General help/questions 1980 Fiberform 22

I'm all new to this whole thing (boats and forums), I picked up a 22' 1980 Fiberform (according to title, but cannot find anything helpful online) needs work and I have a few questions about boats and trailers. First off, does anyone recognize the boat? I ran the HIN on boatfax and got nothing of any use. I want to redo the flooring and I don't know if there are any things to avoid material wise/pros and cons of certain woods/plastic. Also general advice/opinion on interior materials such as vinyl or some other marine friendly upholstery. Thanks in advance.

 

What's it called, The Last Straw ?

 

Yes, also that raises another question. Can I change the name? Or how does that work? I don't know if that's a dumb question but like I said I'm 100% new to this.

 

No idea what rules apply there, but not a bad style of hull that.

 

Also the trailer seems a little small, or at least the tires do. Can't find even a single detail about the boat so I don't know the weight, trailer has no badge or stamp other than a date which looks like 1979 so I'm going in pretty blind as to weight limits and such.

 

Would come in under 2 tons, presumably, but putting it over a weighbridge doesn't hurt.

 

You can change the name to anything you want. No laws about that, just old superstitions. See more about Fiberform in this thread fiberform did they even exist? https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/fiberform-did-they-even-exist.21757/ The 1978 Mercruiser 165 I put in my 1972 Sea Ray came out of a 22 foot Fiberform.

 

Much appreciated. After some consideration I guess my questions boil down to this: is Fiberform kind of just a name? My ultimate goal was to find the same year/make/model and use it as a template for getting this boat back to operational. The wiring and the cuddy cabin being my two first big things. And a little out of left field maybe but do I need to consider painting the hull? Is that purely aesthetic?

 

It isn't easy for people to give sound advice without close inspection, but worry about structural, before cosmetic.

 

Fiberform is/was a brand name/company in Spokane, Washington. They sold the company to Bayliner in the 80's. If you read through the link I posted you will find out a lot of the history behind the company. They made a lot of boats, thousands. There are many for sale on various online sales sites, even craigslist and ebay. They were a rather heavy boat for their size but that was typical of the time, because even though fiberglass construction had been around since the 40's, people were still trying to figure out how to engineer it to be light and strong and durable.

Paint it if you want. But as Mr E said I would worry more about structural concerns than cosmetic. You need to have it surveyed. A marine surveyor can tell you a lot about what is sound and what is not. On boats that old, (I know, mine is a 1972) interior structure tends to go first. Things like stringers, framing, bulkheads, the sole (floor to you) and especially the transom. A lot of old boats had wood cored transoms and the wood rots out leaving nothing but two fiberglass skins and not much strength. Definitely have the engines and drives checked out. If they need to be replaced then you might as well take it to the dump unless you are willing to sink a lot of money into it.

 

some links that may help
1980 Fiberform Prices & Values https://www.nadaguides.com/Boats/1980/Fiberform
https://www.nautipedia.it/index.php/FIBERFORM_STORY
Pics of your Fiberform boat Page: 1 - iboats Boating Forums | 362810 https://forums.iboats.com/forum/owners-groups-by-manufacturer/d-l/fiberform-boats/362810-pics-of-your-fiberform-boat (an old thread on iboats)
Fiberform - Classic Boat Library http://www.fiberglassics.com/library/index.php?title=Fiberform
If you just google Fiberform you get literally thousands of hits. Those are some of the more useful ones. Plus there is some info about Fiberform on Fiberglassics.com

But if you want info on renovating or restoring a bout like this, there are lots of boating forums with threads on doing that. This is one of those forums. I have seen them on Fiberglassics, iboats, even The Hull Truth The Hull Truth - Boating and Fishing Forum https://www.thehulltruth.com/ (not normally a boat design/building/restoring forum.)

Here's mine. Boat Building Projects | 1972 Sea Ray 190 Rebuild https://newboatbuilders.com/pages/SeaRay190.html

 

Could she perhaps be a development of the 21' version that was produced in 1977, as per the catalogue for her copied below?

 

It has some similarities for sure and I thought the same thing. I appreciate you guys! Ike, you're the man

 

Wiring is generic for boats that old, it could be different any day of the week depending on the person doing it.

Plus on anything that old its at least been done once before, and if it was it most likely needs replacing again because it was cobbled together.


Under the deck, there's some stuff there. You typically set a circular saw blade for the just the depth of the plywood and start cutting.

You aren't going to destroy anything that doesn't need to be replaced anyhow.


Fixing old boats isn't cheap or quick. Plan to spend many thousands before its seaworthy