A friend of mine bought a boat in similar circumstances- a 44 DeFever that had caught fire and burned on the deck of a freighter when it was coming to Baltimore as a new boat. Someone was welding up above the boat and the molten slag fell through the shrinkwrap on the DeFever and the upper deck burned. He bought it for 30-40K I think, I don't recall exactly. It had no hours on it.
He cut the top deck off and rebuilt the entire boat. It came out beautifully and much of the interior is done to a higher standard than DeFever, but it took him three years and a great deal of effort. The boat in the ad looks like a good deal if it wasn't sunk or flooded by fire control efforts. I think the value is in the machinery if it stayed dry, and not in the boat itself.
As to a group project, which group did you have in mind? LOL