Hey Audio - How's your rig coming? Did you ever finish it? Any pics? I'd love to see how that turned out.

Mook - Like Audio said, Formula back in the day did a poor job of fully encapsulating the bulkheads and stringers. Worse, the drains going back to the bilge got clogged very easily and this compounded the problem. Even deck leaks behind that fuzzy headliner, would pool on the floor under the first step. I caught water pooling on mine very early on and watched it closely.

Anyway, check it closely. then take your trailer to a truck scale and take it off the hitch and weigh it. Then load the boat, strip all of your normal equipment and weigh it again, subtracting the weight of the trailer. See what you've got. The dry weight back in the day was supposedly 6,950 lbs.

Next, rent a good 6 foot square and check the running surface from the transom forward. The vintage trailers back then were pretty bad and if not properly adjusted could cause a hook to develop over time, which will not help efficiency at all.

Once you are sure the hull is sound, which I hate to say would a minor miracle, then do a leakdown test on the motors. At 800 hours, it's well past time. You're probably lucky if they are putting over 250-270 hp out at this point. Provided the hull is solid, I'd just yank the old 2-bolts, and get some decent marinized crate motors. Once you get that far, you will definitely need new props.

Again these are fantastic boats, and well worth the investment if you are starting with a good foundation. Good luck!

I have not finished it. We started to build a vacation home in maine and that has taken priority. We have a 311 and a 18 Donzi so I can get out on the water with those. I wish I had more time to work on it but not looking good for a while.