Is This Worth It?

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

I have a 10 foot johnboat with a 32 pounds thrust trolling motor I fish with now. A friend of mine's dad gave him two free boats that he just had sitting behind his house. We live here in North Carolina and the boats are in Tennessee. One way it is about nine hours. The boats he said don't leak and are fiberglass. The one I am getting is a Lund Rebel. It is 20 feet and has a mercury 80hp on it. My friends is another brand with similar specs. They look to need work but they come with two trailers and he wants to give us the boats free of charge. I am not sure if I should look at this as "a free boat and trailer is a free boat and trailer" or "this is going to be expensive and a long process". The only pictures I am attaching here are the ones of the boat he is giving me, not of his but it looks in the same condition. I don't know how old this is or anything else. Please shed some light as to what you guys think of the approximate year, model, length, and if its worth it. The johnboat I have is my fishing boat now and I would like to get a bass boat this year. I was going to buy a new or newer one but this one came about.

[Teal]

I am not a boat builder, but I do believe that this is gonna be a project that's gonna take some time and a little bit of money. You should be able to do a lot of the work yourself and save some money. There are tons of videos on the web that will help you restore that boat.

I have no idea on make and model.

If you are really interested in getting a larger boat, just weight the time and money versus money for a new or used boat that doesn't require so much work.

If I had more time I would be be excited to have something like that. I see that boat and I see an empty canvas just waiting to painted and customized to my liking. I was in your position a few years back where I could have gotten a boat that needed ALOT of work for free, but I went ahead and bought a used boat in great condition.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

As for time, I have that. If I decide to get this boat and it takes me a while to do then that is fine because I have my johnboat and my buddy that is getting the other boat from his dad has a bass raider too. So we are floating no matter what with these two boats. I guess my biggest question is the distance. If these two boats were 10 minutes down the road then yes I would be down with the idea. Is a 9 Hour drive one way worth it in your opinion? As for money it can take me several months if need be; no big deal there. I used to be a mechanic and still have all of my tools and knowledge for any engine repair. Another concern I have is once it's all done if I get it and looks pretty will the age of the boat be an issue on the water. In other words will people say look at that dinosaur on the lake? ;-)

[Teal]

Haha who cares what people think! If it makes you happy then so what. A lot of guys fish out of older boats. Once you fix or replace all of your mechanical issues..which I'm sure there are plenty. You will have an opportunity to clean, sand, paint, recarpet, add new seats, extend the casting deck, add new gauges or whatever you like. You can make it look new.

As for the drive, that's up to you. Is the journey of rebuilding the boat worth the fuel cost and a weekend to do it... Nothin is free.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Good point. It does have some food looking potential. I wish someone could tell me what year it is. I'm curious lol

[BassnChris]

another thing to consider is the condition of the trailer......that is a long drive for a trailer that has been sitting and or neglected. You would not want to get stranded along the highway somewhere with burnt wheel bearings or have a tire go flat or blowout!

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Good point Chris! I am going to have him check with his dad on that one. Thanks!

[Teal]

Just make sure that once you start driving to TN that you are committed to putting some serious work otherwise, you are wasting gas money. I have found that when I start a project, if I try to take it slowly and do it a little here and there; it never gets done. I would start with the motor. Them check the steering, throttle and so forth. Once all that is taken care of, I would start on the boat. If the motor is locked up or garbage, I'd start on the boat first and worry with motor after I am done.

Dang I'm getting kinda excited and its not my boat.. Lol

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Yeah that's what I was thinking. His dad is going to text him a picture of both of the titles. I would imagine the year make and model should be on it just like a vehicle title would have.

[BassnChris]

Just make sure that once you start driving to TN that you are committed to putting some serious work otherwise, you are wasting gas money. I have found that when I start a project, if I try to take it slowly and do it a little here and there; it never gets done. I would start with the motor. Them check the steering, throttle and so forth. Once all that is taken care of, I would start on the boat. If the motor is locked up or garbage, I'd start on the boat first and worry with motor after I am done.

Dang I'm getting kinda excited and its not my boat.. Lol

x2......at least.

It will be a considerable amount of work and $$$. Not trying discourage.....but be prepared.

[BassnChris]

In my state of OK......the motor has to have a title of it's own......and in some states the trailer does too.

Make sure you can get those if required in your home state.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Yep I can imagine. As mentioned before weighing out the cost to make this a project or to go ahead and buy a new one is going to be the main issue.

Worst case scenario if the motor is completely shot and I need to have the boat re carpeted and repainted would it cost more or less than $10,000?

[Sun Fish]

I'm not sure but that outboard looks like a Mercury Tower of Power from somewhere between the mid 70's-early 80's.  If the motor is in decent shape and can be repaired I would go for it, why not it's free and a nice project for you to turn into what you want.  If your going to have to repower it, I'm not so sure it's worth the drive.  If your willing to spend 5K or more on fixing it you might want to just say forget it and look for a nice used glass boat.  I just recently purchased a 1995 18' Nitro w/ a 115hp in GREAT shape for $4,500.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

I guess re power is the motor. How much does an average 80 hp Mercury motor brand cost now days?

[Teal]

Only a guess. But let's say motor is garbage. You should be able to buy a used motor between 2500 and 5000 k. There is a guy here in NC in Wilmington that rebuilds motors and sales in that range. ( He sales them on eastern nc craigslist)You should be able to do the rest of it for small chunks at a time. My guess is...definitely less than 10k

Remember you will save a lot by doing it yourself

[Teal]

That was based on if the motor is no good. It may be just fine. I'm thinking u need to drive to TN and take your tools with you before you will know

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

I figured 3-5k for the whole project. What do you think the top speed on the water of this boat is with a great running 80 hp Mercury? 50mph?

[BassnChris]

I am not aware of his family's financial situation nor the relationship between the two.......but around here most folks sell things they do not want around unless they are not worth selling.....then they 'give' them away.

not trying to be too negative.........hard to say when you are so far away from the boats.

Worse case scenario could be quite expensive, but if you can figure it out with a tank or two of gasoline and a couple of stops at McDonalds with no other costs....then just look at it as a roadtrip with possible bonus.

If you get there and decide it is not a deal then you can just say thanks but no thanks and come home without it.

So unless the money you will be out to take the trip will put you in a financial hardship or some other relationship type problems....then I say go take a look and might score big time.

[Sun Fish]

I figured 3-5k for the whole project. What do you think the top speed on the water of this boat is with a great running 80 hp Mercury? 50mph?

I highly doubt you'll hit 50mph w/ a 20ft glass boat and a 80hp outboard.  I would guess about 40-45 is more realistic if it's set up right and running perfect but that may even be pushing it.  But do you really want to spend 3-5K + weeks of labor on restoreing a really old boat or take that money and drop the labor all together for something like this.

[S Hovanec]

I don't think anyone mentioned it yet, but I'd bet every inch of wood in that boat is rotten, including the transom.  That's a mighty long trip to take to pick up a rotten log.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Man that's a cool looking boat!

[Nitrofreak]

I purchased this boat for $500, she is a 17' 1990 170TF Nitro, it had been sitting for a few years, when I went to look at it, the pics were a few years old as well on the sellers listing and looked to be in ok shape, not so dirty lookin as when I saw her for the first time, the first time I saw this boat up close and personal, I thought no way in he## !!

 

The more I thought about it the more I thought it was not worth the $2000 they were asking, the engine did not run good at all, but it ran with no noises, the compression test showed one weak cylinder, but not dead, the boat itself was black with dirt from being uncovered and sitting next to a gravel road for a few years, the floor was weak in a lot of places, half the electronics did not work, the lower unit was missing the prop and propshaft, the trailer was painted black to hide the rust, the tires were dry rotted, the bearings were suprisingly in good shape though, so I thought to myself that if I could get it for $500 I would,  I needed a project anyway.

 

Well the guy just laughed at me and we parted ways, I went back to that same area to look at another boat, only to find out it had been sold just before I arrived, I stopped at a local store to get a drink and use the bath room and head home, as I walked out the door the guy who laughed at me was standing beside my car, he asked if I still wanted the boat, I said sure....for $250 since you laughed at me, he said he would not do that but he said he had a brand new set of tires for the trailer and he would have them mounted and balanced and installed on the trailer by the time I came to pick up the boat, so here she is, some 400 hours of labor later, all fairly new stuff, the outboard is the original 115 rude, but the lower unit was used from a 150 with the same shaft that was blown up, she has a hard time getting up with the preditor prop but once she does she goes pretty dang good, she has a new trailer to rest on now days as well.

 

All together she has me for $2372.16, thats including the purchace price.

 

If you want to put the labor into it, then think about what you will get out of it, because I can promise you one thing for sure, you cant see everything untill you start to fix everything, you will find more things that need to be fixed along the way, if you are willing to make it what you want, then you should have no problems in your mind about how much elbow grease your going to need. 

 

 

Good luck and be safe !!!

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Cool story nitro freak!!! :-)

[Ratherbfishing]

Murphy's law being what it is, I'd say this project will probably take a LOT of time and a LOT of money.  These days, especially with the economy in the tank, you can find a lot of boats for sell.  Look around.  Also, depending upon the condition of the trailer, just getting it back might be a nightmare.  You'll need legal trailer lights and good bearings and good tires to boot.  Do you have a flatbed trailer you can load it on?

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

I have a 2006 Suzuki grand vitara 2wd v6 to pull it with. My friends is like a 2004 Chevy s10 v6 2wd. No flatbeds. :-(