Is it silly to wrap an older boat?

[fishfordollars]

Honest opinions please. Here's the story.

1988 Skeeter Starfire 175 on a tandem trailer.

New transom, stringers, carpet, and flooring

Up grading to a 2005 175 Mercury

Every switch and every part of this boat is in good working order.

Except:

Top cap is past the sanding and repairing stage. It will take a full redo.

Cheapest quote is 2250.00 to repair.

If I wrap it:

Materials cost 450.00 for top cap

Labor 275.00

Labor and materials to wrap entire boat 1550.00. I have a deal and a company that I get a monthly check from for my fishing expense.

I have my own small company and by placing the name anywhere on the boat it will be a write off.

I originally intended to just do the cap, but researching it I found that I cannot match the flake with the rest of the boat. This will require that we do a color change. We have picked the color to match a stripe(Red) on the side of the boat.

The company that will do the work has a deal with Skeeter promoting them on the side of his boat. He is required to place the boat at tournaments or fish out of it. He is contacting them to see if they would be interested in doing some kind of backing for this wrap since the boat is tournament fished regularly and in such good shape.

What would you do? fix it back to factory or play with it and see what would happen? I want to stress that the wrap would not be a wild exotic sort of thing. If I did it I would want something clean and not outlandish.

Long Mike has several pictures of the boat. Mike if you read this thread post one up for me.

Thanks,

Jack

[Catt]

Absolutely not, if you are going to start a project of rebuilding a boat finish it

[luger306]

go with the wrap and see how long it last

[cart7t]

Personally, you've sunk an awful lot of money into a boat with a wiped out gelcoat.  If it was me and you haven't bought the motor yet,  I'd be looking for a new (used) boat and sell that one.  Those 80's starfires were notorious for rotted transoms and stringers. Since you've fixed that the boat is more appealing.  Throw a few coats of minwax helmsman urethane on it to make it look decent and sell it for $2500.  Pair that with the motor money and the $2250 for the gel coat and you've got $10 grand to spend on a newer, better boat.  Add a few thousand more via a small loan and you've got a pretty nice ride.  

[Tin]

Personally, you've sunk an awful lot of money into a boat with a wiped out gelcoat. If it was me and you haven't bought the motor yet, I'd be looking for a new (used) boat and sell that one. Those 80's starfires were notorious for rotted transoms and stringers. Since you've fixed that the boat is more appealing. Throw a few coats of minwax helmsman urethane on it to make it look decent and sell it for $2500. Pair that with the motor money and the $2250 for the gel coat and you've got $10 grand to spend on a newer, better boat. Add a few thousand more via a small loan and you've got a pretty nice ride.

I second this.

Now is the time to steal a boat. People in financial trouble will part ways with their rides very cheap because they need the money and the market is flooded with boats and such. I'm sure you could find a mid-late 90's boat in the 19-20 foot range with a 200 on it for 10k.

And I have seen a couple of 1980's Skeeter's get trashed because of transom issues. Time to ditch it and upgrade. Unless of course you are not paying for the new Merc.

[cart7t]

One other thing.  Gel jobs are not long term fixes.  I've seen very few that went beyond 5 years that weren't starting to look aged.  Most re-gels I've seen ran between $3-4k for a boat your size, at only $2250 dollars, that low ball estimate may not be much of a bargain longevity wise.