Does fiberglass get brittle with age?

fish brain

fish brain

Crew Member
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum and am hoping I can get some opinions on older hulls.
I'm looking to buy a boat in the near future and my budget doesn't fit a new boat, so Im looking at the used market.
I've always heard the advice, buy the newest motor you can afford and not worry so much about the boat. I was speaking with a friend the other day and he said that as fiberglass ages it toughens up, looses flexibility, and becomes more susceptible to cracking.
I see some nice old boats out on the water, are they on borrowed time, or is my buddy misinformed? If he is right, about what age does this become a problem?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Thanks GLG,
I did see the Double Eagle in the other post. It's a nice rig. I'm after something in the 20-22 foot range. I've been doing research on different boats, their advantages and dis advantages, and how much it's going to cost to get into what I want. I've narrowed it down to a few boats that look good to me. Timing is also a bit of an issue as the money to buy the boat is tied up in a sale of something else. Everything takes longer than we want it to.
With regards to the stringer/ transom rot, I am aware of potential problems with the wood there. It's the brittle fiberglass that is new to me.
 
There are lots of 1970's boats running around with little to no fiberglass problems.The problems are usually under the soles(floor) and the transom.These are not fiberglass problems but are wood that is exposed to moisture.Look for an older boat that was well built eg.Hourston,Double Eagle,Searay,Glasply.Stay away from Reinell,Fiberform,Some Sangsters and early Bayliners.The good boats were laid up by hand,the others by chopper gun.This doesn't mean a Hourston will have no rot,we know a lot do,or that a Sangster will be rotten.It all depends what conditions the boat was exposed to in it's life time,but the better boats are worth fixing.Check out some of the rebuilds that are being done on this site.The only brittle or hardened fiberglass I've seen was on a boat exposed to fire.
 
Thanks for the thoughts Ravon,
I do like the Double Eagles. There was a really nice one listed on uesdvictoria in December. If only I had the money then....... There are quite a few early 90's Trophys around, a couple of which have platforms that I like. Do you have any thoughts about say 91-92 Trophys re transom/stringer rot?
 
I wouldn't buy one until they came out with the Trophy Pro series but there's lots of guys that will tell you they haven't had any trouble with the older ones.If your running 20-30 miles offshore you'll get stress cracks everywhere,inshore you'll probably be fine.As you said earlier it's by far more important to have reliable power than a high end(expensive) boat but ensure that the transom and stringer/floor are solid.It's a very expensive fix if you can't do the work yourself.I've never had a problem with Bayliners design,it's their early build quality that would keep me from buying one and resale value.As usual you get what you pay for.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
this was up for sale a while back and just add motor
and you have a cracking boat

http://www.pearsonmarine.ca/

23' tollycraft total rebuild and clean as can be $13,000
 
fish brain said:
Thanks for the thoughts Ravon,
I do like the Double Eagles. There was a really nice one listed on uesdvictoria in December. If only I had the money then....... There are quite a few early 90's Trophys around, a couple of which have platforms that I like. Do you have any thoughts about say 91-92 Trophys re transom/stringer rot?
Click to expand...
92 was the first year of the 10 year hull warranty but I dont know if they were really any different than the 91.
Early trophys outsold any other boat 10-1 so the likely hood of hearing of some troubles with them is pretty good but I doubt its 10 times what any other brand was.
I am not a hatter or a lover of the brand but in my experience they were the best bang for the buck boat on the market.
I bought a new 92 and used it for 8 years, it was a great design and layout that took me anywhere I wanted to go.
The accessories were not the best of quality and the ride was not the best but at the 92 boat show it was 1/2 the price of the same size searay/whaler/grady

IMO stringer/transom rot is generally a factor of poor rigging not design, especially in newer boats with encapsulated stringers.
In almost every case I have seen the water intrusion could be traced back to a carelessly mounted piece on the boat.
That said, the piece may have been installed at the factory by careless worker or the rigging guy at the dealer/marina its not always something the owner did.
 
That Tollycraft is a NICE unit. I got all excited till I started thinking about what it would cost to finish kitting her out. With say a used 250 hp outboard $8-9K ,9 hp kicker $2500 down riggers $1000, radio $300?, gps $2500, extras. Getting around $30,000. My budget is $15-20K.
Are my guesses out, could I make it fishable for around $10,000?
 
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Thanks for the input Sr SQ,
I dont need a Cadilac, just a good solid reliable boat, set up in a way that a guy could fish it alone, or with a couple of buddies and not be crawling over each other.
As you mentioned the Trophys seem to be a budget boat, but they seem to do what I want to do at an affordable price.
When you talk about the ride, did it pound the waves, or rock excessively? It seems to me that there is always a tradeoff. You go deep V and they can roll a bit, flatter bottom/wider beam and they pound in the chop. If you had to pick a modestly priced hull for Sooke / Renfrew what would your pick be?

Sr SQ said:
92 was the first year of the 10 year hull warranty but I dont know if they were really any different than the 91.
Early trophys outsold any other boat 10-1 so the likely hood of hearing of some troubles with them is pretty good but I doubt its 10 times what any other brand was.
I am not a hatter or a lover of the brand but in my experience they were the best bang for the buck boat on the market.
I bought a new 92 and used it for 8 years, it was a great design and layout that took me anywhere I wanted to go.
The accessories were not the best of quality and the ride was not the best but at the 92 boat show it was 1/2 the price of the same size searay/whaler/grady

IMO stringer/transom rot is generally a factor of poor rigging not design, especially in newer boats with encapsulated stringers.
In almost every case I have seen the water intrusion could be traced back to a carelessly mounted piece on the boat.
That said, the piece may have been installed at the factory by careless worker or the rigging guy at the dealer/marina its not always something the owner did.
Click to expand...
 
That Houston on Pearson's web site might be worth a look? Fits your size and brand and the price seems ok to check out anyway
 
that tolley is a dress her up all the hard work has been done
all you got to do is add on the extra bits
you don't have to go the brand new route until time permits
pick up all the rest off places like here or used vic/ the craigslist

that hull taken care of should last another 20 yrs or more
and as i said its open for you just to add the bits
worth going seeing if your on the island
riggers electronics just go with some of the older stuff
lots of people upgrading to jump on the chrip so elite 7's and HDS 5-10 gen 1-2's
are coming up at good prices
out boards are hit and miss same with a kicker but used 9.9HT can be had for 1K
at least the positive about going this route your putting it on so you know how the boats going together
and will have some idea if don't or something stops working.
always good deals to be had on scotty's just got to move fast for the right ones.

all the best which ever way you go
 
The hurston could be a good rig. Could be a nice rig for the price, negotiate it down and then you could rig it up with kicker, riggers and maybe new electronics. Run it till it dies and repower with a new inboard when the time comes, or do it right away. Usually good deals on all the items like used electronics on this forum. Also look up selling the searay in the search, this boat is rigged and ready to go, located in sooke I think.
 
Thanks for the great advice guys. Just gotta wait for my pending deal to close then I can get my boat.
I just hope one or two of the ones I have my eye on are still around.
 
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