First time buyer questions

Check the for sale section here on CCF...........unless the 60's era is a must have I would say the 74 recently listed would be a good fit (looks very nice, great hours and price is fair).
Good luck!

The primary and the secondary wooden covered in glass stringers are the thing to look at. In the early boats, Correct Craft did not use foam between the wall and stringers to add flotation and make a floor. Fiberglass over foam makes a nice floor, but the foam hold water and rots out the stringers. Most of the early CC boats did not have foam so the stringers hold up well. However, you still need to check them out. Stringer jobs are doable, but are a big project.

Top speed is about mid 40's. These boats were built for pulling skiers and they are more about torque than speed. They sound like they will run 70, but most run less than 50.

The wood rots and you are left with fiberglass that comes loose from the wood and your motor lag bolts will no longer get tight. The floor also gets soft and caves in. You will know it when you see it. You can tap a hard object like a wrench on the glass over wood stringers and listen to the sound and it will tell you if the wood is rotten. They use boat resin or general purpose resin on the stringers to save money. Over time, water travels through the glass and stays in the wood. Early boats also may have gel coat issues on the bottom if the boats were left in the water over time. Fiberglass was new in the early 60's so there can be issues.

It is recommended that when you do a stringer replacement job, you used epoxy resin. It is more expensive but does not let water travel through it over time. Just search stringer replacement. Several projects should appear.

I'm actually glassing some small ribs in an old boat now and using vinyl ester resin which has advantages over epoxy and very good bonding. The cool thing is I use no-wax formula (laminating resin) which requires no scruffing between cured layers, but also doesnt stay sticky at all.

BUT I am no where near able to take on stringers. I had a jet boat once and paid for stringer job by a guy I knew who is a pro. The work was fantastic. Strong, thick, and looked factory. I learned what a "pro" is from seeing that. But today, that job is pretty big $$$.

So yeah, need to get one with good stringers. I plan to run mine on the bay, sometimes coming back in the chop. Has to not be coming apart.

The motor swap was done before I owned it - previous owner didn't properly winterize the 289 and the block split.

These aren't good rough water boats. The flat bottom means they porpoise like crazy in light chop. You might want to consider a Barracuda - vintage look in a hull that can take some chop.

yeah the appeal is the Mustang's shorty look. I'll end up with a mid-60's Mustang. may take a while. prob exactly the wrong time to buy anyway!

btw there was just one near me for $500 needed motor, but who knows what else was wrong. it went too fast to even go look

saw a few in the 3500 range, but now the prices seem up and I like to find a bargain even if it takes longer.