[bigeasy1]

Welcome to the site.
Loads of invaluable info here.Without a doubt you could buy a finished boat for (in many cases),a lot less than what it would cost to restore one.
But! where else could you have the fun of sweating in a tyvek suit,itching like a hound,working in very cramped spaces,grinding and sanding for an eternity,scouring the country for parts,and spending a ton of loot.What a blast.

After doing a few restos on previous boats,and saying I never would do it again I was introduced to a Potter 23 Seacraft Tsunami.
I was hooked,I found a 1974 23'that was a mess and spent three years restoring it.

I looked at it this way,I didn't have the money to buy one all completed,but I was able to finance everything out of pocket over the three year period it took to restore it.I'd save up some cash then buy supplies,save up more and buy more needed stuff.
so,at the end of the resto,I owed nothing to anyone,and I had (and still have) the extreme satisfaction of a job well done.

Would I do it again?I always say no way,but for some reason I always find myself looking for Seacrafts whenever I'm surfing around boat sites or Ebay or Craigslist.

It's a sickness,welcome to the club.