Jase

Hi, I bought a 1988 wellcraft Nova 23XL last spring With the 454 330hp and bravo 1. The boat was to be a usable project boat that I would have improvements and upgrades done each winter during storage. This boat gave our family a fantastic summer and we truly love the style and character of this old boat. Thing is...we now have had it checked over by a fiberglass guy for some repairs his opinions were shocking. According to his survey and humidity tests. The bottom hull is ok internally however the gelcoat is full of hair line cracks and has some edges chipped away. This needs to be grinded down to the fiberglass and redone completely all which is at/below the waterline $5000 .
Next , the top fiberglass over the cabin is very badly cracked and has absorbed some water. He said it is the worst part of the boat and needs to be cut out and rebuilt. $8000. After all that work is done the paint job will be totally wrecked so a wrap will run $5000.
The boat cost and is also evaluated at $13 000.
to bring up the hull to good but probably not even excellent condition it will cost us $18 000 more. The mechanics are ok but in the next few years will obviously need attention aside from the regular maintenance

So, if the options are basically accept the financial burden and start rebuilding this boat
OR
sell it at a slight loss and hopefully find a similar boat with less repairs ( or perhaps get stuck in a equally difficult situation with different old boat)
OR
Do only essential bodywork such as redo below the waterline and drive it as-is until it dies...
What would you do?

phragle

iTrader: (3)

Its an 88 welcraft...the stress cracks on the bottom are more than likely from the stringers being toast and the transom may not be far behind.... They are all over for under 10 grand.

Jase

Thanks for the response,In fact I'm in Canada. There are no Nova's around my area except mine and another guy has a spyder. So it's not a question of replacing parts with parts from scrap yards or other boat hulls hidden away in a garage or even switching up for a better Nova. It's really boat building guys doing their best to repair the hull. According to two hull survey guys with their meters ( no idea how accurate that can be, and tapping the hull all over). Aside from the surface the inside of the hull /stringers are dry. The assumption for the cracks is the last owner trailering the boat constantly and cranking the heck out of it. But all this is talk, no idea on what is 100% going on. There are 2 huge stringers supporting the engine. They tested dry with the meter.
Our dilemma is pouring money into this hull (boat) and crossing fingers to get a quality 8 years from it. If we do the work and the thing falls apart in 3 years I will probably literally cry...

phragle

iTrader: (3)

If you have the work done by a GOOD glass guy, it should be good for another 30 years, have it done by a bad glass guy and you will get 3 weekends out of it. Some piks would go a long way to seeing whats really up.. small spider web stress cracks are common and usually cosmetic... ...

I have seen a boat with the ENTIRE bottom cut off just above the chine, and a whole new bottom put on it... anything is possible, fiberglass is just paper mache' for big kids....

Baja Rooster

iTrader: (1)

rak rua

All good advice above.
Unless you want a DIY project or the boat is a classic with a history, it's not really worth pouring money into. If your fiberglass guy is confident the boat is structurally sound (I.e. safe and seaworthy) and you're having fun running it, keep going another season or two while keeping your eyes on the market.

Two thing's are for certain, if you do a resto job, it will cost you more than you would anticipate and no matter how good of a job you do, you won't get your money back.

RR

Griff

I would definitely not spend the money to fix it. I would just use it and keep an eye on the issues to make sure they do not develop into safety issues.

Excess

I would not spend a penny. Buddy similar situation once, some spider cracks n chips, called in a pro, quoted 3500 to grind down and redo gelcoat, would have required stripping all from transom including swim platform drives, gimbal, tabs, exhaust you get the picture,. He decided to take his chances, purchased some chip repair epoxy and liquid spider crack filler from local chandlery and spent a couple hours doing his own repair / patches. came out acceptable, minor touch ups every winter, 7 years and still going strong, I know because it's stored in my warehouse every winter. Save your money, have fun boating !!

liquidlounge

iTrader: (1)

TexomaPowerboater

Don't do anything to it. Enjoy as is. If you want out of it or if you want it to be perfect then sell it and start over. Not worth throwing money at IMO.