Possible seafarer 226 purchase

[peter240]

I'm looking at an '89 226 with a '96 Johnson 200hp ocean runner and a hard top. Its pretty clean looking for its age but it would be my first fiberglass boat. The floors feel solid, I couldn't get any wiggle out of the transom but I noticed a few cracks and what looks like filler that I don't know what to make of it.



Also there is a fiberglass "reinforcement" where you step up to walk around the cabin by the interior light

I have only had aluminum boats in the past, I would intend to use this one in long island sound. Are any of these things to worry about?

*edited to resize pictures

 

[VeroWing]

First two pics are standard scuffs and nicks on transom corners. Third pic showing cockpit drain area shows some gelcoat cracking, which is also fairly common on this age boat. It is not normally a crack in actual fiberglass, just the gelcoat covering. It can be scraped out a little, cleaned, and touched up with some gelcoat if you like. Last pic is of standard reinforcing piece of fiberglass resined in place to strengthen that corner. It is on all of them, and done at the factory.

More important than those areas in pics, is to be certain that transom core and stringers are solid and not compromised by water getting into them. These represent areas that are expensive and time consuming to repair. Standard advice when checking out one of these models is to remove a couple screws from aluminum molding around edge of transom notch and push an "icepick type" tool into screw hole to see if core wood is solid. You can/should also do this step on outside lower transom where trim tab, transducer, speedometer, etc. is attached. if water comes out of screw hole, or core is soft and mushy in screw hole, it could indicate that transom wood core may be compromised, and need replacing.

 

[peter240]

Awesome, thanks for all the advice. I'll have to check the transom again.