I don't care what MidOcean says,classic boats like the Magnum will never go Negative.Do you know that Magnum never...that is never had a boat come apart in all of its days of racing.Yes there are a lot of Magnums still out there and I know of at least 10 that can be purchase between $10-$30,000 that need to be restored.
You can purchase a Magnum completely re-done between ,$40,000 and $160,000 ( my sales) which will be substantially less that the new one coming from GTM which will be a great boat and we all hope it sells well.
The Sport that was purchased out of the Carolinas was a real bust and I told the person who bought it he was going to have troubles. I knew the boat personally...1st time out blew one engine,total rebuild...rebuilt the top end on the other and worked on the trailer.He put well over $10 k into it plus the cost of the boat which looked cosmetically OK but had lots of real problems.He sold it because what still needed to be done to make it period correct would have been large.
I don't care what any one says you are not going to find a Magnum or any other classic this size 27ft + cheep,and not have to put a bundle of money into it.
The boat you are speaking about in Del Ray is a good boat and Mid Ocean friend was wrong...it is worth more than $7,500,that he offered. It does not required that much to get it going,have Roger Munn work on it because he knows the boat best and you will have a great Magnum.

Check out my new web site
www.magnumboatsandparts.com
and see two great magnums that have been listed in OSO and see how I got the name Mr Vinyl. Bud

That's a rescue boat for someone's museum/collection...$5k is probably tops based on condition..Volvo drives and 400's.

Chevy 400 cube small blocks are hard to keep cool...that block has no water jackets between the inner two cylinders and when you use anything other than 400 cu in heads you must use a special head gasket to block the water passages in the head that nomaly feed the inside water jackets in the block.

They work ok in a car with a 5 or 6 pass radiator but I would be dubious about using that block in a marine application.

Older Volvo drives are going to be a biatch to find parts for.

Bottom line...upgrading engines and drives are just about a must to make a reliable "user boat" out of this one...i.e. $15~$20K...on top of $9k...I say no....unless the $$$ don't matter.

Thanks for your wisdom Mr Vinyl, I'll always love Magnums no matter what the condition; i treat every boat is see (unless a known total POS) as an open slate. People tend to be influenced/jaded from one experience or another; human nature. I like to hear what everybody has to say though, knowlage is power. Its appears that most of the 27's were SB equipped; were there ever BB boats with a stagger? I've never seen any but have been curious.

Actually the 400 block works better in a Marine application, since there is an unlimited supply of cool water which is a lot bigger than any 5 or 6 row radiator.

Most people just use the 400 gaskets as a template to drill the steam holes into the non 400 heads and never have a problem.

Volvo's are very reliable outdrives and parts are readily available and are probably stronger than a Bravo

Boat is a steal at $9k

Hey Mark, looks like the pic's of the M-11 bertram i posted a while ago. its for sale if you know anyone that is looking for her. M-11 Race boat

All the best

Send me the info on where she is.

Staggered Magnum
 

Chine walker...never heard of a staggered 27/28 S/B or B/B they were a well balanced boat and did use a 3rd take up front on long runs for weight and dump when required. I will ask Roger,he would be the one to know. Bud

I owned the first staggered 27. It had the same 27 deck but, for some reason, was raised at the transom. The boat had been put into Coast Guard service at Station Fort Lauderdale. This was back in the late 70's...early 80's. I bought the boat from a GSA closed bid circular sale in 1987. It was set up as a race boat and I was told by the CPO who released the boat to me that it originally had a 3 man bolster. He said that Aronow had raced the boat and then gave it to the CG to promote a potential contract that never happened. His words, not mine. I paid $ 1,027 for the boat, by the way. The engines and drives where sitting in the cockpit in a pile. The boat was all white and had, at one time, an orange Coast Guard stripe on the bow that had been sanded off before the sale.

T

Bud,

I see that you have an old 31' Spirit. Is that the old 31' Eagle? Built in Miami by Mandy Fernandez? Or another..

magnum
 

Being an engine builder i can tell you the 400 actually works better in a boat than in a car. you have cool water at all time.also as far as the head gaskets & cylinder headsgo : the 400 blocks have seimes sleeve no water running between cylinders they have steem holes on top between each cylinder. you can use any head you want simply use a 400 gasket & drill the steem holes in ths heads.i dont think the volvo drive are anything to be affraid of.even with very healthy small blocks 450+ hp if you treat them right they will live fine.