Bought a 2006 19' TV "Baycat" with the one piece molded deck and gunnels. Nice layout with the forward and rear livewells. It has a 2006, 115 HP Suzuki with hydraulic steering. Paid $12,000 with the aluminum trailer, GPS/ depth sounder and VHF. The orignal sales invoice showed the rig sold new in 2007 for $22,200. A tremendous amount of depreciation for a rig barely two years old.
The molded deck and gunnels have no wood and are cored with what I believe is "Nida core". Nice layout.
The floor in the boat is plywood that is preservative treated. I cut a section out of the floor under the helm seat approximately 18" by 38" and it was totally free of any voids and very solid. The plywood is a first class product. Glass work inside the hulls was nice, much nicer than I expected. I am getting rid of the "flip" style seat and ice box combination and welding up a new seat which will have a bigger, better insulated removable cooler.
The hulls are all "foamed filled" according to TV and about every ad you see by anyone selling one. "Foam filled" here means like a cereal box is "filled". No where near "filled" with foam. More like two logs of foam laying in the hull with plenty of open voids. My hull probably had 65 gallons of water in it!
Drained the water out of the hulls and installed drains for the hulls on each hull in the stern like they should have at the factory for such a poorly sealed closed hull. The hulls are easy to drain and dry since the foam is put in so loosely. The foam amazingly enough had no water absorption when I sectioned a few pieces. Not the first bit of moisture absorption! This may not always be the case in older hulls.
Removed every screw and penetration into the floor and cut out the screw holes with a hole saw. Blew air into both hulls with fans 24/7 for about three weeks. Hulls and plywood dry out very quickly with the air flow through the open holes where all the screws were and the new drains in the transom. Filled the holes with solid fiberglass slugs epoxied in. When done the only penetration will be the PVC rigging tunnel.
The nice large console is held down with aluminum angle and stainless screws. It's a mess in my opinion and showed lots of corrosion with the dissimialr metals and constant saltwater drenching. The console install is perfect for allowing every drop of saltwater that hits it into the inside. Also the battery was under the unsealed front console seat and a corrosion nightmare. The negative battery cable was 90% broken in two at the battery connection. Amazing the engine got enough voltage to start. The 35 gallon "Moeller" brand plastic gas tank is great. I love having it mounted under the console however The TV install makes it impossible to remove without removing the console. Changing that also. Nothing like being able to remove your tank and upending it for a cleaning. One glance also tells you exactly how much fuel you have since it is see though.
The transom is very nicely and strongly made with a double layer of that nice plywood with a good layer of glass on each side and in the middle of the plywood. Unfortunately the penetrations are poorly sealed. The self bailing deck drain tubes were corroded even though this boat was never stored wet and had no bottom paint. If you own a TV pull those brass tubes dry the plywood and redo them. I slugged every penetration with solid fiberglass and have made solid fiberglass blocks for every screw going into the transom. Used fiberglass pipe for the hull and deck drains.
The hardware, rod holders and wiring were all of good quality. Tinned wire, heat shrinks. Some of the nuts were even stamped with "316", the best grade of marine stainless. Four nice heavy stainless rod holders and also 4 heavy duty stainless cleats. Terrible install on the cleats. Then some things have carbon steel washers and nuts. Maybe installed by the original owner, I don't know but they were a mess.
If you buy one I would advise immedately installing drains for both hulls and resealing or eliminating every single penetration into the plywood floor and transom.
I can understand why some people who bought new hate TV. The older posts do give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. Quite a few other "I can't believe they did that!" but you should have the general idea now.
Make sure you buy it "right"! If you have the time and enjoy working on boats you should be OK.
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