greeting's gentle men I am very new to boating and need some help, I am looking at buying a silver queen 35 1972 house boat, the top is pretty much trashed(handy man special) but my main concern is the water in the engine compartment and in the hull, there is light brown water in 3 of the four sections of the engine compartment 1-2 inchs deep, and looking thru the center access panel in the middle of the boat i see the same water but it is abouit 4 inches deep, I belive the color if the water is due to wood bleeding which is why I am concerned I chipped of some paint on the transome and found that the inch thich plywood that is running almost the entire width of the boat is black and rotted and the rubber boot on the outdrive has had holes chewed in it by something, I know this is a fiberglass over wood boat so how do i check the ... wooden ribs of the hull to make sure they are not rotted? the boat is currently sitting in water at a marina it is also listing to the right about 2 inches.
thnx for any help u can give

FOR SURE EVERY THING IS ROTTED. THIS BOAT HAS NEGATIVE VALUE. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT THE OWNER HAS TO PAY SOMEBODY FOR DISPOSAL.

IT'S A SHAME THAT BOATS LIKE THIS ARE USUALLY SOLD TO NEWBIES WHO HAVENT GOT A CLUE. IN MOST CASES YOU ARE WAY AHEAD TO PURCHASE A BOAT THAT IS IN RUNNABLE CONDITION. IF YOUR A NEWBIE, GET THE ADVICE OF KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.

It certainly sounds like she's pretty rotted. There aren't any "ribs" ( structural members that run perpendicular to the keel) in this type of boat they just have "stringers" ( they run parallel to the keel) In most fiberglass houseboats like this one the stringers are made of built up pieces of 1/2 in plywood generally 2 to 3 _layer_s so you end up with a stringer about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick and from 14 to 3 inches tall ( depending where they are located with respect to the chine ( the corner where the side of the hull meets the bottom ). close wrapped in fiberglass and bonded to the skin of the hull. The stringers are directly under the floorboards, you have to take up the floor to get to them. I would say the are shot. If water gets into the the stringer plywood they rot very fast since the endgrain of the plywood really wicks water like a sponge. The sides of the boat support themself no real structural wood components in the sides - just the bottom. If you got the boat for free or VERY little money and you are real handy they aren't too bad to replace. It is a lot of work but the expense isn't bad. I've done a couple of "handyman" specials and they have come out well and I made good money when a sold them, but I'm semi retired and enjoy "tinkering". The black water could be due to a bunch of things. If you don't have the tools, and time, Old HouseBoater is right probably best to pass this one up.