i have a couple of questions. saw a couple of late 80 and 90 model key west, scouts and whalers. what are the weaknesses of these older hulls that one should thoroughly check out before buying. i realize its a broad question but any advice is helpful.
Whalers, you need to look for anywhere water could have been getting into the hull. They are foam filled inside an outer fiberglass shell. If water has been leaking in then bad news and hard to repair this.
Key wests and scouts- look for stress cracks. Not spidering… deep stress cracks and exposed glasswork. Also look for hull to deck joint separation under the rub rail particularly near the stern. If anything is considerable, there may be other issues with the structure of the bote.
You can open bilge and other access hatches and stick a digi cam in under deck and snap photo’s with a flash to take a look at what stringers and decks, transom, etc. look like from below deck. Cannot do that on a whaler though- foam filled. The foam and shell itself are the structure.
That’s all I can think of in general.
Sure there’s more… including getting the boat surveyed.
For motors, do a compression check, and take to a mechanic you trust for diagnostic.
Always run the boat in the water, off the trailer… not just hooked to a hose.
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Luke 8:22-25
my old 1990 scout was foam filled also.
B.O.A.T. Bust Out Another Thousand!
Old whalers will last a lifetime (or more) if no significant water intrusion, as Phin has pointed out. WhalerCentral.com has charts of the expected hull weight. You can weigh the hull to find out about how much (if any) water intrusion there is. A little is normal for old Whalers, and not much concern. Most there will say that if you have lots of water, keep looking for a dry hull.
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
