Well, it is official. I am crazy.
I wanted to find another Aquasport that could help sell my father-in-law's trailer and my Johnson 175 Ocean Pro as a package. I found a 1987 Osprey 200 online in Miami, so I decided to make the trip after talking to the guy for over an hour about the boat. He was honest with me about a lot of things.
When I arrived, I found a lot more things that he did not mention:
- First off, the boat was named "Aquabeer".
- The boat has 15 speakers in it. No, that is not a typo.
- The whole floor is soft, which obviously tells me that where there is a soft deck, there are saturated stringers.
- The boat has more holes drilled in it than a block of swiss cheese.
- There are several patches in the bottom of the boat and one crack that needs attention at the splash guard.
- The wiring is completely a mess
I could go on and on, but to save you from reading, I decided that this boat was really a project not for the faint hearted...so I bought it.
After driving all the back from Florida and Texas, the 200 Osprey nagged me all the way home saying she wanted a makeover. To be honest, I had no intention of finding a new project, but these boats deserve it. I plan on taking the deck out and repairing stringers and raising floor, repairing the hull and repainting the whole boat, rewiring properly, filling in all the speaker holes, creating a full transom, and adding a trolling motor and power pole. I may consider making a crows nest helm, but we will have to see how much money I have left
This is going to be a huge project, but my wife is about to have a second baby in Sept, and I needed something that kept me out of the house when they were sleeping.
If you are anywhere near Texas, and you feel froggy, stop by and give me hand. There is always cold beer in the fridge. If you are not near Texas: I will post pics of the project as I go. Your job is to cheer me on like a loose cheerleader and offer any input that will help the rebuild.
