I am scared to ask how much...
 

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.com/page-14929.html

26 with a 525, sure looks nice.

You can but my 36 Outlaw for a lot less!

sweet boat, love the colors...and that motor

Don't tempt me Mark, Ali has given me a bit more allowance to paly with. :evilb:

You got a GOOD woman there, and the truck to get the job done!:D

You selling yours??

Everything is for sale.

I don't have it on the market, but have priced it to a couple of guys in the last few months. If a buyer comes along, we will start a new project.

next project going to be a baja?

Probably so.

Baja has been good to me, and I like the Baja family.

Would consider a 35 with 700's and even a 40 with 700's.

I like the new styles.

I think they're asking 117k for that with trailer out the door.
You can get it for much less -(maybe not from there), but I know you can order that boat for about 100k just need to shop it a little.

I agree w/ Dock. If you don't want 36 feet, try this:

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.com/page-14927.html

88,000 FOR 496 425 AT THE BOSTON BOAT SHOW THEY SAID 130,000 FOR A 600:rolleyes:

THATS NICE:D

That's a pretty boat with nice graphics. Sounds like a nice deal if your ok with black motors. -I'm sure they'l last forever. I just love the race motors. The 130k quote for the 26 OL w/600 is high. After shopping both motors on that boat w/other options (SST/SilentChoice/swim platform/dual batts/ stereo upgrade/depth/etc. etc.) the 525efi was out the door at about 102k and the 600 was 14,700-15k more.

I guess, as an owner of an ´06 525 powered 25OL, I can make a qualified (if however, biased) answer on this one.

There´s no doubt that you will look good behind the wheel of a bigger twin Outlaw (for the same money as a new single), run smoother through the waves and be able to take more friends along, too! 30, 33 or 36, they are awesome boats.

But....
It is extremely cool having a boat with a blue motor, that sound meaner at idle, far hotter at its 5350 revlimit (than a 5150 rpm HO), where you know you have fresh factory material,and it was built specifically to go racing (so its going to last a long time in a recreational application).
Its vice free handling allowing you to test your limits, without going over those of the boat. The comfort level is lower, but the excitement level is much higher.
And when you come to insure it, pay the marina fees and tank it up, you are smiling.....
and at eye level with the Cigarette, Fountain and custom boat owners......
because you´ve got a blue motor.

I reckon a 26 with well chosen graphics, a few custom details, an upgraded custom sound system and a 525 or 600.... is a really smart piece of kit.

Wild Card- nice jump shot.
What speeds are you seeing on gps?

Actually, that is very well said! :D

But my 2004 33 in the ad above is an awful clean fine riding boat, and yes, with black motors and incredible easy winterization with the little air pump. And still goes 71+ GPS anytime, any load, any gas amount, in 2-3 foot chop.

That is the boat I want. I was going to trade my 277 until M.M. offered 71K trade in for a 07 boat with 5 hours on it.

@socalstone. 81.2 mph GPS @ 5300 is my best yet.
Anyday 78 mph. The Imco extension box with 3" raised x really works well on this boat. I run a labbed 28" Bravo and the boat handles nice and stable. Got 80 hours on the motor last season and it runs like a dream.
Overtrimmed, the boat runs a roostertail like a surface drive without losing any top speed........

Wow, that's good speed. What did it run before you did the extension box?
Does it still get up on plane well with the raised x? Is your 525 100% stock?

The 525 is completely stock, out of the box, april ´06 built. It has the can bus digital software (which all blue motors now use), but I don´t think that makes it any faster than previous ones.
I did the whole conversion in one shot, last may, so can only tell you that before my boat with the stock 496HO ran 67 mph @ 4900 on a merc labbed 25 Bravo prop.
So I got between 11 and 14 mph by going from black 425 hp to blue 525 hp (but there are thread loads of discussions about THAT 100hp difference).
My opinion is that Ron, at Imco, who sold me the box, was right about the fact that on certain boats the raised x and the box can bring 3 - 5 mph.
The box has hardly influenced the hole shot at all, although I should be faster out of the hole than with the 496, the boat feels about the same. 25OL´s are slow out of the hole because of the notched transom but it doesn´t cavitate and rev its nuts off before hooking up like some of the bigger boats that run higher pitch props. "You could still use the boat for waterskiing if you wanted to" were Ron´s words, and he was right.

Chriswithaboat"That is the boat I want. I was going to trade my 277 until M.M. offered 71K trade in for a 07 boat with 5 hours on it."
Early trade-ins are always expensive. A 26 with a blue motor will be worthwhile waiting for!

Those are great numbers you're getting. That is a huge difference from the 496. -must've put a big smile on your face and totally justified any costs involved when you made those first test runs!

I ordered a blue motored 26 OL last month. Supposed to be deliver early april. I'll let the warranty expire before I make any big changes, but I'm already thinking about that extension box... may be at the top of the list, since your boat responds so well to it. I'd guess the 25 and the 26 are almost identical to the water.

I had an outboard river rocket about 15 years ago. I set the hydraulic jack plate up so that fully raised the propshaft was dead even with the bottom of the hull. At speed you could raise the motor and just watch the speedo climb. It was good for 5+ mph in that boat.

Maybe, but anything that loses 30% of its value that quickly is just overpriced....

Socalstone, well good choice, sir! You are going to have a great time with that boat. Latham steering and Kplanes and a nice new blue motor! Having had the 26 and 25 next to each other on the trailers, there are alot of visible differences to the hulls. However they both follow Baja´s classic principles and differ very little in their standard (conservative) x dimensions. I would guess that the 3" raised x box will work on the 26, as well.
The 25 was supposedly good for 75 mph with the 525, I was told. Does Baja quote any figures for the 26 with the blue motor options?

Way to go SoCal. Keep us posted.

WildCard, your boat is awesome.

I think mine may be the only one (call me crazy) with a 600 so no gps numbers yet. I know bajas take a lot to move so I'm keeping my expectations down. Nice to know that the raised x works well on your 25. great photos.

And I was too polite to ask!
A 600 in your 26!
That is gonna be one very cool boat. you will not be disappointed.

A quote Howard Custom Boats owner, Gene Willen in Feb ´07 hot boat "where else can you get a motor that idles like a 496 and has the punch to push a 28 foot 5000 pound boat to 90 mph under warrenty. My feeling at this point is that anybody who is considering a different aftermarket motor might want to reconsider. It´s the most impressive motor I´ve seen"

he convinced me.

The Howard 28 Bullet and the 28" Sport Deck ran 80 mph with the 525, and BOTH gained 10 mph top end with the 600. 90.6 mph is what the Sport deck ran.
It ran only 86 mph with the Taylor Performance TPI 700 EFi, the motor manufacturer that Howard normally recommends.

My 25 runs 80 mph. Now. go figure.........


My 600 should be here by April, as well.

Get your 600 SC while you can.

Rumor has it that with the success of the 700 SC that the 600 SC will be discontinued next year. They say that the 525 will be replaced with a N/A 600 HP and then you will have the 700 SC , the 850, 1075 and the new 1250.

Makes you wonder what the 496HO might become? If they would put the better internals in it that could be the new 500 or 525.

I heard the rumour about a 600 EFi but it led nowhere. Instead Merc Racing showed a CE662SCi at the Miami Show. A downrated 700 for the european market, still hooked up to the NXT drive.

No, that would overkill, and a financial waste in a 25/26. But a motor hooked up to an XR.....

Merc changes their models, uprating and replacing at regular intervals. The 500Efi, 525SCi and 575SCi have proven themselves. The 525 and the present crop of blue blower motors have an amazing reliability record.

Another observation that I find interesting, in comparing the 525 and 600 motors in the Howard Bullet tests in Powerboat. At any given comparable speed up to the 525 Vmax at 80 mph, the 600 is using less fuel..........
Longer prop, less revs, same horsepower.
Not that saving fuel is why you fork out for a 600:rolleyes: :rolleyes: and i cant complain about the fuel mileage of my 525.....

Yeah that Howard Bullet test produced some amazing numbers. The powerboat article said 89 on gps. I wish the OL would run that fast!
I know the Bullet is a stepped hull, slightly less V... 22.5 I think. It's probably got a pad as well to run that fast. Like I mentioned before, I'll keep my expectations in check. Regardless of the top speed, I also love the comfort level in the cockpit- Those Mcleod bolsters are 2nd to none and combined with the built in foot rests, the bajas are the most comfortable boat I've ever sat in. I could easily spend the entire day in the drivers seat... -and I plan to do just that!

Well yeah, it doesn´t do any good comparing the Bullet with the 26.
I was conservative about my expectations about the 525 and shall be realistic about the 600 too! I found some paperwork the other day from march 2006 where I had estimated the 525 at 75 mph and the 600 at 80 mph!

The Baja does give a commanding view of the water ahead and offer you more protection than many of the flatter custom boats.
you´re so right about the driving position. It´s something that I really like about the 25, and they´ve made the 26 a little more spacious. thats good.

I put the boat in the water yesterday, to investigate a slight leak in the extension box that had bugged me on the last run in 2006.
With a mirror and a lamp I sorted out the area of the problem and decided it was time to do a short run.

Together with a 275 owner friend of mine, we left the harbour and cruised along the river at 45 mph just getting back into the feel of things and enjoying the sound of the open piped 525. As the first sign of chop (from a convoy of freight ships) filled our horizon, the speed increased with our pulse and soon we were flat out, the needle at 5400 with the rev limiter chirping as the boat danced on the chop. The GPS gave us 83 mph satisfaction, although we knew we were running downriver, and couldn´t book the number. 79 mph was the real figure, and that with a brimmed tank.

We stopped in at some friends down the river and came back in time to slip and wash the boat off in the evening sun. We had done a 50 mile round trip, and started the season on a good note.
I went to bed with that smile!

Tonight, I took the access plates off the box, checked everything through and found the problem. The hose clip attaching the cooling water hose to the transom elbow had fractured. I only discovered it because I started to replace the plastic elbow with a straight fitting in stainless (that a friend who also has an Imco box had made for me) and the hoseclip damned near fell apart in my hands.
Its always the little things!

Sounds like a great start to the season!

I heard that it may be close to 80 tomorrow and Wednesday- If it happens I'll be tempted to pull my boat out of the garage and stretch the legs a bit.