27' Magnun
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1973-...a7449c9d#v4-32

Despite having original drives and possibly in need of engine comp attention this at first glance appears to be a decent price.. Any thoughts?

Looks pretty good, but since it is a '73 it's pretty old now. If you're serious about it, go look at it, or get one of the fellas to do a survey. I'd make an offer on it if the survey turned out favorable.

I love how slick the boat looks. There are no interior pics tho...

This boat has been on Ebay many times. I talked to a guy who just bought a 42 Excallibur and lives just south of me.. he won the thing two or three times back, went to look at it and said the boat had been terribly misrepresented. Based on that I offered the seller 7500 and he came back with the 9k figure. Apparently the boat needs serious motor attention, rigging... etc... An almost identical boat, but in perfect cond with merc drives, nice motors and headers sold for 11k back in Nov. The boat was in SC. These boats just aren't bringing the $$.

nice looking boat though, It would nice if you could get it for the right money and someone rescue it.

There was a 35 Cigarette, motors, drives, trailer that just sold in Virginia for $ 6000. I'm telling you... The day will come when this stuff goes negative... Too much of a liability. This particular magnum... with 20 k to get it running is worth??? 15k? Unless someone just hates their own net equity and they want to do everything possible to reduce it.

That sux, It's a very uncomfortable situation when someone advertises a boat, car, bike, etc.. one way and even verbally conveys it that way, then you show up and it's absolutely NOT what you were led to believe and on top of that you can't tell the person otherwise...

I'm not interested in this particular Magnum but, I really liked that 27' that was up in Jersey a while ago "hot nutz" the blue and white hull...I liked the set up and the choice of rigging placement, I don't know who would ever want to sit down but then again I'm kinda traditional...

Never saw a power trim set up like that !!! '73 isn't old, I have a SEDAN w/ twin 300X O/B that runs 80 GPS ! "HIGH LIFE"

I believe the power trim set up is from Roger Munn over in Naples Fla. I had a system from Roger years ago on my Sport with Volvoes

Thank you
Jim

What's the deal with those volvos? I thought they werent trimable or not very.. So, it's a retrofit?

The early Volvo drives did not have factory trimable drives, just tilt. We all made our own using Merc pumps & cylinders. Here is a set on this Bertram Baron I help make back around 1976.

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.

MidOcean the 31 ft spirit was designed by Roger Munn,and built by Carol Paez,9 were built and this is # 3 built in 1994 .It was purchased by Sam Voit and was rigged but never completed.It stayed inside until we purchased it in 2007 and has been completely re done and will be tested this summer.We know where 6 of the boats are now. Bud

Mark, you looking to burn that money up already ? LOL, jim

I'll defer to you guys for marine use. I built a 406 that I had in a '68 Camaro that was a consevative street motor....made 435 horse at 5600 and had over 400 lb ft from 1800 to over 4000.
I ran 186 casting Chevy "Double Humps" with steam holes.
The car was a rocket sled and even broke into the high 10s regularly with no juice. The down side was to keep it under 200 deg I had to run a high volume water pump and a 6 core aluminum NASCAR radiator. I guess with flooded seawater suction on the cooling it would stay cool enough.

I wish I had a pair of 406's like I built to go in this 255....probably would amaze the local metal heads.

I surrender...:party-smiley-004:

Jim I dont like a unbalanced fleet, I will down to 5 boats, :lolhit: 6 is a nice even number.:eek::eek::eek:

LOL

I've read this before somwhere...................:drink:

400 hundreds
 

Spoke with Roger Munn who installed the engines in Al's 73 sport.He said that when cruising at 35 mph ,his sport has big blocks and Al's has the 400 hundreds,when they both accelerate the 400's will beat his big blocks out of the hole and Roger is not able to pass Al until around 70mph's.Rogers big blocks will push his sport to the high 80's. The 400,s and the Volvo move that Sport move along quite nicely. Bud

OK..that does it...I'm on the hunt for old 400 stuff to build another pair of 406's...need to see how much No 1 drives can stand....I wonder...:evilb:

sprnk A1's or B1's.. they both use the same transom hole... so a swap is a breeze.. just drill 2 extra holes for the B1 plate...

I think I saw that magnum in boyton beach a few years back. Check the transom . If it's the same boat it needs to be redone .

With the same HP a Merc-Drive powered boat is usually faster than a (Old Style) Volvo Drive boat. Although Volvos are tough they are lacking in the speed dept.

The transom was redone a few years ago when they raised the drives. She needs a good clean up & some paint but for the money I'm more than happy. As my friend Iron head [ a 2 Magnum owner] said you cant buy a jet ski for that price. Also the trailer that it was on, towed her back 1300 + miles to Michigan with no problems...

New Boat
 

And with those 400's...she will one hot Mama. Bud

does any anyone know where to get good stainless props for the old volvo drives?? Ive got a '73 27 magnum sport with volvo 280s and in desperate need of matched 25 or 26 props. HELP Please!

http://boatpropellers.iboats.com/Vol...ller/646/9050/

A 23 acts like a 25. Have a pair on my Magnum. They work great!

Jeff

Try Mindi @ Doller Marine in Florida.
They have a large selection of new & used props.

Don Carter at offshore Performace Speicalties would be a big help. He is an encyclopedia about Magnums

power trim
 

I believe that trim setup was done at rogers speed shop in N.J. worked exstreamly well

i run a 290 and bronson and hill out of california builds a thrasher prop for the volvos or solas is good check out the donzi registry also mmy 290 is left hand has a hydromotive nosecone and has power trim, sarris racing engines built me a nice 400hp smallblock vortec to run with that drive