Questions about what I am looking at in an old Barefoot

[MRichardson364]

Hi all.

Looked at an 82 Barefoot Nautique today. Looks like it has been ridden hard but motor was rebuilt and has low hours so that is a plus. Most of what I am looking at is possibly cosmetic stuff and I am good with that. But I need advice from the experts on personal experience or opinions.

1. Gelcoat is oxidized but I think that I have found plenty of info here to help with that. In several places there are scratches through the colored side panels and in some places the blue band (where BN is printed) looks to be wearing thin. How do you repair this? Repaint? I think that if I buff any more it's going to continue to go through this colored band.

2. The very point of the V on the bottom front of the boat is worn through to the brown fiberglass. What's the deal with this? Can this area be repaired? Should it be repaired? Cosmetically it does not look good and I am unsure about the structural integrity.

3. There are a couple of places behind the rub rail where the fiberglass is cracked like a spiderweb. I am thinking dock impact or something else. Can these areas be filled or repaired? Is there something worse there?

4. Underneath I noticed that the owner had just applied new sealant around the prop shaft mount and around the bottom fins. I asked him about it and he said he was just sealing it up to make sure. Major problem?

Overall it looks like a big restoration project and I am good with that. Don't mind the work to restore it. But I don't know how nightmarish some of this can be with repainting, color matching, new decals, gelcoat repair etc.

Any advice is appreciated.
Michael

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Questions about what I am looking at in an old Barefoot

Stringers should be your biggest concern. A quick check is to check the motor mount lags, but that only tells you part of the story. An 82 that was not well cared for is going to need stringers. Period. You may get away with using it for a couple seasons, but you will be replacing them. That is a 200-300 hour job over the winter. Did you feel any soft spots on the floor? Is the floor original or has it been replaced? Does the boat sit flat in the water? or does is list one way or the other? The foam is going to be wet which leads to stringers which leads to...... Did the rudder get hit or was it really just leaking, how is the gel around the port?
You are buying a number of big projects there. Just do some more digging on exactly what you are getting into there. A good place to read up on this stuff is over at www.correctcraftfan.com do a search on "foam" "stringers" "floor replacement" "wet sanding" and you will have a much better idea of what you are really looking at.

[MRichardson364]

RE: Questions about what I am looking at in an old Barefoot

Ack! Thanks for the posting Wakeslayer. I do suspect that this boat was not cared for very well by it's previous owners. That missing gelcoat on the front V was worrisome to me.

While I would like to do some restoration work and I think that it would be fun to bring back an old weathered boat, there's no way I want to get into a major restoration with bad stringers. I've read plenty on these boards already to know that it is a massive job and not something that I want to do.

I will keep reading and if anyone else has any comments, please feel free to write them. I appreciate the discussion.

Michael

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Questions about what I am looking at in an old Barefoot

You can get a lot of good help over on CCFAN, but I ain't gonna lie to you, it is a BIG job.