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To start with, I apologize for
the long post, but I'm at a fork in the road and I'm looking for opinions and
ideas.
Brief history of life with boat:
My wife and I have a ’71 (we believe, not 100% sure) Correct
Craft Mustang. It was her late husband’s boat. This was my first and only boat
and I have worked with. Over the years, I have been doing all the maintenance and
service myself. Between Google and Youtube, I’ve found how-to fix about
anything. It has been a lot of fun to tinker with and boat around. We get compliments
every time we head out. The hull is in good shape (could use an upgrade with
paint), the reverse turn 302 and velvet drive are running strong. From what I
know, with the exception of an RPM gauge and new carpet on floor and doghouse,
everything else is original. I have never used aftermarket parts. I’ve had the starter and alternator rebuilt
be a local, now retired, rebuilder. He enjoyed my requests because everything
is reverse and required his attention to the details. We have always
overwintered it in garage and covered it with a tarp in the driveway during the
season.
Current situation:
End of the season last year, I wasn’t home at the end of the
season to look after the boat in the driveway. It was covered as usual in the
driveway before I headed out. When I returned, somehow the rain got into the
boat (no rips or tears in the cover) and the plug was still in the boat.
Needless to say, there was a couple feet of water in the bottom of the boat
(1/2 inch above the floor). After draining the boat and checking the motor and drive
to make sure that was ok, I start looking at the interior. This is where my dilemma
starts. Being as frugal as possible over the years (wife’s late husband and
me), all the compressed plywood (flooring appears to be ok, just all seats) really
enjoyed the soak. It has splintered into the individual slivers.
We have had a lot of fun with this boat over the years, but
our situation has changed a bit over the years. We are getting older and the
children have grown. The skiing days for us are over for the near future, but
tubing is still something we do. We use it more like a party boat but with the
doghouse in the boat, space it limited to only 1 couple. We also have a
grandbaby (9 month old) we want to introduce to the boating life.
So today I sit here trying to come the best solution and
here is where I’m asking for your opinions.
Option 1:
Pay someone to do it all. We went to a local shop to get a
quote for the costs to have them do it for us and they said 6-8k and they
couldn’t start until September.
Option 2:
I have the ability to rebuild the structure of the seats myself.
It would be move plywood because that’s what I do, cheapest way possible to
accomplish task. But the skin has to go. Frames have been rebuilt over the
years and original skins have nowhere else to staple and hold. We found C&S
Marine ( https://www.candsmarine.com/contact-order/" rel="nofollow - Quote/Contact/Order
| C & S Marine (candsmarine.com) that can redo the skins after the rebuild.
At this point, no clue what total cost would be and thinking still quite a bit
of money.
Option 3:
Throw in the towel and get a boat that matches our current
lifestyle.
I’m leaning towards option 3, but this leads to the next dilemma.
Since this is such a niche boat and being a cheapskate, I’m not sure what to do
with the Mustang. Moneywise, I’m guessing I could get more if I part it out. Having
owned and maintained this boat, I know there are several folks that need one or
two pieces here and there and is very difficult to find original parts. Knowing
there are folks that have nostalgic love of these boats and have the money,
time or space to take on a project boat and bring it back to glory. I know this
is a niche within a niche.
So, I’m just throwing out the questions to you all to see
what your thoughts are if you were in this situation. Option 1, 2 or 3 and if
option 3, should I part it out or as a project boat?
Again, sorry for the long post, but I feel I’m at a fork in
the road of two major Interstates.
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