Think I may have found my boat but have questions

[bldgengineer]

I'm trying but he won't budge off the $2K Still trying to figure out if the price is justifiable. I'm too into the boat to justify it myself lol
BTW MJ, I've been staring at your gallery for the longest time

[THEFERMANATOR]

$2k with a locked up engine sounds quite a bit to high to me. He's probably been sitting on it for 2 yeras BECAUSE he won't budge off his $2K.

[tartuffe]

Take a better look at those stringers. Try finding a gap to see if you can stick a screw driver in there. I thought there was one in the 9th pic.

Also, what money to you plan to spend on doing this upgrade to an outboard? My guess would be a minimum of eight grand after purchase by the time you find a good deal on a used engine, controls, steering system, and bracket.

If the hull and stringers/transom are solid (and you are absolutely certain as the transom can be deceiving until you gain access to it/drill it) along with a road-worthy trailer its not a bad deal. I would try the old (15) hundred dollar bills with one extra in my pocket before walking away for another week.

[bldgengineer]

I pounded on it with my fist for a good amount of time. Ive got a bruise on my hand from it now. Everything felt/sounded solid. Nothing sounded hollow. The guy selling it is a pretty well know dealer where i'm at. The PO emailed me telling me where to find it. He let it sit for a year before selling it to the dealer. The dealer has had it since about last fall from what he tells me.

[macojoe]

yea, he has to come down if he wants to move it!! thats a bit high for locked motor and also needing other stuff, i say $1000 at most.

thanks, i have a ton more pics in a gallery you can't see

[bldgengineer]

ouch lol! you guys are hard on sellers! or maybe i'm being soft...

I do know that the trailer alone would go for 800-1000 around here. even though its single axle its more desirable due to the tolls everywhere around here at 5 dollars an axle...

MJ, I'd love to see what else you have!

[willy]

If you were to fill in that hole for the outdrive and put a single engine
Armstrong bracket on it and install a 115 Johnson you would have
Old School.
That was my first V20, a 1986. Great boat. Do a search for Willy's Old School and you will see it.
Check the transom better than with your fist there Rocky! LOL
Pull a screw or two from the transom and check what comes out with it. Try to pull the screw from around the outdrive hole area if you can, do it on a hot day and leave it out for a few minutes while you inspect the rest of the boat. I walked away from three different V20's after I did this and walked back after fifteen minutes or so and saw
French Onion Soup seeping out.
Check the stringers real good in the last two to three feet from the transom.
Use a flashlight and find the drain holes in the stringers that Wellcraft used to let water drain through the stringers to get to the bildge pump.
Stick you finger in the holes and use your finger nail and see if it is hard inside there. Use a awl or skinny head screw driver and press hard on those stringers.
Check inside and out as best you can for rot on the bulk head that is the rear wall of the cuddy, where it meets the cockpit. Look for cracking and settling along the floor and at the bottom of the corners of the cuddy door.
Check the area around the helm seat floor for flex.
Stand on the cuddy roof and see how much flex you have in that and then go inside the cuddy with a flashlight and look for staining from water on the headliner and material in there.
Stick your nose deep inside the inspection ports and pull all covers around the cockpit floor and if you smell the slightest hint of gas count on a replacement before you can even use the boat.
Accidentally lean on an open cuddy door and see if the screws holding it in are snug and solid.
Bounce up and down on the gas tank cover, cockpit floor area and see how much flex is there.
Eyeball as much of the fuel tank as you can with a good light, look for whitish pitting or dark moldy looking spots. Scrape them with your screw driver and see if you get a lot of stuff scraping off. If you do the tank will need replacing once that boat gets loaded with fuel and bounced around in the ocean and starts seeping through tiny pin holes into the surrounding foam.
I forgot to ask you if there was fuel in the tank to begin with. If there is none there may be a reason for that.
Get inside the inspection ports and open and close the through hull valves a few times and check the bedding for those through hulls.
Thats all I got right now, it is cocktail time.

[willy]

Oh yea, I looked at the transom pic you have here and there does not appear to be any screws into the transom that I can see, which actually is good. So if you want to pull a screw do it from the inside.

[Destroyer]

2 grand is too much...keep looking. Find a working boat w/trailer for around $3400-$3500. Spend you time fishing and boating, not restoring.

[reelapeelin]

I like that boat because it's in good shape, all the hatch-lids are there, the doors, etc...it's complete and would be an excellent starting point for a restoration..but the guys are right 2Gs is just too high...and honestly that trailer doesn't look that great...is it galvanized?...or is that a paint job?...

Unless yer just FLUSH w/money, I'd walk...he musta paid too much for it when he bought it...