Be sure to set that trailer up so you have plenty of weight on the tongue. These short twin engine boats have a HUGE weight bias toward the stern and if you don't put at least 400~500 lbs on the tongue your trip home will be a slow and scary drive. Move those axles back as much as you can.

This is the trailer I will be using. Got the new hubs and bearings on. It was too dark to fool with boards and wheels.
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That big pile of parts pulled great. It's 27.5' though. And way different hull. I may have to pull the boat a little further ahead on the trailer. Won't know till it gets on there. If it's worth getting that is.

What did you decide on a survey?

I'm fairly comfortable with my judgement. I have driven further and came home empty handed . I'm not getting my hopes up. Would really like it to be what it's said to be though. I was basically asking if there was specifically any certain ways to check certain areas of it like there are for hydrostreams and other boats that require meticulous care.

Tapping the transom with a rubber mallet can tell a lot. A solid thud is good, hollow sound means rot.

Yeah that is pretty much common on all boats. I've looked at plenty of them and walked away due to that dreaded sound.

Redneck, I'm coming down to your area in March. My spring break is in march so the GF and I are taking a vacation down there. My parents own a townhouse in Daphne. I'm going to trailer my 84 242 to use on the bay and possible go out into the gulf. Do you have any recommendations on places to go by boat? Hopefully you get this new one. We could put them side by side.

If your going to be staying on daphne you'll be right on mobile bay. You could run out the bay to gulf shores. There is always a good turn out at Robinson island for large boats such as these. I'm a river rat so I'll probably be running up to gravine island. That is a small island where tensaw river and mobile river meet up. Most boats there are allisons, bullets, other bass boats, or bow riders. I'll be the outcast lol
That said, definitely get up with me when yall are down here I'd love to see another 242 and meet some of you guys and gals. I'd run out in the salt water with you. I have plenty of friends with contenders, sea hunts, sea pros, center console type rigs.

Progress is going very slow on the trailer due to work and othet things. Wife got the new fenders today. Went with bare steel and decided to paint them because galvanized were $360 vs the steel @ $130. They are now buried in 4 heavy coats of rustoleum bare metal primer. The boards were fairly cheap at $45 each. Got them cut down to length, wrapped with the carpet and installed with new stainless bolts. Finished halfway cleaning the aluminum wheels. Installed some new temporary round tail lights for the trip the leds I ordered won't be in till Monday.

Plan tomorrow is install the new led marker lights on the trailer, remove the surge brake tongue and weld it in place so it doesn't slam back and forth with every stop. Paint the fenders and possibly install them if they are dry enough. That should have the trailer ready. Then the tow rig will be getting a new fuel water separator/ filter.


Yesterday
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Today
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Got home at a decent time today. Got the fenders drilled and finished painting them. Pulled the tongue off and got rid of the jerking and shoving issue of old surge brakes. Primed and painted it. Mounted the new bowstop and winch. I'm sure it will need to be adjusted if the boat goes on the trailer. Hope to sort out the lack of running lights on the right side. Got the fuel water separator and filter mounted to the truck and plumbed into the system. Loaded the 100 gal tank in the bed so I don't have to stop and refuel at unknown stations.

Headed out about 10 tonight. Wish me luck.

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Good luck, hope the boat turns out to be worth it!

At about 7:30 when we were ready to head south the guy got flaky on the deal and said he wouldnt want me make the drive and not be impressed with it
So it seems like it wasnt meant to be. Maybe I can find another one. Going to check out a 89 wellcraft st tropez right now that is local. Talk about 2 complete opposite boats lol

Formulas are great boats. i would stay with a formula search!

They seem to be. I'm still on the hunt for one

Here are some others i found in a quick search.

https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/boa/5824187296.html

http://springfieldil.craigslist.org/boa/5861331438.html

https://nh.craigslist.org/boa/5863789984.html

http://nh.craigslist.org/boa/5846089795.html

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/boa/5891869031.html

http://myrtlebeach.craigslist.org/boa/5831297549.html

http://daytona.craigslist.org/boa/5851794462.html

http://nh.craigslist.org/boa/5846090713.html

Did the guy back out completely? Did you discuss price over the phone? I wonder what he meant by "you not be impressed by it" Maybe he had another buyer? depending on how old the pictures are and knowing he put new gauges and GPS into it. Also he did do preventative maintenance with it and had bought extra spares ign modules. If he came down $1000 to $5000 with out a trailer I still thnk it would be a good deal. These boats in good shape usually fetch low to mid teen $'s.

I'm not really sure. He was rather fishy about it so I said oh well. Maybe I'll find another one in my budget. Thanks for the links

I'm working on a friend of mines dad who has a single engine formula. I believe it's a 242. Convincing him to sell it is not work too well yet.

At least you didn't waste a trip that involves a minimum of two days travel and several hundred $ in gasoline !! As I may have said earlier in this thread...this boat has been on Craigslist down here for a few years. According to the story...the boat came from Michigan a few years back. What always caught my eye was that most, of if not all of the pictures were taken in Michigan in the Fall of the year....we don't have Maple and Oak trees in South Florida !! Note also that there aren't any pics with a FL registration....only MC. So I wonder if the pics are truly representative of the boat's current condition.

Trust me...with as many smart Formula fans that there are down here....if that was a "Super Deal" it would have been gone months ago.

In all fairness...the older "Flat Glass" classic Formulas aren't as popular here as the multiple outboard center console boats. Most of the younger boating crowd in this market are looking for "Turn Key" condition outboards that all they have to do is put it in the water and go.

Be very dubious about the condition of any thing but the highest quality brands when you are looking at 25+ and older boats. The brands I have seen stand the test of time are Cobalt, Formula, Four Winns, Donzi, Cigarette, Magnum and Apache. Most of the others are stapled together production boats that were never meant to last more than 10 years.

If you haven't already, read some of David Pascoe's books on fiberglass boats.

Good luck with your search.

Very true. I wI'll continue to work on the guy I know local that has had his for over 20 years. He had the transom replaced as well as a new 454 built and dropped in a few years back. Maybe he will be willing to sell since he never uses it anymore.

On another note, I dont think your trailer will work for the deep v on a 242 the way it's set up right now. The bunks are too far apart and not tall enough with the straight axles on your trailer. My trailer has the bunks 40 inches apart with th top 12 inches above the axle. this spacing also puts the support closer to the stringers. Happy hunting!

I had him a measure the Hull for me whIle I was looking at the trailer and it would have worked so that's why I got it and put new boards on it. I had plans to put 2 more board lower down the v once I got it home but the 2 that are on it right now are 50" apart which would have sat right on the flat spots at the top of the v and it only had 10.5" of rise from the bottom of the v to there. The trailer has 15" of clearance.

Been talking to my friends dad about his and he isn't quite ready to cut loose but did tell me his brother has one he put a big silly 502 in that grenaded. I talked to him this morning. Going to check that one out this evening. It's a 90 242 sr1 he purchased from the original owner (a friend of his) back in the 90s. Then as we all do he wanted to make it faster and had the 17k engine built for it. SaI'd it was stupid fast to be such a heavy boat, obviously no engine now lol. I could probably build a nice reliable engine and have a good ride.

I think the big difference between the Ls and the SR1 was the SR1's had stand up bolsters. That would be a good deal if you could get the boat without an engine. Just make sure you get all the accessories. (Bellhousing, PS pump, exhaust manifolds, risers, throttle linkage and brackets, flywheel and coupler). If you could get the engine with the boat, tell the guy you will take the accessories off and give him back the engine.

Sprinks has it right with the older pictures. I think the only ones that show the current condition is the deck, engine and hull bottom pictures.

And he's right, if it was s super deal it would have been gone.

I Found a 30' S-Type Scarab that had the same paint as mine, talked to the guy on the phone. Sounded like a good deal for a boat that needed motors,(5K I think), then asked on here if anyone knew about it. Found out the upholstery was shot, transom and stringers were going bad. Someone had already looked at it before and it was not as good as the seller had said.

That would have sucked to get there to find a boat all full of leaves and rotten. I was lucky with the Sea Ray 240 Fly Bridge I bought last summer. I saw it on Ebay a year earlier from a previous seller, and got up-to-date pictures of the boat from the current owner and compared them to what it looked like a year ago. I talked to the guy a lot on the phone and got as much info out of him as I could about the condition of the boat. I think the key to it was I approached him about selling it. He was not using it and it sat on a trailer for most of its life. Plus the guy was running for County Sheriff and knew how much his reputation was at stake. He was honest and upfront about everything he knew was wrong with the boat and in the end the things I found wrong with it were things I knew I could do.

What's your budget for this project?

Ok, I just left marks place (hour and half form the house) the boat is in what I would say to be great physical condition. It is an sr1 I believe. It does have the bolsters. Obviously it is filthy due to sitting for the last few years under the lean to.


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Budget? Can't really say there is a budget, I just don't want to drop 15-20k on one I know nothing at all about then have it grenade the 2nd time on the water. I want something that had either been taken care of or redone with attention to detail. This one being that I have known the owner for years, owned a few of his trucks, worked with him and been out on some of his other boats I know how he is and when he does any kind of repair it is generally an upgrade or an oem part. The man has plenty of funds and doesn't mind spending them. Hes just got to the point where he no longer fools with this one and went the center console route.

That said what do you guys value this one at as it sits? He has a ton of motor parts I haven't seen yet. He will get a little list together and send to me of the parts and what not. It has a hydraulic steering set up on it as well.

A small part of the hull cleaned up very easily with nothing more than a rag and some soapy water I had in the truck. So I have no concerns that I can clean it up nicely. All of the vinyl upholstery though it looks horrible, is still quite soft and comfortable, it should clean up very nicely as well. The interior of the berth needs the carpet cleaned but otherwise is in good shape as well. The bolsters are very comfortable I see why you guys like them so much. I would certainly be upgrading the gauges. Might go efi on the engine just depends what parts he has and what I'll have to come up with. The silent thunder had been disconnected and 4" pipes exit under it in a rather inconspicuous location.

I think we need to know what year, and what mods were done to the motor. Is it external hydraulic steering?

Is the filthy carpet at the same level up. the sides, almost like the cabin was flooded. I learned that the bilge and cabin are connected and if the drain plug was left in, the cabin fills up with water from the bilge.

There is no engine . Just boxes of parts that I haven't looked through yet. The carpet is just dirty where you step on it. The sides are decently clean. The hydraulic steering looks to be external as it is mounted to the transom on the outside. The engine parts I'm expecting to be risers, intake, carb, heads starter, alternator, stuff like that since it dropped 4 rods.

I would prepare yourself for a transom and stringers in that boat. The Silent Thunder where it attaches to the transom leaks unless it's kept maintained and sealed. That's where the transom in mine got wet.... bolt holes for the platform and the starboard exhaust tip.

I bought mine, an '89, in similar condition back in 2011 for $2900 on a very nice Owen and Sons trailer (I'm sure the trailer was worth more than the price I paid for the whole thing!). No outdrive but a good 454 Mag. I whacked that transom repeatedly looking for inconsistent/hollow sounds, and never heard anything out of the ordinary. I discovered the shot transom while trying to remedy an overheating condition (pinched water hose in the transom assembly... Bravo-itis). I went to install a thru-transom pickup, and my hole saw punched through like it was hollow.... because it was!

My advice... if you can get the boat for a song, and you're comfortable doing the work, go for it. If not, walk. There are lots of good deals to be had especially at this time of year.

True. I offered him 4 for it as it sits with the outdrive and prop. I can come up with engine and engine parts. I'll see what he says. The down fall to finding them for me seems to be the 900 mile trip to get them.

I hear you on traveling to get a boat. The travel expense often eats up any savings you get on the sale price.

$4k is generous on your part for that boat...but then again, you've seen it and feel comfortable with it.

Let us know what you do.

It feel it is solid. I gave the transom about the best inspection I could less drilling into it. The engine bay is spotless. Dry as a popcorn fart. Also I wanted to be fair to mark as well. He had over 70k in this thing over the years.

I would be extremely surprised if that boat has no rot. It seems every boat older than 2000 has some. The little stuff adds up quick. I am 25k into a boat that would be tough to get high teens out of. Tread carefully.

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I understand what your saying sir. I have a 77 vector ultra lite and an 82 glastron ssv167 that I got a few years out of solid before I had to do structural work. These old formulas stick out to me for some reason. I know they were very well built in their time and even now are still tough. Of I end up with this one I definitely don't expect it to be trouble free by any means.