloth

since fiberglass dust will try to kill you, you have to be in a tyvek suit with a respirator with the ends of the suit tapped up.

dusty and itchy while nearly sweating to death. plan on fiberglass work in the appropriate time of year based on your local. (I usually always end up grinding fiberglass in the middle of a 95 degree week)

remember, if you breath in rust dust, you will be coughing for a while and eventually your body will expel the dust in your sputum.

if you breath in fiberglass dust, the particles will simply embed themselves into your lungs. Hence the requirement for a tyvek suit and respirator

I put enough time into my Camaro to re-do a half dozen boats. We're talking thousands of hours over several years.

The boat in my signature has well over 5 years and about 4000 hours into it (primarily because I did a restomod. building production based hotrods/cars/trucks was much faster, especially if you have to swap sheet metal because the panel is made for you. in a boat, sometimes you start with nothing to build the fiberglass part. I could knock out a late 40's truck in about 6-8 months of weekends. or do an engine/trans swap in a weekend while fabing up headers, mounts, cross members, etc.

the amount of work and sweat will be comparable.

The further I tore into it the more work I found. At times I thought I should just part it out

This is typical with most projects.

 

[Lou C]

And that respirator should be a 3M full face shield with P-100 cartirdges. NOT a KN95 Covid mask, that ain't a respirator!

 

[Lou C]

This has the fume cartridges and N95 inserts but for grinding glass I'd use the big pink P-100 cartridges. I use it mostly when prepping the outdrive for anti fouling paint and painting it. I don't do the bottom, that's where I draw the line.

 

[zool]

I'm curious about one thing though. For 88 Capri: Did you know what you were getting into or were you shocked to find all that bad wood? To me it's one thing knowing what you're facing, but finding it's way worse than you thought can be demoralizing. My Camaro was like that. The further I tore into it the more work I found. At times I thought I should just part it out, but it only had 50k miles on it and I love old Chevies.

I good portion of posters here were caught by surprise that their floating, solid looking hull is trashed. Inexperienced small boat buyers look at a boat and think "its just fiberglass and it doesnt have any holes in it". Then they notice the deck is a little spongy by the seat, they usually come and ask the best way to lay a deck over the original, because it only needs to last a little while. Then someone here kicks them in the nuts with the underlying truth, some run away, and some become our next beautiful restore.

Most runabout buyers forgo a survey, which for around $800.00 or so, they would have saved 5 grand, not wanting a project boat. I suspect the recent covid boat rush had produced a bunch more of them, they just dont know it yet

 

[Scott Danforth]

Im a kicker and pull the bandaid off.......

 

[zool]

Im a kicker and pull the bandaid off.......

lol, they must hate you the most!