Possible purchase of 73 Chrysler cadet

[smatteis]

Boat well maintained only 400 hours. He wants 6k includes trailer and covers.
Good Buy??

 

[Scott Danforth]

Welcome aboard.

$6k for a 51 year old boat that may need a hull restoration.... Not a good deal

For $6k, you can buy a boat that is 30 years younger

 

[flashback]

Yea, be very very careful!

 

[smatteis]

Welcome aboard.

$6k for a 51 year old boat that may need a hull restoration.... Not a good deal

For $6k, you can buy a boat that is 30 years younger

What would that cost? Thought about offering him 3k.

 

[matt167]

Even $3k is high for an old ‘glass 14’ boat, especially if it still has a Chrysler motor. Chrysler/ Force outboards aren’t too bad more or less but they tend to be worthless to most people

 

[airshot]

Parts are hard to impossible to find for Chrysler motors. Old glass boats have a wood skeleton that rots away after 15-20 years. Fiberglass is weak without the wood skeleton. Just a couple years back I bought a 16' aluminum Sylvan with a 40 to Need in life or new condition fully loaded with all the bells and whistles for 4500, it is a 1992 ! Even if the hull on your Chrysler has been redone and all was in excellent condition, you would be very hard pressed to get half that amount. If the hull needs reconstructed you can figure 2k in material and your own labor, 4K to have it done easy and then the boat would still be worth only a couple grand in mint condition ! Fiberglass hull reconstruction is hard, nasty smelly, itchy and requires safety equipment to work with it. The majority of folks that start , give up and throw it away by fore it is done.

 

[Texasmark]

Not familiar with a Cadet. In 1971 I bought a new 16' Chrysler Sports Fury tri-hull with an 85 hp Chrysler engine. My overall assessment of the boat is that it was made from minimum materials and used a lot of "Chopper Gun" glass rather than adequate "Woven Roving Glass Matt. Also, being light, it pounded you to death in a chop. If I were to come across one of these I would move on to the next potential purchase.

For the rest of the story, in 1972 I traded it in on a new 18' Caravelle tri-hull with a 125 HP Johnson. The difference in the boats and engines was night and day. Besides being well made using lots of Glass Matt, it has a fairly deep V which, when coupled with the extra weight rode very well in rough water. I kept the Caravelle many years.

 

[jimmbo]

View attachment 401432

 

[jimmbo]

From the 73 Brochure

 

[Scott Danforth]

if the boat was in near perfect shape, all original, and rot free, at most $1500.

however because the motor has no parts support, and the probability of the transom, stringers and deck to be in need of replacement is well over the 95% mark, it has zero value.

if it was a long-lost family boat that has significant emotional ties, It may be worth $2k to buy to restore, knowing that a good $2-3k are going to be dumped into the hull alone, and the motor will be replaced for an additional pile of cash.

so do answer your original question. no, its not worth $6k, or even your $3k

 

[Texasmark]

Check out the weight in Jimmbo's post......225#. On windless days great, but here in N. Tx. the wind blows pretty much constantly. And what happens when you cross a boat wake, especially the ones that create the wakes for surfboarding????????

 

[jimmbo]

Perhaps the Decimal Point is in the wrong place....

 

[Scott Danforth]

sub 300# for a balsa cored hull was common.

 

[jimmbo]

Our 14 foot Skagit was supposedly only 325lbs for the Boat.

 

[southkogs]

Welcome aboard.

The old Chryslers were cool; kind of an odd-ball boat move for Chrysler during the "me-too" era of trailer boats. And it is fun to play with vintage glass. But, i agree the $1,500 number is more in line.

Is there a link to an ad?