This 1973 Searay 190 was born as an inboard / outboard, and was well worn when I first got it in around 1986. The floors and stringer were rotten, the engine block was cracked, the vinyl was nasty. At least it came with a very rusty trailer. So I ripped everything out (if you are going to do this, buy a paper suit. Don’t ask me how I know…) I installed new stringers, a floor, foam, new everything really other than the hull and the windshield. I bought a brand new outboard and as part of the repairs, I installed a new transom and modified the stern accordingly.

     I have not had this boat out in many years, though I do intend to make a number of additional changes to it, as my future plans include way more time on the water. I had taken nearly half the factory weight off of this boat, just between the re-power and redesigning it to have a mostly open cockpit, yet it could still do with some weight reduction in the bow. While primarily used for fishing, I’d like to see what kind of performance I can get out of it. So stay tuned – this is going to be a cool project. Besides for adding a motor jack and lightening up the bow a bit, a number of cool features are being added and this boat will get a really cool paint job.