This boat worth restoring??
 

Hey guys, looking for some advice from all you experts that have been though this... I just picked up a powerplay xlt-185 for 5k few months ago. I made a mistake not getting the boat surveyed and now finding out its going to need a new floor and who knows what else.

Little about the boat... fresh 383, alpha ss, gelcoat is in great condition but has 3 bad scratches/chips. I know for fact the transom is not rotted from swapping out the transom assembly and changing the fish finder and exhaust tips. The interior is still original, needs a few cushions replaced.

Overall i love the boat but i'm afraid of dumping 2-3k into it. Friends of mine are telling me to fix it, because its not just any searay or bayliner... that its a powerplay and its rare. I had planned on fixing the scratches and interior this winter but the floor would soak up the money for that. Kinda at the point to either sell it and get something else or start the restoration of the XLT. Any advice would be helpful...

You can fix it yourself for a lot less that 2g's!!!

One could make a case that putting any money into any boat is not worth it, boats are a bad investment.

Just one simple question....do you like the boat? If so fix it, polish it, bling it, make it faster, do whatever, just don't expect to ever get the money back out of it. And please don't put in on ebay years later for $50,000 :D

Yes... i do love the boat... its fast enough for me too.. 72 mph. I had 2 people come out last week for quotes on the floor and they where 1500 and 2500...so i figure 2k. But i forgot to mention that theres spider cracking too in the front of the full just below the waterline... my dad said its from the abuse probably from the big lakes... I picked up from someone that lived on lake michigan. Im pretty handy and can do most engine work... but never done fiberglass or wood work. Working on things isnt easy for me either considering i live in a condo and the boat wont fit in my garage... makes things kinda difficult.

+1 . . . . theres a wealth of knowledge (:thankyouthankyou: lol) in the fiberglass and paint section :D . . . .





I do have to ad one word of cation. Most times you can only see about one third of the actual damage that will need attention.

I say fix it... I got a PP 185 and love the boat... hard to find and you could do most if not all that work yourself... would make a great winter project.

My older brother was the original designer and builder of the 185 back when he called them Barons.
Anyways his son was looking for a 185 this summer and all of them he looked at the stringers were shot even though the boats looked very nice.

He actually gave up on the Powerplays and I just found him an original Baron. He figures both boats would need transoms and stringers so why not try to find one of the originals his dad built.

Anyways my guess would be if the floor is soft the stingers are shot also. Not to beat up on the Powerplays but the stringers were pretty lightly built and most of these boats were not abused but used hard like they were intended for.

Find someone who knows them and seif you can get them to give you an honest quote at fixing it correctly.

Sadly most 15 year old boats out there the stringers or transoms are wet.

The one 185 my nephew tried out looked great but you could pull the engine mounts out of the stringers, and the owner didn't even know this.

Good luck

I've had 3 185xlts over the years.Own a 86 right now that I redid. They all have the same problems , floors, stringers,transoms, motor mnts. cracking in the corners of dash and back seat. Its just the way they were built back then. and you have to remember they are 20 + years old, but a hell of a fun cheap boat. Todd K has the number 1 185 built belly tank and a larger bilge comp, rides totally different (nicer) not trying to carry the fuel weight in the bow. If you dont go crazy it will hold its value .(I went crazy unfortunatly)

Depends if you have a place to do the work or not.

If you do, I would probably fix it but once you get into it and get started most likely you will be over $2K.

If you don't, patch it together and run it until it's barely holding together, then sell the motor/drive and put that $$ toward a new boat.

Or dump it now as-is, and try to get as much money out of it as you can, declaring the issues to any potential new owner of course.

if you could do it your self and had a place to do it you should be able to do it for a $1100 in materials.

300 in marine plywood
200 in 14 yards of 1708
400 in 8 gallons of vinylester
100 in grinding discs and thinners.
another 100 for bilge paint or gelcoat

That would get the job done if you spent more that would be stuff other than your original rot project.

Sell. Guarantee youll dump $ into floor, stringers, paint work, etc......then as soon as its done you'll want something bigger or faster. Youll lose your A$$ selling after that. Find what u would like or think you may like down the road.....

Sold 185 $ + floor, string, paint $ = better boat. Just survey the next one.
$.02

I am pretty sure the boat you bought is the one my nephew looked at he lives in Grand Rapids. It was a nice boat with a new 4000 dollar motor and a new drive and ia m pretty sure the interior was nice too

5 was a steal for it than , Just hope the next guy that buys it does not look it over better than you.

So... after a long talk with my dad, he suggested that we could do this together and I could use his 3 car garage for space. If i could do this whole job for around 1k or at least patch it up for less I think it would be worth it for a couple years of use and then go to a NEWER boat and not bigger.

I really dont have any ambitions of going to a bigger boat or faster boat just because I live on a smaller inland lake. I feel like i would lose money now if i sold it the way it is....

If you guys really think im making the wrong move on this, please still let me know... I guess you could say im still on the fence on this.

Why are boats so stressful!!!

Do it yourself for ~$1000. But don't look at it as I am loosing $1000 on a boat I just bought. Use it as an education on how to repair a boat. So when you pick apart the next boat you are looking at, you can smile and say I can fix that cheap. As you are beating him down on price.

Listen to glassdave, he is one of the priceless members on here. Check his threads out in the Fiberglass/Paint section. I feel sometimes I need to send him a tuition check after reading them.