Can't sleep...

[TooFly]

Hi all,

What a great site! I'm hoping to learn lots, especially if I decide to buy this 70's Potter 20'er today.

I have virtually no woodworking or serious fiberglass experience, but I may be able to get some help with all that.

The boat I'm looking to get had its transom replaced with a full one over a decade ago. It's got a Gil bracket, which has a small mounting footprint (IMHO), and a few other additions. On the bracket is a practically new 150 E-Tec. I took it for a spin today and liked its soft ride. However, the stern seems to sit low and quite a bit of water pools in the boat, which leads me to my next fear. The corner drains in the stern of this boat lead through the bottom of the hull. Looking through the bottom of the boat freaked me out a bit. I understand that's how some boats were built back in the day. But it's new to me and will take a little getting used to.

There appear to be some stress cracks where the closed transom was filled in. I don't know if these are a sign of problems to come or not, but I'd like to find out sooner rather than later. The outboard also sits very low while underway. Actually, the turbulence practically hits the base of the cowling. Is that a concern? I am thinking that if I buy this boat, I'd also like to open up the splash well and add scuppers that drain out the transom to alleviate the pooling water in the stern area. Hydraulic trim tabs would be nice, too.

Is it a bad idea to close off the drains in the corners by the transom? This is the main source of the intruding water. Again, I understand that is part of the original design, but I'd like to change that if possible.

Thanks for having me.

Regards,
Paul