taipan wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2020 8:40 pm
cobby wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2020 7:23 pm
If you don't want a rebuilder in the future forget glass, especially anything beginning with H, C or S. They all eventually need a rebuild.
Alison Fisherman 175 or 189.
Caribbean Concorde (5.5m) or Intruder (5.8m).
Cruise Craft 550 Outsider.
Edencraft 565. It's the original Haines Hunter 565L hull from when Haines went bust before the OMC purchase.
Haines Hunter 560F/SL 570SF Champion, 580 Breeze (effectively all the same hull), 580SF (same same as the 560F except a bigger cabin, a half pod setup and a few other changes. Arguably the best Haines hull in existance since the original 565).
Haines Signature 1750L, 530F, 532F, 1850L, 540F, 542F, 575F. First 3 are same hull, the pick is the last of the 532 from 1997-1998. The 575F is the best hull out of the lot.
Seafarer Viking 5.5 (cuddy), Ventura 5.5(half cab), Vega 5.75.
Southwind 550WR. Became the Southern Star 550WR, which became a Lewis 590WR. Same hull all the way through. 580SF.
Savage Mako (cuddy), Surveyor (half cab). Same hull.
Formula Powerboats Australia F19 (another Haines 565l flop, just rare as rocking horse **** on the market). F21 (a Donzi flop) for slightly bigger and again rare as rocking horse ****.
Mustang 1750, 1800, 1900. Sold to the Haines Group and rebranded as Tournament, same model designations though.
Northbank 540 cuddy. Still in production as the 550C.
I've always loved the Southwind 550WR, and the Haines Hunter 580SF is the best riding boat I've ever been in under 6m. They're well worth just biting the bullet, rebuilding immediately and whacking a new V6 Mercury on the back. But we need a budget, because if we're talking under $30k, forget half of that list
That's a list & a half there Cobby many thanks !
From the outset you mentioned keep away from brands H, C, S.
there's 2 makes come under C & 2 under S. Think a fair few of those are in the list.
Keeping away from those = going Ally ? ….. that’s one type I'm not really keen on just
my preference.
Regards to wiping half those contenders off the list if the budget's under 30k that I'm
not sure about I'd like to look at the 20k mark & have seen couple of those models in the list'
even in the teens. All in all a great reference & starting point.
Cheers
All fibreglass boats will need a rebuild. They were built to a price and a time frame and not to last 100 years. Most of those listed to scrape under $25k will have some sort of compromise be it motor, trailer or the hull. Under $20k then to not compromise as much drop down a size or go an older hull. You won't get a decently modern 4 stroke without commercial usage type hours, or trailers that don't need some attention reasonably early without going down a size or an older hull unless you find that unicorn bargain. So you've got
Older Caribbean Concorde, or their precursor the Crestcutter.
Haines Hunter 520SF. A 560F might squeeze in budget but is likely to be 100% untouched original and likely close to rebuild phase.
The 5.2m Seafarer Viking. A reasonable 5.5 won't be in the budget. Or drop down to the 5.0 Vsea.
A squared off cabin version of the 5.02 Streaker cuddy. The newer rounded versions will be over $25k in decent knick.
Northbank 490 cuddy, which is the same as the current 500C model.
Stick to the 1750L and 530F Haines Signatures. Or drop down to a 492F.
Cruise Craft you'll need to go older in a 533 Reef Finder.
Southwind drop size to a 500SF.
Forget Tournament branded hulls and stick with Mustang, and the 1750 will be about it in budget without going into 30yo+ models.
Forget the Edencrafts and Formulas all together, they'll all be $50k and then some.
As for avoiding certain brands, the hulls are to good but they have a high appearance of owners requiring partial or full rebuilds either immediately or in the not to distant future. Cruise Craft and Seafarer once upon a time used Masonite in their floors, very average pine in transoms. Haines Hunters and Signatures have a tendency to need complete rebuilds across all models, and all year ranges. Streakers have their floors go soft. Caribbeans have areas that need redoing, like the floor over the underfloor fuel tank on a 10yo boat. I should know, it spent another 8 years to long still in the boat... They're all just some sort of wood, with fibreglass and resin slapped on them, with 100 screws haplessly drilled in and through usually without any form of sealant.
If it is strictly for the bays only and zero chance of going offshore unless it's that 1 day a year where there's absolutely no wind, even going 4.5-5m sized hulls will do fine. And then you open up newer versions that are less likely to have issues
I hope the use of Masonite & Pine board
