re: Question about an boat that's been sitting for years..

I used to have a Boston Whaler 13 sport. Great boat until it isn't. The hull was a 1973. Ran like a champ until about 2018.

The things to look for are transom failure and penetration of the double hull with water. Those two things will often go hand in hand. When the transom starts to separate, water will get in.

The 13 has a fiberglass double hull. Between the floor deck and the bottom layer is foam. When the foam brakes down and cracks allow water in, the water gets trapped in the foam layer. That will weigh the boat down to where it runs too low to be safe. The only fix is to open up the boat between the layers, suck out the foam, re-foam the hull, and then seal all the cracks. Maybe the easiest access is by removing and rebuilding the transom, which probably needs rebuilding anyway.

I have never done this level of restoration. I applied a layer of gel coat to seal small cracks and did other simple maintenance. All that was all easy enough. Good luck with a bigger job.

But let me say this about the BW 13, it is a fantastic little boat. I had the ugliest boat at the ramp. It didn't show off, but that little dog showed up. It ran skinny enough in the marsh, and was able to go a ways into the Gulf much better than any flat aluminum boat or Carolina Skiff. For playing around and fishing the Louisiana marsh and coastal area, it was a perfect little boat for 1 or 2 people.