77 Cajun Boat

[rolltide58]

Re: 77 Cajun Boat

Thanks southkogs, Wished I knew somebody thats has a boat to sell. I'm kinda scared now of getting an older fiberglass boat, LOL.
You're right about Atlanta, boats seem to be priced better there. Whats kinda weird about all the boats I've looked at, its been young people that owns them, young being from 18 to late 20's. Whats happened to the older guys selling boats? LOL

I live in Cullman, right between Birmingham and Hunstville. Atlanta is about a 3 hour drive, not bad if I can find a good deal.
I think I will tell the young guy, I have to test run it on the water first, then decide, if he will not agree, I will walk. The more I look at the boat, I'm thinking, this boat needs a paint job bad!! LOL

 

[southkogs]

Re: 77 Cajun Boat

I'm kinda scared now of getting an older fiberglass boat...

All depends on how much work you want to do, and how much you want to get back out of it. One of the guys scored a "free" boat, and has gotten it water ready pretty inexpensively (especially considering it's size). Look through the restoration threads and see what kind of effort goes into some of 'em.

I bought my boat for less than $1k with a bad sterndrive. This will be it's third season on the water, and I've got less than $3k into it including this years winter projects and gas for the past two seasons. BUT ... I've spent a decent amount of time in the garage and reading the shop manual. I traded elbow grease for cash expense.

If you can bump the budget to between $2k & $3k, you can probably find a nice bowrider runabout in reasonable condition (lake ready). Fishing boats will be a little harder to dig up. People keep 'em longer and ride 'em harder.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: 77 Cajun Boat

Did find another boat, Terry. 1978 15 1/2 foot. Looks just like the Cajun Boat, very similar. It has a 85 hp Johnson on it about the same width, but looks a lot better than the Cajun boat. Motor has just been serviced on it. Carpet and deck are good. Paint is coming off in some places, but still looks good and shiny. Trailer looks good. The guy is asking $1500.00 for it. I think Terry is a good boat??

Cajun and Terry built a lot of bass boats back then along with Ranger, Skeeter, Razorback, Ouachita, Kingfisher, Chrysler....to name a few. The 85 hp OMC was a popular powerplant pushing those rigs 35+ mph with 2 people and a full load of gear.

I know Ranger, at least in later years paid a lot of attention to encapsulating the wood. Some didn't. Most had a little pocket at the transom where the drain plug is located. The deck is cut away giving you access to the hullg. If you have holes in the sides of that little pocket, or no sides to it at all, allowing water that collects elsewhere in the boat to drain to the transom you can have wood problems.

Not much attention was paid to wood preservation necessarily. Some spoke of encapsulating the stringers and transom in glass, but getting an adequate seal is easier said than done, and I know some decks, exposed to this area were not protected on the underneath side.

Noting that most current boat builders use no wood in the construction speaks volumes for problems encountered in previous models....then there is added weight of saturated foam for those who sprayed in the foam which was open celled and collected moisture easily.

A tinny on the other hand has none of these problems if all metal and the floatation is encapsulated.

I rented a guide and his boat once while visiting Crystal River, FL. It was an older wooden boat open cockpit of about 20', flat floor like a skiff, with a 90 hp Johnson and an elderly man running it. That boat was so badly rotten that as the boat went over the waves the bottom physically moved up and down....I was expecting any minute that it would just give way and we would submarine. Not a fun trip and didn't catch any fish.

HTH.

Mark