rucaradio
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2008
- Messages
- 184
Hello iBoaters! Spring has sprung here in Ohio, and now I've got the chance to pick up where the weather stopped me last fall.
Last year I picked up an '89 Raven 195c (cuddy) from Craigslist. I paid about $2,000 for it, and when I got it home it didn't run.
Long story short - I adjusted the points, tuned her up, and got her to purr like a kitten. Compression is perfect and she runs like a dream. I changed the intermediate shaft bearing, the u-joints, and the bellows and actually got her out on the lake a few times before the season ended.
While on the lake I noticed your typical 20-year old boat soft-spots in the floor. Last fall I stripped her down to the stringers, picked up "Runabout Renovation" from Amazon, and got to work reading posts right here in the restore forum.
Today I got a chance to tear into her a bit more and found the lower half of the transom water logged and flaky like paper (right behind where the flotation foam was). According to the old drill core test most of the stringers are in amazingly great shape, obviously the transom is not.
Here's my dilemma - the boat is a bit big for myself and my family (19 foot). Plus it weighs a TON (tandem trailer weighs 1,000 lbs, add another 3,500 for the boat) so its not too convenient to haul her around to different lakes. I'd be satisfied with a nice lil 17 1/2 ft bowrider... On top of all that she needs a new transom which is going to require I remove the engine (i/o), leg, and cap... all three of which I am NOT looking forward to on a boat this size.
But I'm a die hard boater (born and raised on the water), so she will get plenty of years of use if I fix her right.. The powertrain is solid too. Plus I've already got about $2700 into her, with probably another $1000 to go. And any bowrider in my price range will probably need some sort of floor/transom/stringer repair.
There's pros and cons and I honestly don't know what to do in this situation. Do I suck it up and fix her? Do I try to sell a boat with no floor and a bad transom (for MUCH less than I've got in her)? Do I part out bits and pieces (like the powertrain) on eBay and try to recoup some of my loss?
Please help! Any suggestions would be much apprecieated!
-DeLuca
Last year I picked up an '89 Raven 195c (cuddy) from Craigslist. I paid about $2,000 for it, and when I got it home it didn't run.
Long story short - I adjusted the points, tuned her up, and got her to purr like a kitten. Compression is perfect and she runs like a dream. I changed the intermediate shaft bearing, the u-joints, and the bellows and actually got her out on the lake a few times before the season ended.
While on the lake I noticed your typical 20-year old boat soft-spots in the floor. Last fall I stripped her down to the stringers, picked up "Runabout Renovation" from Amazon, and got to work reading posts right here in the restore forum.
Today I got a chance to tear into her a bit more and found the lower half of the transom water logged and flaky like paper (right behind where the flotation foam was). According to the old drill core test most of the stringers are in amazingly great shape, obviously the transom is not.
Here's my dilemma - the boat is a bit big for myself and my family (19 foot). Plus it weighs a TON (tandem trailer weighs 1,000 lbs, add another 3,500 for the boat) so its not too convenient to haul her around to different lakes. I'd be satisfied with a nice lil 17 1/2 ft bowrider... On top of all that she needs a new transom which is going to require I remove the engine (i/o), leg, and cap... all three of which I am NOT looking forward to on a boat this size.
But I'm a die hard boater (born and raised on the water), so she will get plenty of years of use if I fix her right.. The powertrain is solid too. Plus I've already got about $2700 into her, with probably another $1000 to go. And any bowrider in my price range will probably need some sort of floor/transom/stringer repair.
There's pros and cons and I honestly don't know what to do in this situation. Do I suck it up and fix her? Do I try to sell a boat with no floor and a bad transom (for MUCH less than I've got in her)? Do I part out bits and pieces (like the powertrain) on eBay and try to recoup some of my loss?
Please help! Any suggestions would be much apprecieated!
-DeLuca
