Skip to the end if you don't want the whole story.
Back in the early 2000s, I had still been using my 14' aluminum runabout that my parents had gifted me when I was 12. It was a 1958 Sea King with a 1963 Evinrude 10hp motor. I eventually upgraded to a Merc 25, but my (now ex) wife didn't feel safe in it on rough water. She loved boating and the water, but she green-lit getting a bigger boat. For her, it should be luxury and safety. For me it had to be fast. For both of us newlyweds, it had to be cheap.
I found this Baja in Baltimore while I was home visiting for the holiday. It was terrible. The trailer was not set up properly and it had negative tongue weight. Just to get it hitched, I had to get in and walk toward the front so we could get the tongue out of the air. I transferred a bunch of junk from the bed of the truck to the front of the boat just so it would tow.
The factory 305 was seized, the floor was rotten, and the engine stringers were so rotted that they had grass growing out of them. I gutted it. Stripped it down, replaced the motor stringers, and replaced the floor. I more or less just dropped in a piece of plywood knowing that I would have to finish it properly later. I pulled the outdrive, gimbal, and engine. The gimbal was so corroded that I couldn't get some of the bolts out, so it went for scrap and I found another one. The outdrive went to the marina for a rebuild. The 305 went into a scrap pile. I pulled the heads and pan and realize there was nothing about it I could salvage, nor would I want to, because 305.
The factory rear bench was missing, so I measured a bunch of rear seats from extended cab trucks and discovered that one from a Dodge Dakota was perfect. The seat part folds up for more floor space, and the seat back folds down for access to the front of the engine. Had it reupholstered in white vinyl and put it in.
I bought a nice used trailer for it. The seller had a 21' Grady White on it and the surge brakes failed. He sold it to me for $200 instead of doing the repairs. I didn't need brakes for a 2200-lb boat, so I snagged it, replaced a few rusted bolts, and dropped the Baja on it. Ironically, I sold the junk trailer that came with the boat for $500 to a guy who was making a BBQ trailer.
I built a nice 350 Vortec for it (well, bought a reman shortblock and finished it). 9.5:1 with a mild cam, Holley marine carb, GMPP intake from a Volvo Penta, aluminum exhaust manifolds to shave a few pounds, and put it in the water. I was pleased that GPS speed was 60+ mph.
Skip ahead a few years to when I was getting a divorce. Realizing I had built this thing primarily for my wife, I didn't want it anymore. My friend stepped in and bought it from me and took it with him to TX. I just sold it for what I had in it which was $3500.
Skip ahead again to last year. He moved from TX to ME for work and left the boat behind at a friend's house. He called me and said that it's mine if I want it. That friend ended up selling his property and the boat needed to move. GRM relay to the rescue.... lownslow went and retrieved it. I just got back to PA yesterday with a boat I bought in 2003, sold in 2013, and re-acquired for free in 2023.
It's wasted. I think my friend bought it to save my ego, parked it in his back yard for 10 years, and never touched it. The TX sun has killed everything. The carpet has turned to powder, the vinyl has turned into corn flakes, and the wood has all rotted. The fish finder screen is wasted (but it's also 20 years old), and the gauges are all hazed. One of the reasons I chose a Baja was because they built their hulls with all fiberglass. Most 'glass boats use a plywood core sandwiched with 'glass, but this one is a hull of 1-1/4" solid fiberglass. I knew it could never rot where it counts.
*TL;DR...*
Now accepting wild ideas, crazy thoughts, and creative photoshops.
I desperately want to modify the gunwales. I want to use structural foam for flooring, and I'm entertaining the possibility of alternate powerplants. Whatever it is, it needs to mate up to an SBC bellhousing pattern, unless someone knows if any I/Os use a different pattern.
It's going to be nicely dressed in some color/decals/etc. I want it to look like a million bucks.
Everything is on the table. I'll be buying some vacuum bags for laminating, I weld, and I'm a whiz with wood and screws. This is a long-term project because I don't have much free time or garage space. More pictures later.
