Florida newb here. I've grown up with boats in my family but I've never owned one myself. I'm mechanically inclined and have a lot of experience in the drag/street racing and mud racing scene. I'm currently considering the purchase of a '76 25' Nova as my first boat. It has twin 350's w/ alpha drives. The motors supposedly have about 50 hours on them and the outdrives were "rebuilt" last year. My question is, are there any specific areas I need to be concerned with as far as the structural integrity of the hull? What do I need to look for as far as signs of wear and tear on the drives? I'll do compression checks on the motors but is there anything else to be concerned with? Below are a couple of pics. Thanks for your time and help.

DD

first things first, thats not a 76, if it is, it has had the deck replaced with a 78 on... check the transom stringers and floor carefully, they have a tendancy to be wet/rotted/bad. the "plumbing" on the motors looks "interesting" make sure those aftermarket carbs are marine units, and it almost looks like the exhaust runs uphill to the thru hulls??? the old nova's were great riding boats, assuming the motors are around 250 hp you should see low/mid 50's

I've heard the same thing.

Having a survey done on the boat before purchase would be money well spent.


mb.

Also...check the hull for gel coat blistering...They are know for that, and time consuming to fix. I love these boats, they ride and perform great

I have a 76 nova -- first thing to check would be the transom. Make sure no water has gotten into it and rotted it around any cuts. The only problem I had with my nova was that anywhere wellcraft cut a hole through a stringer, transom, bulkhead, etc. they didn't seem to seal the hole at all so water would work its way into the wood over the years.

Thanks for the info gentlemen. I haven't been to look at the boat as of yet, the owner emailed me those pictures, but I'm going to look and possibly buy it this weekend. As far as the possible exhaust and plumbing issues, does anyone have a picture of what it should look like? He also said the boat runs mid 50's so that seems to be inline with what phragle said.

Thanks phragle.

depending on exhaust and years, there are slight differences in hose routing, but hoses should not be folded back on themselves, blocked of with bolts hoseclamped in them etc....

It looks like he may have used freshwater cooled t-stat housings and that is why he has those hoses the way he does?