I just wanted to say thanks in advance for all the contributors to this site. I'm going to need the help!

I'm from Clearwater, Florida and I just picked up a 1991 Formula 242 SS. I'm trying to get her together now. I bought the boat for $500 with no engine. It had a Weiand Supercharged 454 in it with a Bravo One XR outdrive with a Bobs nose cone and a 4 blade stainless prop, some extremely high dollar headers and an external steering setup. The engine and steering didn't come with the boat but I bought the Bravo outdrive setup for an extra $1000 so it stayed with the boat.

I'm cleaning her up right now. I have to pull the transom assembly since they cut off the steering rod when the external steering was installed so I figure I'll just go ahead and pull the swim platform and refinish the whole transom while I'm at it. It's had a lot of hands in it over the years so it needs quite a bit of cleanup but nothing terrible so far.

I was going to throw in a 2005 310 hp 350 I have in another boat just to get by for a while but I picked up a 454 Merc today so I'll just go that route from the start. Let the games begin.

I still cant believe I bought this boat for $500. Maybe that's common but I'm never this lucky!!

I had a red one, same year, etc.

Check the transom, bulkhead and stringers before you install anything to make sure they are solid. A $500 boat tells me that there might be a hidden issue.

I sold my 1991 242SS with no engine for $7K

Congrats. It will be a fun project and make the boat even more special to you that you got her back on the water. Keep us posted

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to check it all out thoroughly once the transom assembly and swim platform/exhaust is off but so far it looks good.

The guy i bought it from owns a local boat shop and seems like a great guy. He bought the boat for the $3500 steering to use on this awesome cat he just bought and the $3500 manifolds to use on his deck boat I think. Guess he probably planned on selling the engine. Offered me the trailer in the picture for $500 but I held off on that as I wasn't sure the roller trailer was what I wanted. A Bravo XR outdrive and transom assembly for a grand is an incredible deal in itself.

I'll post some more pics after the cleanup and inspection.

I am betting their is rot. Not expensive to fix though. I did my transom and stringers for about $500. You got a steal. It would take a mid-teen offer to make me consider selling my boat.

My 242 LS was a similar deal... bought the boat with a trailer but minus the drive (stolen for the fourth time) for $2900. The boat was solid and showed no signs of rot... a year later we were taking everything out to replace the transom, stringers, and the rear bulkhead. I didn't have time to do the glass work myself so I had a friend do it... about $3500 in total (including reinstalling the transom assembly). I have since built a blown 454 for the old girl, and am "just about" done with the re-rigging and all.

These boats will rot... the rear bulkhead behind the fuel tank is usually the first to go followed by the engine stringers/main stringers then the transom. Like said, an easy job to fix so long as you have the time.

Welcome to the family! You'll really love the boat once she's all together.

I just pulled the transom plate and gimbal housing off. I'm not experienced in this area but it does not look like there is any rot in the transom cutout. There is some erosion on the inside behind the transom plate but I don't think that's an issue is it?

Pulling the swim platform next and cleaning up everything then I'll post pics to get some opinions.

Question, should there be a wire harness running under the engine at the very rear where the bottom of the hull meets the transom? Seems like an odd place to run a harness but it looks like theres been a lot of hands in this with little regard for doing it right.

That wire harness may be the ground wires running to the thru-bolts for the Silent Thunder swim platform. My boat had something like what you described and that was it.

Pictures?

As for rot... you can always drill into some random spots to take a core sample. Since the engine is out, it'll be easy to check from inside. A 1/8" bit and some 'glass filler/resin is all you'd need.

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