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My seats are the same and could swivel but as you can see they are so close to the edge of boat that they will only turn about 2”. They are like a sit down only bolster seat I guess.

Should still be able to spin them around. The driver seat is a pain because of the wheel but the passenger seat should be no issue. Go counter clockwise. Mine are just as close. Not a great angle but you get the idea:

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Haha, I'm lucky that I can park mine next to the house, though it was a consideration when we bought the place. Cleaning definitely gets addicting and boats are definitely harder than cars. Don't get discouraged by everyone on here. There's a lot of gorgeous boats for sure. But also a lot of trailer queens that get used four times a year. Also a lot are either brand new or original owners that love them like we do and took care of them correctly. Some of us inherit previous owner neglect and just work on improving it. Post up some pictures for sure! I have plenty of blemishes and not so pretty spots to restore, just reality is all.

Very well written.

And many are cared for by others.

One of my favorite parts of buying used boats, cars, motorcycles is, what you end up with when we’re done.

We buy cheap because we can do that work and/or, it’s the only way we can afford what we want.

A couple yrs ago my wife was sick of me working on, and *****ing about my multi yr boat restoration project.

So she suggested we buy one that’s ready to go.
Partially in fear of losing my man card if I said OK, I agreed.

We bought a 25’ Checkmate 454/Bravo boat, as clean as any I had seen.
I then spent a month working on it!

She was *****ing about it to our friends one time and said, we buy this beautiful boat and then he still spends a month in the shop Garyizing it!!!

Notice the name on it😂


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Hahaha that's an awesome story. Unless it's your passion and something you love to do, you won't understand. My wife's the same way. Love the checkmate. My brother has a 242 convicor with a 5.7 and the little bugger bought it before I did. A comical annoyance because I've always been the one into boats and he is my younger brother... But he is the cool uncle with no kids, lol. Really looking forward to both of us out on the lake with both boats in the coming years making memories. I'm sure we will have a blast. I almost had to not tell him he is running the wrong prop on his boat and could pick up 3-5 mph... I need to be faster than him, lol.


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I am with you guys 100%. I definitely don’t need new, but I do like what I have to function well and look good for its age.

Up here in MI the boating season is so short, I feel you have to have a project to work on to help the dreaded winter seem to go quicker. I love to head to the back garage, turn the heat up, radio on, and work on the boat. My wife knows who my mistress is and she is fine with it!

Exactly.

Mine is in a heated shop behind my house and is my therapy.

On the functionality, we mostly do Lake Eire and a 25’ boat on there………, you need the weather to be on your side but also, having a boat you can trust is paramount!

Often we make it to our destination Friday night snd it’s nice.
But Sunday for the return trip, maybe not.

Making that decision when you have a boat you’ve been through from stem to stern……, is totally different than one you just bought.

Also the satisfaction of what you ended up with Vs what you started with.

Enjoy your first boat! You will remember it forever. No matter what may follow the first will always be the one and only first.

Checkmate MX 13, will never forget that one some 55 years ago. Would die for that one back today!

Hey CW, haven’t heard from you in a while, just curious if you had a chance to sea trial her yet? Hope your having fun working on and figuring everything out!

Hey bud! Not yet, been cleaning it up a bit, replacing bulbs (thanks for the bulb parts list btw), fuses, etc. Doing water pump impeller and spark plugs this week if the weather holds up and starting it up on the hose to make sure the pump re-install went fine, but supposed to rain so might do it next week. Planning on splash day to be on April 8th weather depending.

Stoked to run it though. I was going to give it a full 2 step paint correction and wax but pollen is starting in so I'll have to wait about 3-4 weeks for the pollen to die down.


Of course I had plenty of brews and hung out on the boat while cleaning it. Hit 80 last weekend here. 🤣. I'm ready!!!!!

Prob going to reupholster all the interior cushions to freshen up the cabin a bit.

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Noticed how well the faria tach looks compared to the factory VDO gauges in case anyone needs to swap any out and was curious.

Nice, glad to hear things are coming along and you’re enjoying it!

The LED light parts list credit goes to GLENAMY242SS.

We won’t have pollen up here til mid May unfortunately! That’s probably when we will first be able to splash her in the water again.....I can’t wait!

Replace all the gauges.....I did mine and like the look much better.


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Absolutely!! I'm thinking black gaffrigs with the teal bezels. Will be a good winter project in the years to come for sure. Thinking of putting a whole new panel in and flush mounting a screen. Something like this...
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I wanted to replace my old gps, but they don’t really fit in my space well. Redoing dash and organizing like that would be perfect.....I like that. I may have to have you fab 2 of them up when you do it!

So farting around in the cockpit today I made a quick cutout of the Garmin 7" GPSmap chartplotter. If I move the trim gauge to where the depth finder is it should give me plenty of room to flush mount the screen in the factory dash panel. Then I can eventually swap out all the analog gauges as well with something like gaffrigs.

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Love reading this thread. Getting very excited to uncover our new (to us) 1987 242 LS so we can get started on the many and numerous projects it needs!

I still keep looking at it when I leave the house every day. I can't get over how deep the V is on these old girls compared to newer style boats. I love it.


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Absolutely gorgeous boat!

I get to stare at mine out the window from my desk all day.

Poor thing is wrapped in blue and covered with snow.

Until I found this site I was really struggling to find any info at all on my boat. Once I reach my ten posts I will start a new thread with pics so I can stop hijacking this one!

No worries at all man. The formula owners groups on Facebook are a good help too. There's vintage formula boats, formula boat owners! And I think a few formula 242 groups as well.. I hate how they are so splintered. But that's why I still enjoy forum life.

I couldn't agree more!

How was the wiring with the new gauges?

It was rather simple. I did put new (different) ends on where they connect to the new gauges, but that’s not a big deal. I also had to get a different fuel tank sender as the VDO (original) one did not work (different ohm range) with the new fuel gauge. Other than that, I didn’t have any problems.

I should also make it clear that although my gauges were never used and new in box, they were sitting on my shelf for a long time. I think Nordskog was bought out in 05-06 time frame (they are a classic like our boats!). With that being said, I believe new gauges would be just as easy to install.....just thought you should know.

Not sure if this link will work for everyone. But she's alive. Water pump impeller and plugs all swapped out. Ran it on the hose for just a few minutes to make sure it all worked properly.

Beautiful

Love that sound...

Hey Charlie whiskey
fellow Raleigh nebior
Are you ready for your shake down ride?

Absolutely! Planning on taking the next warm weather day off that's about 75ish. Looking like mid week next week! Just got it all registered and plates done today actually.

Sounds good
come meet us a falls lake Highway 50 ramp April 16 . A cigarette and a fountain will be our first outing of the year. If anyone has issues aleast their will be help.

When did they change 10 post to pm. #9

#10
will pm you my phone number

Sounds like a plan!! Will shoot you my info!

Live at the lake today for her first splash for me. So far so good. 78 and sunny! I'll post up more and details later, but she's running well so far.
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i

Good looking boat!

So had a great time all day today. No issues at all. Confirmed a few things which was nice.

Ran it WOT a few times. 5200 at 53mph GPS. Slightly disappointing as I would have liked to have gotten closer to that 60 mark. Was basically running the tach identical to the RPM. 3300 would do about 34 as well. 4000 rpms got me about 40-42.

I know I don't know how to properly trim a boat out but was playing and got the best speed with the drive trimmed up as far as a I could then started putting the tabs down and picked up about 2mph. Thinking a Hydromotive Q4 and a 22 pitch might get me a few more. Slip right now looks to be 23% on the Apollo (Michigan Wheel) 14.5x21P. something with a little more stern lift maybe.

Overall though had a great time. Wife admitted she actually enjoyed having a cabin with the little ones and they thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Wife likes the captains chairs but I miss bolsters as I do almost all my driving standing. Oh well... Happy wife right? 😁

I definitely need that flush mounted chart plotter. Trying to keep an eye on the phone screen and navigate and drive while it falls off the dash sucks.

Overall though 80 degrees and sunny weekday at the lake beats a day at the office every time.


Quick startup and idle video for fun:

Congrats on a good “maiden voyage” today! Glad all went well!

It takes quite a bit of power to get these ole birds to move, 53 isn’t that bad for a sbc in one of these.....at least what I think.

How did it do getting on plane? The 4 blade is definitely the best prop for my setup....be nice if you could try a few different props out and takes notes on pros/cons of each to find the best one for your setup.

I know its a completely different boat BUT my F311 likes a lot of trim out and no tabs (at least that's where I'm at now).

383 that came with the 242
 

Do you have any specs the 383?

Were there HP/TQ #HPgiven?

Cam?

Heads?

Carb?

Stock SBC Merc exhaust manifolds?

One limiting factor for dual plane intakes, is they need bigger carbs to breathe. The plenum cutouts are poor solutions to the issue...as they don't flow well at all. With a true dual plenum, each bank only sees half the carb flow.

The cam and valvetrain may be setup to get more rpm out of the engine, vs the Merc specs that are really low for gas engines to perform.

23% slip is def on the high end. Have you made the calcs right with the drive ratio? Many on here with 242s should be able to suggest some good prop options.
​​​​​
383s can be built to better than Merc 454 (330) torque and hp without much strain at all.