Well scupper,
Boston Whaler did debut a center console in '62, a version of the later Montauk with the Mahogany console 16' trihull. So that much is true. A hearty sole could venture nearshore in one but they were small, wet ride, and beat you in a chop,tight to fish out of and no storage. I think the Aquasport was the first to really create the market from which all others followed. As far as value of the older 22-2's unless it's museum quality it's whatever the market will bear. As with any old fiberglass boat, the materials and coring suffer over time and everyone knows that. What you can't see is what is below deck and you have to demolish the boat to find out. You can easily drop $20K in one to restore it and you may break even on resale. There is no financing to buy one, nor easily insured. So you're working with cash buyers, so writing a check for $20-30K severely reduces the market size. It seems that most people that buy one of these boats aren't really interested in it being original anyway. They want raised transoms, engines on bracket, live well systems, towers and improved drainage just for starters so they just want the basic shell with the classic lines to start from. I have an original '73 in fairly nice condition that gets lots of oohs and aahs at the ramp or wherever I stop but I'm real about the market value. I paid $6500 for mine about 10 years ago with two very low hour 115 Mercs and boat had been garaged for 30 years, I know I've dropped another $5K in upgrades and I'd be very lucky to break even if I sold it. I bought it because I grew up running them, rigging them, fishing, skiing and they're just knock down gorgeous in the water, the investment side was never a consideration, it's a sunk cost with little hope of return but who cares?
