That says you have plenty of money to blow on this project. To each there own. I don't have the funds to have all that work done so I'd happily settle for it. Also it seems like your really into the "originality" of the hawk cigarettes. Just keep in mind these aren't ac cobras or corvettes. No one cares how it left the factory when there writing a check for it.

For me a blank canvas is better but more expensive. That you can make the boat yours. then its not so and so's old boat it yours. and If it has some history behind it it also away to move on from that.

If that's the case or the way you feel about it, then why worry about what something is worth, just buy what you want and do what you want to it. The way you started this post, it sounded like money mattered, that maybe you didn't want to get too deep, financially, into a project boat. If you start painting, replacing interiors, gauges, rigging, ect you're going to blow some serious coin, and that's on top of engine, drive and gimble rebuilds, provided it needs that stuff. Bottom line is, you'll never get your money out of it, so I guess it comes down to how much do you want to throw away? Who ever had the boat that Lipship is selling, dropped some coin, their loss is someones gain. If you drop 30k to 40k on something, do you realize that you could just buy a newer boat, finance it and get several years out of it with that kind of money? Especially seeing how cheap rates are right now? Just my 2 cents

Tim offers solid advise. Take it from someone that knows and has owned big and little cats and vee's, has built boats up from a bare hull and toen them down to rebuild and to update them. I assume Tim has literally spent nearly a million dollars on just upgrading and rebuilding alone over the years.

I know this had been done a few times before but let's break down the math...blank canvass style

Conservatively:
Good deal on the boat (really good deal) - 20k
Decent paint job but nothing crazy - 10k
New interior - 10k
Rebuild motors (not buy others) - 8-10k each
All new gauges - 3500
Rebuild drives - 3k each
Rebuild trannies - 1500 each

There's just the big things but there's ALWAYS the unexpected!

So you're roughly spending 70k. There's a LOT of turn key cafes for under 70k right now. Heck, there's a few Top Guns for that price that are ready to roll!

But in the end, it's your choice. You want a project? Don't bother wondering what it's worth, just buy it if you like it and get busy. Price won't matter when you're planning on dropping so much money into it because bottom line, you could get the boat for free and most likely not even be able to break even when you're done. These things ain't investments!

Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

Thank's a lot appreciate very much the solid advice!!

i feel like i have a couple thousand just in new screws, bolts, etc. Amazing how the small chit adds up after you have it apart.

I know what you mean. I pulled my engines one year to replace the swivel seals (couple bucks) and ended up spending probably a thousand bucks on miscellaneous BS - bellows, gimbal bearings, shift cables, busings, etc.....

this one??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CIGAR...item4abe76951d

The boat looks pretty decent, but the engine compartment has seen better days I'm sure

could be a sweet buy if it stays cheap!