Wow, what the undertaking. I too had a GB Woody, the famous
Whittlers Dream GB42-125 Whittler´s Dream GB42-125 that is now with NuttinFancy after getting hit by a tornado and sold for scrap pretty much.
We did three major refits in 15 years, the last one replacing 80% of the vertical plywood in the house structure, and fiberglassing the 7 layer German epoxied plywood in a similar manner that the horizontal surfaces had been done at the factory yard back in the late 60s.
I noticed that NONE of the marine plywood that had been coated with FG had any deterioration and we had already spend a fortune repairing and repainting sides around windows and doors, I wanted a permanent fix with new doors (from GB Ltd) and new clamshell aluminum windows. We also removed the trim and created fillets to allow great drainage and fewer intrusion areas.
The new plywood, windows and doors, like the 100% new 2000 tinned marine rewiring with subpanels, batteries and specialized alternators (one on port for two 8D starting/house 12 v batteries) and another on Stbd for 8 - 6v AGM for inverter subpanel functions) and new CruiseAir skids and paint/ each round cost more than the original purchase price. The asking price in 2000 was $79k, I signed contract at $69k, after $1100 survey we ¨whittled¨ the final price to $40k.
Then another $38k and a $15k pick-up truck in trade on refit #1.
Another slow and methodical refit #2 was well over $70k, and the 3rd one that was the smartest one with new windows and doors and new FG/Marine plywood sidewalls was about $80k. All in I sunk well North of $250k and thousands of personal hours into that boat and ended up selling her 4 times, (but that is another story all together). The net of the final sale was $24k in payments of $2-4k/month to a guy that had like 4 other woodies. He got nearly $50k in insurance when the tornado tore up the A Dock and sunk all the FG boats and only the stout woodie remained, holding up what was left of the dock and roof system.
The boat was pretty much given away after that and the member here picked her up for the value of the fuel aboard her and is doing a great job restoring her on a budget to suit his needs. He is lucky to have some great skills and friends with additional skills. She may make it to be 100 years old. That is my guess anyhow.
You can spend as little or as much as you can imagine, but I think you know that by now. Any suggestions you may need can be found on this forum. Good luck and remember to enjoy the journey, even when part of that journey is sweating and sanding and all. Nothing better than messing about in boats.