Repair/Restoration Costs vs. Benefits

[blockislandguy]

I'm a newbie here so let me begin by apologizing for anything that might sound foolish. The SC 23 is a fantastic hull. Yet when I read the forums here I am struck by two thigs. Lots of guys here are into project boats with a low initial cost for the hull (maybe 5K or so) and then lots of sweat labor/equity. While I enjoy reading the ins and outs of the project boats, I don't think I either could or want to devote every weekend for a year to working in fibreglas doing $8 an hour grunt work. My 60 year old lungs spent a long year in VN and that was enough punishment. The second thing I notice (again, I'm a newbie) is that most SeaCraft of this vintage are going to need a new transom,new liner, new tank,new console, new gauges, and new stringers. Wow. (If this were a Land Rover, it would be called a body-off-frame restoration but if the Rover needed a new frame, as the SC might need new stringers, it would be called maybe a "frame up restoration"!)

What's the cost of this massive restoration? The real cost? Well, lets see. The hull, an engine, gauges, panel, tank, etc. all can add up. The $8 buck an hour free labor can take a year out of your life when you could be fishing, jogging, drinking beer or doing any number of life's simple pleasures.

Now, and here comes the real difficult part, compare whatever figure you came up with with the price of , say, a used 26' Edgewater. I (think) I see them for the mid-30s here in New England with admittedly a pair of two stroke engines but with only moderate hours. What is an impeccably restored SC 23 worth after all this work? IMHO maybe mid-30's.

YMMV