The boat was handed to down to me from my grandfather. He bought it in '82 and spent a few years getting it in running order. He did some patch work on a "soft spot" he found shortly before it was handed down to me. I ran it the first year or two the way it was without any issues.
My wife and I had our first child a year ago so in that time the boat has seen no use. The other day I decided to take a look at the soft spot that was bandaided years before because I'd love to get my son out on the boat in the next couple years. Here are a few photos of what I found.
This is probably 3-4' in front of the transom.
Here's a close up of one of the ribs.
I plan on pulling the boat out of the garage tomorrow to run the motor for a pit. I think I'm going to pull more of the floor boards and the plywood "patches" to take a better look.
At this point I have a few options and maybe you guys can give me some input based on what you've done in the past? Do I try to fix this spot and get the boat in running order or do I take it to the next level and strip the boat down and give it a REAL good look over and fresh paint? It's last overhaul was 25+ years ago. The deck of the bow (sorry not great with technical terms) has some cracks and has had things put over them to hide them. I'd love to fix that with a solid seemless piece of wood.
Here are a couple photos from the last time I took the boat out last year. I'm not sure what all was factory or factory options but I'm not a big fan of the rail on the bow either. I'd really like to look into getting it back to factory condition.
I took my father in law out for a cruise.
These are from the first time I took it out after my grandfather gave it to me. I of course, asked that he come along.
