Hello, I plan on puchasing a 89 Carver Montego 2157 in the Spring off my brother in law, this will be my first boat, so I am a total newbie on alot of things, he's had this boat for a few years and has left it docked at the lake and only stored it in the winter time, this boat has been stored outside for the past year and a half, and has not been in the water since, due to his wifes illness and lack of time, so he is selling it to me, a couple of questions I have are, how long can a boat stay winterized without doing any damage, to anything, he keeps a tarp over it and thats it, he said he had the engine ( a mercrusier 4.3) worked on last time he had it out, new starter. alternator, bellows, bilge pumps, batteries, and a few other things done to it which I can't remember at the moment). I'm not to sure I will be taking it out next year as it needs alot of cleaning done to the outside and inside, and the trailer needs new brake lines, so there is a possibility that it won't be in the water next year either... what things should I look at doing before I put it in the water??.. also the outside hull is yellowed and it has a blue pinstripe that is faded that I want to restore the hull back to white and the pinstripe back to blue... what kind of cleaners will work to restore this, also I've read somewhere that you be careful about scraping the gelcoat on it, what is this? and should this be something that needs to be done? the boat is in real good shape and he said it is ready for the water... I just want to make sure everything is ready before I do any serious boating with it.. like I said this will be my first boat, so I will probably have a lot of questions.. Thanks for all the help... here is a couple of picture of it..
