24 July 2012. This Sunday I cleared the deck to attempt to find a starting point for the project. As expected, she needs quite a bit of work.
 Yup, the deck has turned to a dried leaf type substance. I'll upload a video later that shows just how flaky this plywood has become. Notice the polystyrene under the deck. I assume at some point this must've been an acceptable material for buoyancy. it is obvious the deck will come off, regardless of the stringers and bulkheads. However, it is clear stringers are also gone. Aside from the obvious, there are other small things to consider. Having tested the transom by giving it a good knock all around it appears to be solid, but its still too early to say. Fortunately the hull looks good. There are a couple of scrapes here and there, but nothing seems to have gone much further than the gel coating. I found a very useful video blog from a gent in the states. He wasn't as fortunate as me. He bought a beautiful vessel believing it was in good nick. Unfortunately the deck was soft, nicely hidden though, and stringers all the way down to engine mounts and transom were mush.
FriscoJarrets' video blog is quite lengthy detailing ripping out the deck, stringers, removing the engine, mounts transom, cleaning the deck and then rebuilding the lot. Its quite lengthy, 79 videos I believe, all about 10 - 20 minutes long. Definitely worth watching to see exactly how it should be done.  A couple of useful items came with the boat. It seems to be most of what is required to convert to a center console. Its a difficult choice but I am starting to lean to the center console. I still have plenty of time to decide, however, if I manage to make up my mind earlier rather than later I can cut our the forward console section that wont be required and make removing the deck a lot easier. Oh, another nice to have is the galvanised trailer. There are a couple of spots where the galvanising lifted but its minor and can be repaired very easily.
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