Your 100% correct and I don’t think that I want the champagne hang over that a cigarette project would leave me with.

If you are worried about a couple of grand, you need to go down in size and get a FRESHWATER boat with a single engine that is ready to run. It's amazing how these boats will add up. I purchased 2 Arneson ASD7M surface drives to put on my 1994 38 foot Top Gun. I put the boat in the shop in Jan. and I still don't have it. It was suppose to cost $5000 in labor to do the conversion from Bravo 1 to Arneson ASD7Ms. All kinds of problems came up. To find out, they did a leak down test on both engines and I had an engine problem. One of engines had to be rebuilt. When they cut holes in the transom, the wood was wet but not rotten. The bravo drives where leaking and I did not know about it. Cigarette did not seal the wood when they cut the bravo holes in 1994. It took a month to dry. This through my boat into boat season and the shop became over loaded. After buying the Arnesons, I did not know that you had to buy external water pickup, sea strainers, hydrualic hoses from the engine room to the new helm that has to be installed, and oil coolers for the transmission. Also, I had to buy 2 new starters because the original starters were too big and would not fit for some reason. Another surprise is that you need 2 power steering pumps, one for each engine. The steering is different and the hydraulics are controlled at the helm. If you lose one engine, you need the power steering pump on the other engine to steer. I am sure I am leaving more stuff out, but in the end, the $5000 is turning into $15,000 - $20,000. That is your entire budget. Good Luck!

That sounds like a lot of extra work. I honestly didn’t think that I could get into a Cigarette boat for the price that im working with but figured it was worth asking if anything was out there. Cigarette is one of my top 5 choices; someday I will own one of them.

I love my Cigarette Top Gun. It's a great rough water boat; nevertheless, if I had the option to start all over again, I would consider a 28 foot Skater cat with a couple of huge outboards. Tired of dealing with all the maintaince of high performance inboards. They break and they cost too much money to repair.

You could try this
http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...o45297-en.html

I have a 30 formula 302 for 13k, close to a cigarette and less than the 20k that you are looking to spend

Go get a 25' Baja and get your feet wet. I have that 30+ Cig and a bit more then 20 payed with 4 times that in it now. Will be nice though.

Holy old thread Batman. Three years old and OP hasn't logged in since 2013.

I have a 28 Skater also, you better have a 100k plus budget to get into a used one that runs, then don't forget the spare gear cases, as they are the weak link, even under warranty.

Not sure what you guys are talking about, project boats are a great, cheap, and stress-free way to get into performance boating. Belly up to the bar.

Not to mention you chose to go with a Cigarette, where everything seems to cost twice as much for the same thing everyone else has, still can't figure that one out.