Palo Verde, like the old river?  I used to go there to fish, but there was never enough water to do any kind of boating.  Has it changed?  We would take my buddy's bass boat and just use the trolling motor. Most places it was only a foot or so deep and narrow.  Some of those houses on the river would be way cool if there was enough water to boat there.

I'm guessing this is a Ford? Can you try to rig a cooling system pressure tester to check the  cooling system, timing cover and other passages.  If you can't pressurize the system it may be hard to find.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing your boat in person.  You've done a very nice job!

How much for the steering wheel?  Will you be going to Avi?  I'd like to take a look at it.

Damn Justin, that's getting after it!  Looking good man.  Any motor upgrades while you're at it?

Just got a quote for 485 to fix the damage minus new gelcoat
Feel like I should fix it hammer it for the summer then swap hulls ?
Baha'is it possible if I found a better drive that I could swap when I switch hulls ?

Me personally, this is probably what I would do.  Under 1500.00 total investment, and your boating for the summer.  Just shoot primer on the patched area and enjoy the boat.  especially if you don't have the time and tools to do a hull swap right now.  After the summer you can look around for a replacement if you still want to do that.

Brad, you've done a great job of building a community of friends with the common interest of boats, that's what I like about SCJB. More boating, a lot less drama here.

...so just curious, what's a facebook?   

See you guy's at Avi!

Curious of your plan of attack.  Are you planning on filling in the entire hole and then re-cutting for the new intake?  Have you laid in the berk intake to see exactly how much and where you need to add or remove?  I would think you'll be working from both sides (top and bottom) of the hull, which means flipping the boat.  Best way I can think of is to make a template or mold of what you want to add.  I would use a polyurethane  laminating resin for sure, not epoxy, and the bi-axial or heavy mat like Jake said, it's what your hull is made of now.  I would think a gallon would be plenty and maybe a yard or yard and 1/2 of clothe if you don't waste it.  Are you closing in the transom any?

If you're asking pros/cons of rebuilding this boat, I would say it looks like a decent candidate....as long as it's what you want.  The Olds, I'm sure you already now, is not the most desirable power plant.  The WJ isn't bad, it's a decent pump actually, and can be made to work, but again, it's not a Berkley so parts are not as readily available.   Boat and trailer look ok from what the pics show, but you would need more detailed inspection for severe damage or rot. 
When it's all said and done, general rule is you'll spend at least 1/2 as much MORE doing a resto as you would just buying a working boat, plane, car, or what ever you're thinking about building, and I don't care who you know or how talented you are with resin, wood, metal, torches or a paint gun.  Accepting this financial fact, these projects have to be a labor of love or they're not worth dragging out of the weeds.  If you still want to do a resto, by all means start taking pictures and posting up what your doing.  We all love a build thread.  Good luck.

Wow, looks like you're doing a beautiful job,  especially if you've never done this kind of stuff before.  As far as checking the bottom, it's much easier to flip the boat over where you can kind of map out the bottom.  You work with a long straight edge, (minimum 4', longer is better), about 48"-60" from in front of the intake to the back, and from chine to chine.  Measure the clearance between the straight edge and the bottom.  It depends on what you want the boat to do as to how crazy you get straightening the bottom.  If you're 3/16"ish or less, personally I wouldn't mess with it.  If you decide to flip it, put up some picks so we can see what you have.  Keep up the good work.

What ever the cause, glad it seems to have worked itself out.  Maybe one of them hoses you  changed was collapsing or ??  Time to go enjoy it.

Best way to learn about what your place diverter does to the handling of your boat is to go out and just play with it.  Run it all the way up and all the way down, then find the sweet spot.  It's a seat of the pants thing. 

I was just thinking about this.  Are you sure you don't have a restriction in the pump feeding the motor?  I don't believe a worn pump would cause this, but something plugging the feed from the pump could definitely give you grief.  Try pulling the feed line off at the pump and stick something like a /piece of welding rod or wire back into the pump.  The passage that feeds the motor is like 3/8" to 1/2", there should be absolutely no blockage there.  It should be wide open.  If someone has either done some work in the pump or maybe killed that pump at one time  that hole could be obstructed which would definitely cause an over heat issue .