New Guy here

[MAXXFJ]

Hey, New guy to this forum. I'm a member on other forums & know how they work,(use the search first). Forums for my Toyota FJ Cruiser have been very good for information & stuff, along with new friends. I have not yet looked around this forum so I'll ask this here, I'm looking at buying a 1986 Bayliner bowrider that's in a fixer-upper condition. Is this the type of forum that will be able to help me with the information I'll be looking for? Or is this forum not so much these types of boats? Let me know so I'm not wasting anyones time. Thanks, I'll check the site out now. MAXX

[Nauti Guard]

Hello Max...Unless you are getting the bayliner for free I would not mess with the project. There are plenty of other boats (fixer upers) out there that once your done you will have something nice/or that someone else may want when you go to sell it. Whats your price range? I amy be able to give you some ideas on boats you may search for. Tim

[MAXXFJ]

Well Tim, it's kind of like this, I don't have very much money to plunk down on a boat right now. That's why I was bidding on this Bayliner. It ended up selling for $255.00. There was no reserve on the auction. I do like the looks of the Bayliner bowrider, or any bowrider for that fact. That's what I'm intrested in getting, a bowrider. I really don't care what name is on the boat, but I just want it to look somewhat newer. The one I was bidding on was an '86 & I thought that looked ok to me. Any advice you have would be great. I just want something to have in the driveway I can start working on & $200 for a boat-working 70hp motor-& trailer was right up my alley. I want something I can fish with, pull my son on a tube, & have the wife,baby & son on to just cruize aroundon. Thanks, BTW: I lost that Bayliner in the last sec. by $5.00. I was a bit let down.

[Nauti Guard]

Hey Max, Totally understand where your coming from. Been there done that! My first boat was a 1978 Sea Ray.. re-built the motor and fixed her up in the drive way. Try searching these boat mfg’s on e-bay. Cobalt / SeaRay / Wellcraft / Four Winns/ Chris Craft. They all make open bow rider boats in the mid 80’s that you could find a deal on. Make sure that the out drive is Mercruiser or Volo. NOT!! OMC Parts are very hard to come by any more. These drives are usually white. For the most part you can get just about any parts you need from your local auto parts store. They should have a marine parts catalog there. I know for a fact that the O’Reilys here in the Midwest can order marine parts. I just wanted you to keep in mind that ya you enjoy working and fixing things up like me. But make sure that its something that will have some vaule when you’r done. Your time and talents are worth money.. so don’t throw them away. Some very good advice that I got from an old friend when I bought my first boat. Once you get boating in your blood its hard to get it out. Like Captain Jack Sparrow said.. boating is freedom! Its one of the best anti-stress things that I know of!! Good Luck.. keep in touch and let me know your progress or if you have any questions

[marshmat]

Hi MaxxFJ,
To summarize: Yes, you're in the right place. And no, I don't think the '86 Bayliner would have been a good deal.

A fibreglass hull, if well built, lasts pretty close to forever. Unfortunately, a great number of them aren't all that well built and, although looking cheap, are really more liability than asset. There are a lot of boats out there from the '70s, '80s and even into the '90s that look OK, but have major structural damage (rotted out wood in the stringers and transoms being the big ones). The materials and time to repair them are rarely worth it. Or, look at it this way: you can put $4000 in materials and 500 hours of your time into fixing up a $250 clunker, or you can spend $4250 on something that just needs a bit of cleaning up, and spend the 500 hours fishing and swimming.

If you ask me, MaxxFJ, you ought to start poking around in the back corners of boatyards and storage lots, looking for the abandoned boat with the faded "For Sale" sign. There might be some very good bargains out there, once you learn how to tell the difference between "needs a power washer" and "needs a complete structural rebuild".

[Obsession]

Agreed there. I know from first hand experience that it's all too easy to get excited and buy a boat on that impulse buy - the too good a deal to pass up or because you don't want to miss the deal.

Really try hard to spend as much time as possible looking around at as many boats as possible. Lots of opportunities right now.

Be very careful of the deals on ebay - the "almost free" or way below market value deals.

I like a project -- feels great to fix up a boat like new again (or better). Most fun I've had has been working on a boat. But once you commit to a project and get arm deep in dust and half way through fiberglassing and painting and discover that one-more-unexpected-thing, it's hard to stay on budget no matter how you try. Parts and materials for boats cost an arm and a leg. One major thing wrong, and you've shot your budget. And if you go with something very very common, the value won't increase as much as the materials you're putting in to improve it. So if you embark on a fixer-upper, either choose something that has a high value once restored or that you'll want to keep forever no matter what. If you go for something quite common, spend as much time as possible looking for one that is in great condition and enough time looking at them to know the defects before you buy.

[MAXXFJ]

Advice well taken all around. I'm traveling to a local lake this morning to just look for yard sitters for sale. One of my tech's that works in the area said that with this nice weather we've been having many people are pulling out the boats from the garage & dropping the For Sale sign's on them. I'm trying to get a jump on those & have the best selection of the local crop. Thanks again I'll let you all know how it works out.