# 1979 Allendale well boat



## SoundMan

Hey guys!
I have a 1979 Allendale well boat I was gifted when I adopted my son early this year. I had all intention of restoring the boat to take my lil man out and fishing when got old enough. However 80 hour work weeks (I run two small restaurant and two food trucks) have not given me time to get into the project. I am looking for someone that could take a look at it and at least tell me whether or not it is even worth it at this point. No leaks in it...it has held all of the water from hurricane Florence...
I love the boat and really want to have it restored. It means the world to me since it was an adoption gift. Just need to see if it is better to scrap it and buy something else. 
I am located in Sanford NC. Thanks for reading this rambling post.


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## Guest

Pm me as many pics from as many angles as you can! I am in Florida so driving up to look is out, but with enough pics I mighy be able to guide you. I will say that you will almost never recoup money put into a boat, but if done properly and you keep the boat for a long time it will pay off in usage vs buying new.


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## SoundMan

Hey Boatbrains,
I will send you pics as soon as I can. Thanks for wanting to take a look!


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## SoundMan

Boatbrains said:


> Pm me as many pics from as many angles as you can! I am in Florida so driving up to look is out, but with enough pics I mighy be able to guide you. I will say that you will almost never recoup money put into a boat, but if done properly and you keep the boat for a long time it will pay off in usage vs buying new.


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## SoundMan

Here are some pics I have added to my Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1QX0z6iK3WEN3LV8p9V0KsNUxASDEC64W


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## Guest

SoundMan said:


> Here are some pics I have added to my Google Drive
> 
> https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1QX0z6iK3WEN3LV8p9V0KsNUxASDEC64W


You’ll have to upload to this site, I don’t do google.


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## SoundMan

Boatbrains said:


> You’ll have to upload to this site, I don’t do google.


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## SoundMan

No worries. I will send shortly
Thanks


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## WhiteDog70810

You can upload media to this site and link it from there. You won't have to pay or set up another account.

Nate


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## SoundMan

Fantastic! Thank you so much!

Nick


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## Jpscott1

Soundman
I had 16 foot Allendale once. It was a late 80s model. Mine was not a “well” version as my outboard hung on the transom. I had a 2005 40hp Tohatsu on mine. I bought it from a guy in Hopkins SC in 2008. It looked a lot like a Bateau. The finish on the boat was a little rough- but it was a tough little boat. I fished and hunted out of it and really liked it. It had a lot of fiberglass in it and the bottom of the hull was thick. I sold it - but probably should have kept it. Good luck with your restoration. Post up some pics. I want to say the original owners of Allendale are now affiliated with SeaMark boats up in N.C.


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## SoundMan

I have added an album in the media section of the site. It is named 1979 allendale well boat. I'm not real sure if I did it right. I'm not the most tech savvy guy. Shoot...I can barely use my cell phone

Nick


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## SoundMan

https://www.microskiff.com/media/users/soundman.14503/albums

Try this one. Thanks


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## Guest

Ok, I looked at your pics and you gotta ask yourself... is the juice worth the squeeze on this one.
She’s gonna require a lot of work and a decent amount of cash to complete. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question. So I wanna see the restoration of it? Hell yeah I do! They are to my knowledge a “well” built boat. From a economical stance, the only way you will see a return on investment is to build it right, don’t cheap out, don’t rush it, use composite materials and document the build very well. Then keep and use the boat for many years before selling. If you use composites epoxy is not needed and polyester or better yet vinylester resin is much cheaper so keep that in mind when pricing core material. If you have to pay a shop to perform the work then I have to say you will never see a return in investment, but it will get done faster and with less itch than you can do it yourself. If you decide to tackle it, we are here to help and ridicule but you must learn how to add pics to the post lol, James!


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## WhiteDog70810

Will it be cost effective? Depends on how you look at it. You will probably never get your money out of it at resale. However, you can probably fix it for cheaper than buying a new equivalent boat. Once repaired properly, it should be as solid as the day it was first completed, if not stonger, so don’t sweat the risk of dumping money into a lemon. Does it have enough sentimental value to justify the time and expense? That is your decision to make.

I respectfully differ with BB on the subject of materials. Based on JPS’ post, there is a lot of glass on this hull, so it will be heavy for it’s size no matter what materials you use. While “no-wood” is a positive at resale, I already said that you’ll never get your money back and I stand by that. This is a ply skiff, so I’d use marine ply and epoxy to fix it just because the materials complement each other, the weight penalty is peanuts in this case and those materials are so easy to work with for the average garage builder.

The hull is pretty simple and the skills needed to fix it are easily within reach of a weekend warrior working in his garage. While a hard charger with a reasonable budget could knock out this work in a few months, most weekend warriors would take a couple of years to complete it due to the routine intrusions of life.

The real questions are:

-Will you make the time available to work on it starting now? This hull isn’t getting better with age and the longer you procrastinate, the less likely you are to start the project, much less complete it.

-Does building a boat sound like as much fun as fishing, watching the game, flower arranging or whatever it is that you do for fun? All build time will come out of your recreational time budget. You will never finish building a boat if you’d rather be doing something else.

-Do you have a history of never finishing projects once the initial excitement wears off? Be honest.

-Do you have the budget to pay someone else to repair it? You can spread a home rebuild over time, but a pro will likely require half down and half on completion. This rebuild will take somewhere between a couple or few thousand dollars, although I can’t be more accurate than that.

If you don’t have the time, budget or interest, sell it or pass it on ASAP to someone who does before the condition further deteriorates.

Until you make your decision, get the boat out of the rain. Sweep out the leaves, wash the hull, vacuum out the grit and scrape out some of the rotten ply. Give the hull a chance to really grab your interest.

Nate


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## Guest

I’d still go composites, the cost difference isn’t much when considering cost of resin. The composites are a little more forgiving to water intrusion due to novice build, they can delam from water intrusion but will not rot. Wood is great, but you better make sure it is sealed or you’ll be doing again in no time.


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## Jpscott1

Soundman- here is a pic of what my Allendale looked liked- for inspiration purposes.


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## WhiteDog70810

Boatbrains said:


> I’d still go composites, the cost difference isn’t much when considering cost of resin. The composites are a little more forgiving to water intrusion due to novice build, they can delam from water intrusion but will not rot. Wood is great, but you better make sure it is sealed or you’ll be doing again in no time.


Just remember that it isn’t worth the effort to double up on “cheap”; don’t use ply core and polyester resin. That is how your hull was originally built and that is why the ply core is rotten. Vinylester doesn’t like ply either. If you use vinylester resin, you need to use composite core. If you use ply core, you need to use epoxy. The combination of ply core and polyester resin are the reason “no-wood” construction is popular.

Nate


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## Guest

WhiteDog70810 said:


> Just remember that it isn’t worth the effort to double up on “cheap”; don’t use ply core and polyester resin. That is how your hull was originally built and that is why the ply core is rotten. Vinylester doesn’t like ply either. If you use vinylester resin, you need to use composite core. If you use ply core, you need to use epoxy. The combination of ply core and polyester resin are the reason “no-wood” construction is popular.
> 
> Nate


Well said!


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## SoundMan

Thank you so much for the input. I'm going to bite the bullet and get started on her soon. Hopefully my wife wont divorce me in the meantime...
First question.
I have been able to get most of the ply off of the hull but some is still pretty well stuck. Is there a suggested way to remove the rest? I am trying not to bust through the hull by using too much pressure on the glass.


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## Guest

Try some 24grit on a 7” grinder. The initial grinding/sanding and prep work will be the hardest part. Once through that it gets better!


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## SoundMan

I was using a 4 inch grinder and realized I was terribly under equipped. I have since upgraded and will continue with the 7 inch. I'll post pics and document my progress. Thanks so much. I'm excited to get back started.


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