Originally Posted by
SquamInboards
I agree and I might even go a step further to say, if the owner says the stringers have been done, I'd like to know a lot more, like an invoice from a professional or many photos of the process. Because all stringer replacements are not equal. There have been numerous documented jobs on this forum that have done things right, but even among those there is great variation. Some (probably none here) have decided on half-measures to "get by" and you want to be sure you're not inheriting one of those.
My own boat is an '89 and has spent its whole life in the water 6+ months a year continuously. It's ALWAYS covered, though, and the stringers are surprisingly good. That said, they're not perfect and of course they will need a complete replacement at some point.
One test I wish you could do more easily, is to put a boat on stands as follows: one boat stand under each corner of the transom and blocks under the keel in one place near the bow (just behind where the curve of the bow flattens on the keel). Then you can grab the bow on the side at the gunwale and shake up and down to see how much the boat flexes. A brand new boat will not flex - almost at all. A rotten boat, you can move easily 6" up and down at that point; it's scary. An older boat with good stringers (dry when you drill into them, strong motor mounts, solid floor) you can still twist a few inches up and down. Imagine what that's like for the hull as you hit wakes at speed. This was easy for me to do at the marina, with access to a marine forklift and boat stands... not really a backyard test. But very interesting nonetheless.