Newer Hull or Face lift to Older hull and repower?

[NikM820]

I sold my Seafarer recently and was waiting for winter to come along in hopes of getting a good deal on a Marlin someone was growing out of. My plan was to find a 2000ish hull with newer power or repower myself but regardless I wanted the boat rigged with A/C and a generator. I came across an older marlin 1996 without motors for a great price. The down side to this is the boat has nothing, not even a hard top, but figured I can have the boat stripped, give her a face lift and hang some new Yammys on. I know the cost and headaches of updating the electronics, motors, hardtop and the upholstery. I really don't know if its worth the time and money to add a generator and A/C. I did a quick search and see a lot of people just putting on a portable generator and small AC units. Is this the way to go? I really would like the ability to cool the cabin while we are fishing offshore. Has anyone tackled the project of installing a generator into an older boat? If so I would love to know the final cost and if you're happy with the results.
The other side to this is wait and find a boat already rigged with 4 strokes, a factory AC and genny. Seen a few selling recently for under 80K and would really hate to jump into this older boat and wish I waited for that deal to come along on a newer hull!
thanks everyone
Nick

 

[Salinity Now]

I cant say I was in the exact same shoes recently, but it kinda feels that way, I bought a 265 in Jan this year, its a 2001 with OX66 motors, orginal electronics, hull in great shape, sub-systems and all the "stuff" that goes with it were/are showing thier 10 year age, I bought the boat for about 15k less than most all comparables out there, the owner wanted to sell in a hurry as he recently bought a 305 and didnt want two boats or storage costs.

I love my boat, Ive gone through and re-conditioned about 75% of the systems, done new electronics, outriggers, numerous other auxiallarys, the motors are coming back to life and getting to be dependable, but I say ALL this with one common theme....headache, less fishing time, worry about getting back to the dock on my own and not going fishing for maintenance issues......all that being said between the time Ive spent, the extra money Ive spent all added up would probably be not that much less than a newer model 265 with more up to date running equipment.

To play devils advacate though, I really do enjoy working on the boat, and with the price of gas as it is.....sometimes I think staying peirside to get it ready for those "perfect" days may be better than going out killing time and money anyway. I like knowing that Ive rebuilt or gone through alot of the stuff myseld and verified its working properly, so there is certainly something to be said about doing things yourself, I guess with anything like this it comes down to personal preference.

But if I had to do it over again.....Id pay more and buy newer.

 

[NikM820]

Thanks for the response. I can understand things both ways. For my price range if I get a newer hull I will have older motors but buying this older hull I can afford new power. All other things being equal at least I will have the reliability of the motors. Im going down to check out the hull this week and it will be my first steps on a hull this old. We will see :hmm