advice on buying old fiberform

[Ohio Tristan]

Looking at buying my own motorboat. Would like a small cabin cruiser for lake Erie but cant really afford it. I often see some seemingly good deals on craigslist, most never email me back and a few i suspect were scams. Anyhow I cam across a listing for a 1974 24' Fiberform. Dont know the name of the model but I can provide a pic. Owner says 350 chevy, rebuilt outdrive, runs excellent. Ez loader. They say the interior has been redone before and stringers are good. Its pretty cheap, I wonder if it has problems they are not saying.

Is there things I can look for? I am not all that knowledgable on the particulars of boats, we had a 19' aluminum starcraft when I was a kid for downrigging on lake ontario but I dont know much about what to look for when purchasing. I've heard the term transom and stringers as a usualy thing that rots, can these be visually inspected on these boats? Sorry I guess I'm kinda newb with boats...

 

[hablur]

Re: advice on buying old fiberform

It looks like mine except a bit larger. I have a 19' Fiberform Continental HT. A very solid boad. I crawled around it and could inspect all the wood and found it very sturdy. I hope that helps.

 

[David Slater]

Re: advice on buying old fiberform

Just found this site, so don't know if you still need the info. Fiberform built boats for a long time and was eventually purchased by Bayliner in 1982. I have owned both Bayliner and Fiberform. 2 Bayliners and 3 Fiberforms. I like the styling of the Bayliners, but I like the construction of the Fiberforms. They have a very strong hull and are known for that.

The boat pictured has what appears to be an OMC outdrive. Considered by many to be an inferior drive. The bell housing/intermediate/outdrive are all bolted directly to the engine and trim is achieved by raising and lowering the front of the engine. It all goes through a large rubber boot on the stern. These drives DO have some inherent flaws...mainly the tilt mechanism and the coupling system which is not a U joint...BUT, they are built very tough. Honestly, my favorite drive is Volvo Penta, but I would not dismiss a boat I really liked due to an OMC drive. Contrary to what you might hear, you CAN still get parts for the OMC drive. I completely rebuilt a 800 series drive with no problem.

This is referred to as a "stringer" drive because the engine is mounted to two longitudinal stringer fiberglassed into the hull and the forward thrust of the outdrive is transmitted to these stringers rather than the transom of the boat...not a bad thing, but the stringers need to be solid and on some of the older hulls, these stringers have dry rot or just plain rot. You need to check that out. Here again, they can be replaced but it's a lot of work.

Overall...these old fiberforms were great seaworthy hulls. I currently own a 22' Baja flattop sedan that I am using and rebuilding. I love it, but you need to love working on boats. If you don't, spend a little more and get a newer hull. Bayliners are fine and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

 

[Ohio Tristan]

Re: advice on buying old fiberform

Thanks for the info! i have no idea if they sold it yet or not. We ended up buying a small 14' fishing boat for now, which we have had to struggle with registration issues and havent got to use yet, and my dad was going to give me his old 70's starcraft holiday (19' I beleive). I'd realyl like a bigger boat, but that will have to wait a few years.

The boat pictured has what appears to be an OMC outdrive. Considered by many to be an inferior drive. The bell housing/intermediate/outdrive are all bolted directly to the engine and trim is achieved by raising and lowering the front of the engine. It all goes through a large rubber boot on the stern. These drives DO have some inherent flaws...mainly the tilt mechanism and the coupling system which is not a U joint...BUT, they are built very tough. Honestly, my favorite drive is Volvo Penta, but I would not dismiss a boat I really liked due to an OMC drive. Contrary to what you might hear, you CAN still get parts for the OMC drive. I completely rebuilt a 800 series drive with no problem.

I dont really know anything about out drives, but my dad has told me to avoid volvo's like the plague. One of his friends I guess has had to rebuild his twice and cost thousands each time. I dont know much about em but I know I cant afford to spends thousands thats for sure! I think the starcraft he is giving me has a mercruiser, but again I dont know anything about them yet.

This is referred to as a "stringer" drive because the engine is mounted to two longitudinal stringer fiberglassed into the hull and the forward thrust of the outdrive is transmitted to these stringers rather than the transom of the boat...not a bad thing, but the stringers need to be solid and on some of the older hulls, these stringers have dry rot or just plain rot. You need to check that out. Here again, they can be replaced but it's a lot of work.

Hmmm, are these stringers visible for inspection?

Overall...these old fiberforms were great seaworthy hulls. I currently own a 22' Baja flattop sedan that I am using and rebuilding. I love it, but you need to love working on boats. If you don't, spend a little more and get a newer hull. Bayliners are fine and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Thats pretty much what all my research has revieled... they are great heavy duty boats. But I suppose anything as old as the 70's no matter how good in initial quality is probably going to need some serious rebuilding. I dont mind having projects and doing stuff mysels, and soon to build a nice size pole barn. But I just dont have any experience with boats yet, I'm a quick learner but I dont know if a big older boat is too big of a project for something I know little of and dont have any friends into boating either.

But I have made my first step towards owning a big boat ... just bought me a new truck. My half ton was only rated at 3200# towing capacity which even that fiber form would be well over that I would think. New truck is 6500 conventional hitch / 12.5k weight distrubuting hitch so think I'll be set. just got to decide if a bigger boat or camper trailer is nearer in the future!