[OTTERLY COOL]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the responses - looks like I'll be able to find someone local. For those of you who asked I want to do the following:

Keep I/O but check and, if necessary, repair transom
fix 2 soft spots in floor
awlgrip hull (exterior)
new fuel tank
new wiring system
gel-coat engine compartment
fix something rattling on port side of hull(can't find it)and add new foam
generally clean up the gel-coat stress cracks
(mostly around gunwale - the guy who had it before me put about 200 screws into the hull; most of them did absolutely nothing ?????)
new windshield
clean up console and add porta-pottie (for "her")

The boat is seaworthy now - she was fishing when I bought her. In fact, the guys who worked at the yard ( a "new" seacraft dealer) used this boat, which had been traded in on a new 23, for their own fishing trips even though they could have used a new one ( the yard's demo).

I guess that also answers some of the questions that were raised as to why not just get a new one. THEY'RE NOT THE SAME. I don't think the new ones have the "build" the Potter hulls have BUT in any case, the hull is NOT the same design. The new hulls are 8'6 wide not 8. That's a small difference, but it's enough to through the ride off. And they just don't look right - they look like other mass produced boats with a high price tag. There really isn't anything special about them.

Anyway - thanks and keep talking to me.