New to the forum

[Angus]

Hey guys I am new to the forum so I will tell you a little about myself. I am 17 years old and live in Lafayette,Indiana. I have been into boating for a long time now and have finally got some money to buy myself a boat of my own. I found a 1983 sidewinder 16ft with a 85hp mecury outboard on it with a 1998 trailer for $3,000 what do you guys think about this price? I also would like to update this boat a little. It is brown right now and is a little faded, the interior is ORANGE which I do not like. I would like to do some stuff to this boat to update it so if you guys have any information on where I can find stuff for cheap to do this I would greatly appriceate it. I would like to paint the boat white and also paint or re-do the interior white and yellow or something like that. I need help with what I can do with this boat. I would also like to change the seating and put in some back to back seats up front insted of the buckets it currently has but would like to keep the rear bench, do able or not? I would also like to install a CD player with 4 speakers on this boat and put some more storage in this boat. I really would like some info on what I could do to this boat to make it look newer and more up to date. I really like the style of the boat but would like to update the interior a little and also put some more up to date paint on it.
Thanks Jarrod

[Gilbert]

Hi Angus,
Welcome to the forum, I think you'll like it.
As to your prospective boat and your ideas about it I will be real general about commenting on it since I am not familiar with that particular model.
As to the price, it sounds reasonable enough if it is in good condition.
Now I will get to my real advice; if you do buy the boat, don't tamper with it except to make thngs work that don't work presently. At least not right away. Use it for a while and make up your mind if it is THE boat you want to keep for a while before you start any modifications. You can put a lot of money into a boat changing this and that and then if you decide to sell it and get a different boat you will most likely not be able to recover your investment in the changes.
Now for the other side of the coin. If you buy it it will be your boat and you should go ahead and do what you want with it.
But I would go slow on the changes myself.
Best Wishes,
Gilbert