TOPIC: 1958 Bell Boy Banshee Project

So far I have only bought Aluminum boats and have always like wood boats and some old Fiberglass boats.. I seen a older post on Bell Boy Banshee boats.. Well I've ran across a 1958 ( owner says 1957 ) but from what I've read here and seen on Bell Boy brochures the Banshee was only made in 58-59 .. and this seems to be the 58 version.
Well its what I would call rough.. but has all the emblems and tailfin aluminum pieces, steering ,dash interments, windshield,rear seats, and vintage Evinrude Big Twin outboard... but missing the front seats and the plywood floor needs total replacement.. the owner says the transom and stringers are all solid..
I'm not sure how the front seat and backs were attached.. I can't see very well on photos of others on the internet how they were attached.. any help here would be great !! this thing has a lot of dirt leaves and clutter in it that make it look bad but the owner says its solid with no exposed stringers under the fiberglass..
Heres a few pics as it sits now... any thoughts or comments on this one are appreciated..

This boat is for sale in Michigan if anyone is interested I can get you the owners info..

as long as everything seems to be there that is a good starter depends on how much work you want to put into it. mine looked like that it sat for 20 years popular boat too so alot of information on it. these guys know their boats

billy

The floor is gone...it's not there! I have never seen a boat with a rotten floor that didn't also have rotten stringers. Fiberglass covers the stringers but it also holds in water. Running a drill down into the top of the stringers will tell the story. The drill will pull out dust or wet mush. That also goes for any/all other framing beneath the floor. Take an ice pick to the transom low on the inside: soft or hard? Chances are that all the wood will need to be stripped-out all the way to the keel.

This would be a BIG project...hundreds of hours and a few thousand dollars: stringers, framework, floor, fiberglassing, carpet, bodywork, painting, rechroming, engine, wiring, controls, trailer, etc. To me, this would be a "haul it away for free" boat.

This was what was left of a stringer wrapped in fiberglass. The top portion of fiberglass was cut away to expose the rotten wood inside.

well i want to apologize if i might lead you astray, i should have said that i would take the project on , and i don't want to give you false hope on this being easy , or cheap. mine was chipper material and after twelve years i have something i can be proud of and no one can take that away . alot of people ,even my family said i would never finish it i did and now they have egg on their face. so you might find something in a little bit better shape to start with, or go out and buy one water ready, so please take whatever i say now or ever in the future with a grain of salt there are alot more experienced people here than me but i have tackled and i have finished this kind of project so i have a say , but enough of me you have a chance if you take it it is all up to you, nobody else can start stop or tell you otherwise, there are other models on here that was as bad if not worse before they started the project. OK i'm off my soap box now good luck with whatever direction you take. billy

Thanks Guys for both of your inputs !! This boat isn't mine.. I had thought of possibly buying it but after seeing it uncovered.. and how much work it was actually going to take, I decided to pass on it as I have more projects then I need at this time to take on a long term project to make this right.. I've seen others do miracles with boats looking worse but its more then I want to take on.. but if anyone is interested in it I can give the owners info to you..