Re: 1979 sc America, 22 ft.: too old/good buy? probs?
Boat looks nice from the outside. However you need to poke around the floor with a big needle to look for wrotten floor, check the transmon if possible and all other wook in the boat. Lots of fiberglass boats have wood in the transmon and this can go bad. Fiberglass fuel tanks and ethanol fuel is bad, tanks get destroyed because ethanol dissoves the resin in the fiberglass. Verify if it has fiberglass tank and go from there. At this age you could have many problems or very few.
I got a good looking metal starcraft that had rotten floor in places (covered with carpet so the floor looked good), transmon had water leaking in from the top and rotted the transmon, all rubber needed replaced (fuel lines, bellows, water hoses, other) make sure you run the boat before purchase to make sure manifold is not broke, no water leaks, check outdrive oil for water. Be prepared to do alot of work to a 1979 boat if you want it in tip top shape, unless the previous owner kept up on all the maintance.
Has it been in salt water? if so then the engine suffers wear and tear with no fresh water cooling system.
My first boat cost $4200 I am probably at about $10,000 now with new engine, outdrive, all new wood floor and other stuff. Done all the work myself and have yet had to do the same thing twice.
