Cafe racers
 

Any decent cafe racers out there that are actually for sale? Starting to look for one and seems like half the adds out there are old ones from year or 2 ago or longer.
Don't want a total resto project or basket case but also don't want to spend more than 65-70K.

I've been looking as well. Nothing worthwhile out there it seems and the market is slim right now. They come and go in waves (no pun intended).

It would be nice if some sites like powerboat listings would get rid of all the old adds from 1012

10th century boats are a hard sell, tend to sit a few centuries before finding new owners ..

When looking at Powerboat listing.com you HAVE to look at the date posted on the listing home page. But yea, it'd be nice to have adds delete after a certain time period (like 3 months, 6 months, etc). It does seem like some of thse ads have been on there since 1012 - Viking ships and what not.:D

There is one for sale locally here in Maryland that is listed on powerboat swap shop Facebook page. It is a 1989, has 454's with super chargers, bravo drives. Seller is asking $40k. I do not personally know anything about the boat but I have seen it a couple times at various local hangout spots and it looks very clean.

They are a little scarce, I considered myself lucky to find mine after more than a year of looking. With your budget you are in Top Gun territory unless 35 is as big as you want to go.

What about the one in the classifieds here. Nice paint, #3 drives, dry sump blower motors, ac what else could a guy want. If I had the extra dough it would be In my shop right now.

1) Replace wood core in transom with composite structural material by todays specifications

2) Added an additional layer of woven roven to the entire engine room

3) Added additional fiberglass 360 degrees to rear bulkhead between engine room and rear bench seat

4) Strengthened supporting framework to the cockpit sole

5) Glassed in larger backup plates to the deck hardware

6) Installed new fiberglass tabbing to strengthen deck connection to the hull

7) Added additional fiberglass 360 degrees to the helm bulkhead

8) Reinforced tabbing of the hanging locker/sink to the hull and deck

9) Added additional fiberglass to the head wall and tabbing to the hull

10) Constructed a painted finish 360 bulkhead between the V-berth and the lounge seating

11) Added additional fiberglass to the forward locker bulkhead

12) Added 9 strengthening battens under the deck from the helm to the bow on each side of the center line

13) Installed new fasteners and sealant to the deck/hull and installed a white rub rail and stainless steel

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/19...cial-102641616

https://annapolis.craigslist.org/boa/6082331185.html
$60k, All white, blue swim platform, I have emailed the guy, he'll send pics.

A LOT of love in that one for $76k, IIRC the price has been coming down. It's been on the market for some time.

Thats not a nice boat, I looked at it last year.

Sounds like he really beefed that thing up for some big water on lake erie.

Agreed!

As if it wasn't heavy enough to begin with

I still get calls on my cafe racer. I can't get onto my old log in and delete the listing. there is a cafe racer in Rochester area that can be bought. its in nice shape. not perfect. but not a basket case

This one belonged to a good friend before the current owner. He had bought it from phil (lipship) who went through it in the late 90's and put the power in. It was VERY well cared for but that was over 10 years ago. It looks like the current owner cared for it pretty well. The transom was replaced a while back and the blue motors are nice. No trailer though and you'd have to spend a few grand taking off all that stupid f*ckin Seabuscuit crap painted all over it.:picard1:

http://m.powerboatlistings.com/view/42436

The 86?

That boat sold. And I totally agree w you on the paint!

Where'd it end up going?

I'm not sure.. I want to say it stayed local to Fla..
Just before I bought mine, maybe 3 weeks before; I called on that one. I think a broker called me back sayin it was sold and he said something that made me think it was staying down there..
I had called on it months ago too and wrote it off for lack of trailer but I started to get antsy so I called again.

Ah, gotcha. It was a super nice Café when that dude bought it. Kevin Schulte on here that owned the "out of control" TS gun with Zul 750s and now owns the blue stars 42X owned it and took great care of it. Heard the dude that owned it last was a bit eccentric though and all the Sea biscuit stuff...WTF? lol

I know of an 86, that I put a new dash and gauges in, 40 hour, 518 ci, 871's, on Konrads, I put on. 5 blades, 4 blades, Garmin in the dash, aluminum trailer with Brakerite, and disks. It needs paint, and Cockpit interior. At least I think so.All white, Boat is in Florida.

Lol, yeah the pictures and description pointed to a "unique" individual.

That motor / drive package! NICE!

How much?

this one would be my top pick. i sat across from keith on a plane back in december. he was telling me about it. lot of boat/motors for the money. i have seen it at the ramp before & it looked good form were i was at. i have never been next to it.

todd

That guy wouldnt respond to any of my inquires when he put it up on CL a while ago. I did talk to him last year and he never got me the specifics I was looking for. I remember thinking to myself after talking to him that at the very least it needed a top end refresh.. If I had to guess, I'd say the motors need to be gone through.

LOL, I have seen that one and thought the same thing. I am assuming all the Sebiscut stuff is paint as well so definatley a few grand to remove it all

you are correct and that's the dilemma I am having with this since we are getting into the top gun territory which is ultimately what I want to have at some point.

Wife and I have gone back and forth over this and she don't care either way Café or gun but she is my voice of reason and would rather we hold out a little longer if the top gun is what I ultimately want and hopefully even get something a little newer, etc.

Would love a gun with 525's for the turn key reliability even though they may not be as fast as something with bigger power but im not sure I want to mess with blower motors either.

[QUOTE=debcod2;4554314]you are correct and that's the dilemma I am having with this since we are getting into the top gun territory which is ultimately what I want to have at some point.

Wife and I have gone back and forth over this and she don't care either way Café or gun but she is my voice of reason and would rather we hold out a little longer if the top gun is what I ultimately want and hopefully even get something a little newer, etc.

Would love a gun with 525's for the turn key reliability even though they may not be as fast as something with bigger power but im not sure I want to mess with blower motors either
Understood, what about one of these? You probably saw them?
http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...ck-o69378.html
http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...un-o68993.html

I have that first top gun here. The owner of our brokerage took it on trade. We have a deal pending on it.

[QUOTE=Rhythm and Blues;4554317]Yep have looked at both of these online repeatedly. Like the colors of the second one in Ohio.

With 454's and small blowers, what is realistic maintenance schedule for top ends and blowers to be gone through? I have always been told about 250-300 hrs if you're somewhat easy on them.
What kind of realistic speed out of a straight bottom gun with 600HP per side? Would it hit 70?

[QUOTE=debcod2;4554384]I'm of the same school of thought, 200-350 on a top end depending on how you use the sticks AND the build components. I'm going to say for sure on the 70 number being attainable.. Seems like with a lot of these boats the drives are a focal point.

[QUOTE=Rhythm and Blues;4554387]Gotcha, thanks for the input

[QUOTE=debcod2;4554394]
No problem but I'm no expert. I use to shy away from blower engines but now I believe a mild blower engine is more favorable than N/A carb. The way I understand it is generally the way they make power/torque is better on drives... High comp carb motors have their own set of traits.. I'm sure someone here will lend some words on the subject.

If you want a gun, you should just get what you want. Don't bother starting with a Café. Though, there's not a huge difference between the two. Plus there's more to chose from in the Gun category and the prices are pretty close. I've spend just as much time behind the wheel of a Café as I have my own Gun. They handle the same, same cabin and cockpit layout, etc. Gun will be slightly faster with same power over the café as the guns hull is more efficient. Only reason I can see to go with a Café is you have size limits for storage or you want the 1k or so weight savings. Other than that, get what you want would be my .02

and 600 hp will get you to 70 no sweat on a gun. My gun 525 SC's that were slightly warmed to 650 a side and they were pushing SSM3A (trannies) and would hit 75.

yup. which is the reason i went with a Cafe, the marina where i was going to keep it had a 36' dry stack limit. After buying the boat i was then told they also had a 8k weight limit. So i couldn't even stack it.

We have been talking about this non stop for last few days again and I am just going to hold off for a bit to stash some cash and get what I ultimately want which is the gun.

I appreciate the input from you guys

Baja paint on a Cig.......:picard1: