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Howdy from Texas,
I just purchased my first boat, a 1968 13' whaler with an older 40hp mercury hanging off the back. It is pretty rough with a lot of spider cracking on the gel coat but the hull seems to be pretty solid with a few small areas that will need some fiberglass repair.
First question, the boat has two batteries in it, one just to run the trolling motor, (which I am thinking about ditching) the other to start the engine, electric horn, radio and a cooler that's been turned into a livewell. Where do most 13's have their battery located? I have one underneath the side console and one in front of it. Wouldn't it make more sense to have them in the back of the boat? Or is this too much weight in one area of the boat? It has the engine back there and it also has a cylindrical 6 gallon fuel tank right in front of the engine.
I am planning on taking the week of spring break off of work, ( I'm a college studen that also has a full time job) and repainting the gel coat on the bottom. I'm undecided what to do with the interior. I want to keep the original blue interior but I'm kind of undecided because of the cost of the original color, when I can get white gelcoat from LBI for a fraction of the cost. Opinions? Or is there a cheaper way to go about keeping the robins egg blue? I like the rubberized coating that was used on the keltoncrew site, but I am trying to keep it as original as possible and that isn't very original.
My other question is how do I know if my boat had railings on it originally? There are a few remnants of what look to be the hardware to keep railings in place on the sides of it but I don't know for sure, are there close up pictures of railings on a 13' somewhere? I haven't been able to find any.
Thanks for any help, I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions in the future.

Wayne