Possibly found a boat. Need opinions.

I found a 1648 on Craigslist for 300. The boat looks to be in a rougher condition even tho the owner said it didn't leak. My worries were that the benches have been taken out of the boat and it's open. Is there anything I need to be worried about? Also how hard would it be to make new branches for support. I dont have a welder so it would be done with wood and possibly fiberglass .

There's always rivets too.

You could buy a sheet of aluminum and take it somewhere to get it cut and bent into shape, then go back and rivet the bench back in - no welding required. Don't forget the foam.

Better to look at it this way: Someone already went to the trouble of taking the benches out for you...now all you have to do is mount some diamond-plate across the ribs, and put in a couple pedestal seats!

if someone listed a 1648 for $300 up here i would be on that like white on rice

jeko1958 said:

Better to look at it this way: Someone already went to the trouble of taking the benches out for you...now all you have to do is mount some diamond-plate across the ribs, and put in a couple pedestal seats!

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Yeah that is what I was thinking as well but from what I've read on here this could cause extra stress to the boat. I really like the idea of it being so open. Is there certain areas I should look at in the boat for stress cracks ( not sure if that's the correct term, that's just the term we use down here for the fiberglass boats

You haven't bought it yet?....everything can be fixed.well almost..look it over well and look for cracks etc...seems like he was deciding to deck it soon... Check out the rebuilds on here you'll get plenty of ideas.

Any corners and where the ribs bend is where I would look... I'd jump on one around here for that money and I already have a boat. You may be able to get it for a little less if you talk him down...

Post pics if you get it.

So I ended up getting the boat last night. It seems to be in decent shape. Now the question I have is, the guy I purchased it from never transferred the title into his name. The title is filled out and he has signed it as the purchaser. In fl does anyone know what what I'm going to have to do to get the title into my name now. And when I get off work I will be posting photos.

I would say your options now are only to pretend you don't know he did that....

In Ohio it has to be notorized and then you sign it. If its got all that just go have a title made...if not ...I'm not sure what problems could happen....of course thats more with cars...it may be different with boats.

Looking forward to the pics.

Sorry it took so long to get the pics up I've been alittle busy. So I got the boat and trailer for 300. It ended up being 15' 6" unlike the 16' like the seller stated. The boat is/was filled with foam on the sides and floor as you can see in the pictures. Now that I've got the foam off the floor I'm starting to find corrosion all over the floor. I'm guessing from saltwater being trapped between the floor and the foam. Was thinking if worst comes to worst i could possibly kill the corrosion and "reskin" the bottom of the boat with a piece Of aluminum, 5200 and rivets.

slim1990 said:

It ended up being 15' 6" unlike the 16' like the seller stated.

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That's pretty common and the boat was likely sold as a "16" when it was new.
"twelve foot" boats are usually about 11' 6", "fourteen foot" boats are usually about 13' 6", etc. Has to do with registration/titling requirements, which are generally in whole foot increments.