possible purchase - 1989 18' Few questions.

[alexh]

I have been on a search for an 18' for some time now, and one has finally come up in my area. I went to look at the boat last night, and have a few questions. First off, the hull itself is in good shape for its age, no ground up keel, serious gouges or scratches. The gelcoat is faded, but will buff back nicely. The transom *feels* solid. I did not put a crazy amount of force on the motor to see if the transom would flex, but it felt good. All previous holes have been sealed up as needed. Once inside, the floor has soft spots that run to fore and aft on the left and right side of the stringers. The fuel tank has had work done to it before, so it will probably get replaced once the deck comes up.

Once I got under the boat, I noticed some cracks that ran along the hull at the steps. These are bigger than hairline/stress cracks, but not so big they're making voids in the hull. They run a good length of the hull, I would say the entire flat length before they start to make the turn up to the bow. Could this be stringer separation? I looked through every possible hatch to look at the stringers but it was hard to see much of anything. Everything looked as if it was structurally sound.

This is the first seacraft if have ever looked at that didn't have bottom paint, so I could really see what was going on with the bottom. I'm just trying to figure out if what I can see on the outside correlates to damage I cannot see on the inside. A new deck/tank/rewire doesn't bother me, but the cracks along the hull length seemed to be an area of concern. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Alex.