A year ago last April I picked up a '96 18C for a song. I knew it would need a little work but could use it through the summer and get into it last winter. I started to see a little water in the bilge and it shouldn't have been there. After eliminating all of the possible sources I figured it had to be a bad transom seal and that the stringers would probably be bad too. That was the case. When I bought it I didn't put a scope through the risers or manifolds and figured they would need to be replaced. Not a big deal as it did not have thru-hull exhaust and I wanted that. Once we pulled the motor I also found that the back of the oil pan was bubbled and the timing cover wasn't looking great behind the pulleys so I replaced those as well. There were a few other things that would eventually need to be taken care of so we did all of that while the motor was out, including replacing the gimble. A long story short, with help from Chris Fitch from Fitch Marine in Hudson, FL, we replaced the transom core and stringers, got all of the maintenance items on the motor and Alpha One taken care of and it's back in the water. I'm running in the low to mid 60's on GPS with a Mirage 21P prop and I'm happy for now. next will be new trim tabs and then eventually a new interior. I did order a new cover this week from Cover Quest, thanks for the positive posts about these guys as it made shopping for a quality cover a little easier.
So we're back on the water and saving another Classic. Not the full restoration like we did with the '69 16C but this was in better shape and didn't need all that. The end of the rainy season is near and I'm looking forward to lots of time on the water!