SO I ended up getting the 97 165 STRIPER that I traded my JEEP for... It was mentioned in an invoice previously (that the former owner had) there was a soft spot around the seat behind the center console and quoted $2k to fix. I took out the seat and found that they had moved it once before and screwed it down an inch forward to try and grab better wood to hold. Upon moving the seat forward the existing holes were never properly sealed and caused the soft spot around the seat. I cut an access hatch under the seat area and not to any surprise, the wood was soaking wet (I washed the boat the day I got it) and basically fell apart in my hands away from the fiberglass.
Also when I touched the stringers in that area, they felt compromised and felt wet also. The deck around the center console and going forward is solid and does not feel squishy at all...
Is there a frame layout of how the 165 STRIPER model is made? Would it be the same as the 170? I was hoping it was just going to drill a bunch of holes and inject resin to help grab the wood in the soft spot area, but that is TOTALLY out of the question now once I opened it up as the wood just fell apart in my hand.
Rickk is going to help me try and get some photos uploaded in the next few days of what I have taken to show where I stand at the moment...
Appreciate any comments/thoughts/links for help.
Casey
