early 70’s nautique

burd, Welcome and good luck finding a Nautique. The major concern beyond cosmetics and engine condition would be the condition of the wood stringers under the floor. If they have not been replaced in a 70's boat, I would be very cautious on the purchase

burd, I want you to use the search feature above and enter "stringer replacement" and then start reading!! It gets involved and there are lots of pictures to look at too. If your friend has owned several of these boats, then he should be very informed on the subject.Yes it is a fiberglass boat but it wasn't until 93 when CC stopped using a wood stringer system. Wood stringers are a very common method of building a fiberglass boat no matter who built it.

Burd, There are threads on checking for rotten stringers as well but the easiest is to check the engine mount bolts to see if they will tighten up. If they don't then there isn't enough solid stringer left for the lag bolts to grab.

When new stringers are done in a boat, epoxy resin is prefered over polyester for the glass work. Epoxy doesn't absorb water moister like polyester does so the stringers will last. Greater care than was done originally at the factory in making sure that the wood is compleatly surrounded by the glass / epoxy will greatly extend the life. Some people have found that the factory jobs compleatly missed certain areas of wood. Some have used non wood composites but this method is new and hasn't proven itself yet.

Has your friend selling the boat commented on the subject yet?

As far as weather it is worth the cost depends on the purchase price, if you will be doing the work or having it done by a pro and what the boat is worth. You can get a general idea on the boats value in our for sale section. There is even a graph that shows past mins and max sold prices. If you do it yourself, there is always "the labor of love" factor too.