You guys keep your eyes out if you see a nice 242 that is a fair deal let me know please. I dont mind a drive for something nice. Just hate to waste a weekend trip on a pile of rotten wood.

They are tough...and with reasonable care they stay solid. When I drilled the transom for Bravo Transom Assemblies on my '79 255 Liberator I was amazed that what came out on the bit smelled and looked like new dry wood...and that was after nearly 35 years !!

Yep, my cousin has a 87 hydrasport we changed the bellows on. A while back. The transom was like a brick!

Do any of you guys know anything about this one? Opinions? Obviously check the structural integrity like has been mentioned (stringers, forward bulkhead, transom). Might be worth the ride to check out. Only about 7 hrs from my home. Have a friend about 3/4 of the way I could stop off and visit as well.
Let me know your thoughts.

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/boa/5844913446.html

You would probably be further ahead buying that boat and fixing little things that are not to your liking, than fixing up that $4000 boat you originally mentioned.

Kind of what I'm thinking. Even with the trip to get it. The guy says it only has 336 hours on it. Engine and outdrive have 10 hrs on them. Price seems about average. That trailer would certainly get some attention. Otherwise looks like a decent boat in the photos.

That's a nice looking boat, and it's priced appropriately for a boat of its age and good shape. And she's got bolsters!! Talk to the guy. She looks to be worth the look.

The fact that the guy took 24 pictures is a plus to me.

Just got off the phone with him fron an hour conversation. The engine was rebuilt last summer by a local marine performance shop. It's nothing radical but he says it's around 425-450hp. It has a full cover as well as cockpit cover. The alpha outdrive was tore down and had new bearings and seals put it while the engine was out. They added some sort of stainless bracket in the outdrive you can see in the pictures. He said it is something to do with making the steering stronger. It has all original stereo, gauges. Speedo will sometimes work and sometimes not is the only thing he finds wrong with it. I plan to go up this weekend and check it out. He said he will take pictures of anything on the transom I would like, send a video of whopping around the bolt holes. He assures me the stringers and transom are in good condition. He says he doesn't really have time for the boat with his work schedule the way it is. Maybe we can make a deal on it.

I'm a little confused. If it's a 1989 AND came with BBC it should have a Bravo drive. If Alpha very sketchy on durability. Looks to have stainless gimble ring but what are the cylindrical things above the outdrive? Boat looks very nice, Good Luck.

you beat me to it; i thought they went B1 in 88? my '89 is a B1.

He called it alpha, he probably meant bravo. He got the boat from a co worker that had all of the work done. The other shiny you see there is the exhaust. The owner said it dumps there and on the sides.

I believe they only put Alphas in SBC and 1987 BBC 330 HP (Badged as 454 Mag)

Probably just a grammatical error on his part. What is the purpose of the stainless gimble ring?

Better check on Alpha/Bravo drive question. You will tear up that drive if Alpha. Not hard to switch but expensive and engine must come out.
Why in the world would someone dump hot exhaust on the top cap of the outdrive while everybody is putting showers on them to cool the outdrive. If it is an 1989 Bravo it is also a pre oiler and does not need heat added. JMHO.
The stainless Gimble is stronger and will not wallow out the pin area. Better/stronger/more stable steering.

i'm assuming so it doesn't get hogged out again at the clamp. mine is coming off this winter to be built back up and machined.

my first thought as well.

and if you get the boat and hate the bolsters, i have the exact same color pedestals and respective carpet in my '89 to trade, lol..

That makes sense. I was kind of wondering the same on why the exhaust fires at rhe outdrive. I just talked to the guy that built the engine and outdrive. It is a bravo. He said he found nothing wrong with it when they tore it down. Just went ahead and put new bearings in because the owner had the engine out being re done and wanted it all gone through. He also said the gimble ring was an addition he put on because he had it and figured it was a good time to put it on. The seller has the original to go with it as well.

I know it is a love hate relationship with bolsters lol I doubt I will hate them. I will be making gulf runs in this rig and I bet 3 and 4 footers would not be fun without them .

I see it has the Silent Thunder Platform. I'm guessing while most people drill holes in the bottom of the platform to relieve pressure and evacuate water on plane, this was a "trick" alternative. My guess is most exhaust will exit here (on top of drive) underway, path of least resistance. If it become an issue with heat or fouling paint on drive easily fixable by using thru-transom blocking plates to cover these holes. No harm-no foul. Great looking Boat, again good luck.

That's a good idea sir! Thanks. Hopefully it will all go well and I can go check it out Saturday. What do you guys feel about bunk roller trailers for these boats? I've always been told they are horrible for the bottom of a boat.

i can confirm it's not fun without them in 5 footers on lake michigan.

I bet. Unfortunately I will have to put a closed loop cooling system on it. I don't like the idea of only getting a few years out of an engine due to the salt water here.

These added exhaust dumps may be a good place to inspect the condition of the platform. Take a bore-scope and/or a good flashlight and look for rotted wood inside of platform. As mentioned earlier (and in many previous posts, well documented by Masa242). Again, not a hard or expensive fix but always good to know what you are getting.

Very true. I know it sounds contrary to most, bur I hate the swim platform. I'd rather have a nice teak platform.

Red, if you are launching/recovering in freshwater rivers and boating to/from salt I would not worry that much about the closed system. It will flush out extremely well with 1/2-1 hour of running at cruse speed back to the launch in fresh water. I ran mine in the Sacramento Delta to the S.F. Bays and back regularly with no noticeable ill effects for years.

99% of my boating is on mobile and tensaw river. I will go down to the bay to eat then come back up the river. It isn't horribly salty. But It is considered brackish and will rust a knife if you leave it in your pocket while swimming.

Now that you have tripled your buy-in $$'s any renewed thought on survey? It may be worth your time to contact Eddie Young at Young Performance, he is way smart, very fair and very friendly guy and less than 150 miles from Chattanooga. Just a thought.

That's a bravo on the Atlanta boat

I will call him. Thank you for the suggestion.

The engine builder said he will look back and see what all parts he used when building this engine. He said he does know it is a roller cam and roller rocker engine. The owner said he had to order a different intake to use a carburetor. So does this mean it is a vortec engine they put a carburetor on?

That's an impossible question to answer without knowing more about the engine itself and the history of the boat.

Unless I'm confused, I believe you mentioned that the engine was rebuilt because it was out of the boat, nothing was found to be wrong with it but it was rebuilt anyway. That would mean that if it were the original, then it would be a MK IV either 330 or 365 (Magnum). The MK IV was not a roller engine. Now, if the engine had been replaced sometime in the boat's lifetime, it could have been replaced with a Gen 6 and that would be a factory roller engine.

Again, hard to say what it could be.

There's an easy way to figure out GM's original intent of the engine's build/purpose, and that's by finding the code stamped on a pad on the front of the block above the timing cover. You can reference the codes at this link:

http://www.1968ss.com/bbcsuffix.asp

That'll give you a base to go by.

Here is a link to the Mercruiser "block decoder ring"

http://www.marinemechanic.com/merc/d...lockcodes1.pdf

The outdrive was rebuilt because it was out, the engine was pulled due to burning oil so they built a newer engine for it that is a roller motor. I asked him to get me the build sheet on it and send some more pictures and the block numbers. The engine builder is supposedly one of the best guys around the chattanooga area.

That's the one I was looking for originally! Thanks!

The only thing I'm not a fan of on the Atlanta boat is the exhaust tip exit. If you buy the boat, I would take those things off, and replace with deck plates. Coming off plane (or reversing), a TON of water makes it into that area and can get pushed up into the engine's exhaust if the internal flappers are bad (they usually are). That's a good way to ruin a nice engine! Other than that, she looks like a fine boat!

I agree tom. I really want to get rid of the silent thuder all together. It has its advantages of a place to set the cooler while out swimming. I have never heard one in person with the silent thunder. Only heard them with straight exhaust.

If you want to see what a teak swim step looks like on the boat look through the "Formula Flat Glass" section or check out the factory brochures on Formula's Vintage section, pre '86 will be teak platforms.

The red boat had teak. I loved it just don't know what to do with exhaust if I wove the silent thunder

I ditched mine because of the weight over the stern, and because it was a bottleneck for the exhaust. With the platform removed she rides better, and the engine is more responsive. Yes, I lost the "swim-up bar," and some people say she doesn't look right without it, but for me I like that it's gone. I do plan to put a tubular platform on it next summer.

Here's a video of mine running on the hose but with the plugs out of the Silent Thunder box:

http://vid216.photobucket.com/albums/cc38/zellto1971/1989%20Formula%20242LS/IMG_0380_zpsaro3o7tv.mp4