Welcome to the site. Good that the transom is solid. That's one of the weaker spots on the V's due to dry rot of the wooden interior. I went to school in Wi, so know about the weather up there. You're right on the money that it's not boat fixer up time. Put a cover over her and wait till the sun makes things warm again. Last thing you want is something snapping due to being brittle from the cold. Soft spots under the floor are an indication of rotted stingers. There's lots of discussions and threads here about how to go about fixing them. Just do a search. In all cases, once again, welcome aboard. Don't hesitate to ask questions, there's lots of guys here with decades of experience on these boats that love to share their knowledge.

looking at your pics, if the soft spot/rot is just under the seat post, might can get by with re-coring the fuel tank cover. never worked on a wellcraft center console, but it looks similar to a mako i had. you have to unscrew all of the base screws holding the console down. you should have enough slack in the steering, cables, wiring, ect. to raise the console 3 or 4 inches. then unscrew the fuel tank cover and slide to the stern to get it out to work on it.

Yea that's what I'm hoping. All those beers bouncing over the years on those seats took it's toll on the floor right there. ha The way the rest of the boat and floor is so solid I don't think it's anything major. I was very happy to see that center floor section was removable! I can't wait to see what it needs but not gonna happen until probably March. I also need to sand off the anti fouling paint on the bottom and paint it with this http://www.bottompaintstore.com/revo...t-p-12347.html

Might do the whole thing if I like how it turns out.

thanks guys for the kind welcome to the forum.

Given the age of this boat it all looks amazingly clean. Gotta love how Wellcraft has the hand laid fiberglass covering the stringers. No wonder the boats last so long!

are you planing on keeping it in the water? just wondering why the bottom paint.

No it will be a trailered boat. I'd like to get it back to 'OEM' so to speak. Better fuel economy too I think.. and I put a LOT of miles on mine :]

OEM is unpainted. Paint on the bottom of the hull will actually slow down your boat. The smoother the hull, the faster the boat. Painted bottoms are just to retard marine growth. But if she's going to be a trailer queen than it's unnecessary.

As to the topside deck, if you are going to paint it then I'd highly recommend something like U-pol truck bed liner. (It's like Rhino-liner). Soft on the feet, great anti-slip properties and it looks like a million bucks. You can find it on eBay.

B-reak
O-ut
A-nother
T-housand!!

I taught my wife to hate the boat early on, only took her out on crapy days, I have enough of her when I am hone never mind on the water!!

I guess I didn't really tell the whole story. It has had anti fouling paint on it. The guy I bought it from spent a lot of time trying to sand it off. The bottom gel coat is now somewhat rough from sanding. I have heard that at this point if I don't put a coat of paint on it the gel coat can blister. so... I'm gonna finish sanding all the antifouling paint off then put a coat of clear or white.

Never heard of using U-poly... worth looking into thanks!

LOL yes perhaps my wife not liking boats is a blessing in disguise!