Speaking of towing boats... I got a freebie. My buddy needed to repower his pontoon quick, so he bought this thing for $400 and scavenged the motor. He's giving me the boat and trailer.
Why did I accept it? I have no idea. It is my least favorite brand of boat, it's wasted, neither the trailer nor the boat have a title, and the motor is gone. I have a feeling I just agreed to accept a free load of rotten wood and fiberglass.
But it's a chance for me to see a buddy and have a beer with him. Haven't seen him in several years.
One more useless project that will likely end up getting scrapped, but I've resurrected worse tubs than this.
Have fun with photoshop.
Drive down the highway by the dump at night and forget to strap the boat on, free trailer
That thought actually did occur to me.
I actually might "cap" it; cut it off at the rub rail and re-do the interior for a more open plan with a lower freeboard.
Coworker bought a trailer, came with a crappy fiberglass boat. He cut it up into 1' cubes, threw it into the trash can one piece at a time.
Lazy clown used a chainsaw and waited for it to rain so he cut down on fiberglass dust.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
We have a winner!
See if the Flex Seal infomercial is legit?
Old_Town said:
See if the Flex Seal infomercial is legit?
Ooooo.... youtube influencer fodder.
Uncle Curt's boat repair channel?
Ewww. It's a Bayliner, isn't it?
I don't get that so much. Wife often will say, "This tastes like it has gone bad, you try it."
Honey, I am willing to take your word for it.
You *could* make a really nice boat out of that, but the problem is that you can start with a better platform and end up with a better boat still for less money and less effort.
If I were you, I'd start taking all the hardware off that may be useful on another boat, cut it into pieces that can be thrown away in the trash over a few months, and sell the trailer.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
First time I read that, I saw 1" cubes, and started wondering how many years that must have taken.
If that is a Bayliner Capri, I have the exact same boat in my garage. I would be interested if you were selling parts, especially if the seats and upholstered parts are in better shape than mine.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
Ewww. It's a Bayliner, isn't it?
I often hear the hatred for Bayliners. I like the way it looks, if it's a solid boat is there other reasons to despise them?
Not being a boat guy, I have to ask, is there anything wrong with those?
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
Ewww. It's a Bayliner, isn't it?
I know, right? It's not worth the gasoline I'll spend driving 30 minutes to get it.
But, if the hull is solid and I can cut the cap off and make it what I want, I'll put a 225 on it and see how fast it goes.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
Ewww. It's a Bayliner, isn't it?
I know, right? It's not worth the gasoline I'll spend driving 30 minutes to get it.
But, if the hull is solid and I can cut the cap off and make it what I want, I'll put a 225 on it and see how fast it goes.
I still want any of the parts you throw away.
Bayliners are not the top quality name on the water. They are made inexpensively with plywood cores and the electronics/assembly/overall quality is just poor. Great for a casual boater, but I'm more of a three-times-a-day for every month that the lake isn't frozen kind of boater. For comparison, my 19' Baja felt like it was carved from a single billet of fiberglass. You could hit any chop and nothing moved. My 18' Ebbtide (a middle-of-the-road boat) flexes some on chop. This eventually leads to stress fractures and more flex, which leads to micro-fissures in the glass, which leads to rotten wood in the cores.
A boat like my Baja was constructed entirely of fiberglass. There was no wood in it except the floor surface. The hull was 1.25" thick and nothing but alternating layers of woven and strand glass. Then the cap (the top part with the molded interior) was made of 1/4" 'glass and epoxy, and engineered such that the cap triangulated the hull and made it extremely rigid. A boat like a Bayliner is pretty, but they didn't engineer it to be quite the brick E36 M3house that a Baja or Grady White or Boston Whaler is.
A Baja is like a Mercedes. Use it for 300k miles and it will still ride and drive the same as new. A Bayliner is like a K car. After that first big pothole pops one spot weld on the strut tower, it's going to pop more. Just different levels of boat for different uses. Nothing wrong with a K-car, just not my first choice.
I haven't really dug into hull design yet on the Bayliner. Part of what makes a boat great on the water is the shape of the hull and how much R&D they put into it. The more money they put into the design, the more it excels at multiple tasks. In that same analogy, ever notice how Mercedes handle pretty darn well, but ride like a Camry? Money in R&D. There are some fishing boats out there that draft very little, take chop really well, and still get some impressive speeds from modest hp. My Baja was heavy (2600 with me, an anchor, and gasoline) but it felt incredibly nimble and it would do 60+ and cut through chop very well. My Ebbtide is just slightly lighter but it feels like an aircraft carrier. Not a joy to drive. It's like autocrossing a cargo van with bald tires.
KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
Ewww. It's a Bayliner, isn't it?
I often hear the hatred for Bayliners. I like the way it looks, if it's a solid boat is there other reasons to despise them?
All I know is my parents scrapped one (that they purchased new) for $500 when it was like 3 years old back in 1995-ish. I don't know any of the details but I know that boat was a nightmare of epic proportions for them.
They use cheap materials on the deck. I'm actually in the process of replacing all of that. I like the design and the shape of the boat.
Plenty of technical information on them here.
https://www.baylinerownersclub.org/forum
Snowdoggie said:
They use cheap materials on the deck. I'm actually in the process of replacing all of that. I like the design and the shape of the boat.
I'm eternally searching for the perfect boat and I think I'll have to make it.
I want this interior:
but I want this freeboard height:
Which suggests I should get this fish n ski type boat:
BUT... They're made so heavy because any amateur boater can stroll into a Bass Pro Shops and lay down a credit card to get one. Heavy means safe. I want fast and shallow draft, but the ability to not get a back injury in some choppy water. Hopefully, if this one looks like a decent hull for speed, I can cut the cap off and make an interior sorta like the first boat.
