activox

Hey, y'all. Apologies for the newbie question, but can somebody give me a quick one-two on the diff between the LS and the SS?

I've been dickering on a 242 SS for the last week or so, the deal was done but went sideways last Thursday after my survey so I pulled my offer. This morning I got a call that the seller and broker were seeing things my way now and it looks like I may be a Formula owner soon.

Survey is clean so far, but my surveyor could not finish - lack of juice on the boat due to seven year old dead batteries. You'd think a guy who'd accepted an offer and knew a surveyor was gonna be on the boat at 9am would have taken care of that in advance...but it's a long story. That has been remedied and my surveyor is gonna head back down and finish. So far hull integrity, everything else, no problems noted whatsoever and this surveyor has a reputation as being a very cautious guy.

One thing that has come up that is bothering me. In the breaker panel on the port side of the engine compartment, there is (among others) a breaker labeled Radio Memory. WTF? It's popped out. Reset it, and it pops out again after a few seconds. Will not stay reset. BUT the weird thing, the radio works with the breaker popped. This bothers me for a couple reasons, mainly cause my paranoid self wonders if there was an electrical prob on the boat and the owner got tired of not being able to listen to the radio and hardwired it into the harness or another set of power elsewhere. BTW, the seller is an electrical contractor. Hmmm....anyone know what I mean here? I think Radio Memory is just to keep juice to the radio when the main power on the boat is turned off, so it doesn't forget the channel presets. Oh well. I worry a lot.

The engine/drive guy has not yet been down to look at it yet however, nor have we had a sea trial (postponed twice due to real lousy weather). In the interim we have looked at two Sun Runners (a 28 and a 30) as well as a couple of other boats but I think we still like the 242.

I still have a couple days to mull it over before I put my cash back on the table, any advice? Words of encouragement? Dire warnings?

Thanks, hope to be a real owner soon,
Aaron

masi242

I believe one of the big differences in the boats is the seating in the ss you have one bucket seat for the driver and passenger side has back to back seating. The ls has 2 bucket seats or bolsters, The bow rail on the Ls has a very short profile. It also looks like the sun pad is a bit bigger on the Ls. This is a great boat for the size.

Good luck

Poorsche

I've got an 87 SR357--the circuit breaker on mine panel has same breaker and factory wiring diagram shows it going to the radio "always hot" lead. THe previous owner of my boat ran a wire directly to the battery for that function for some reason--probably because of the way the battery switches were wired.

Tend to agree with you htat someone jerry-rigged something on wiring on panel in cabin or at radio itself.

I have factor wiring diagrams for my boat and will be glad to email you copies of you think it would help. Formula engineers are anal enought tha they probably used same wiring "theories" on all boats to the degree possible so they could re-use assemblies as often as possible.

Poorsche

www.boatmat.com

BUIZILLA

I don't see a big deal with this item. If you *power on* the memory all the time, the battery will eventually go dead. This button allows you to just de-energize that circuit even though the battery switch is left on, or off. He just jumped that wire or it has a minor short, it's only a 1 amp circuit anyways...look for bigger issues than this one, if not buy the boat, the 242 SS is the most practical of the 242 series.

JH

Bill272

The SS has a different deck mold than the LS. As Masi said, the seating is different too. The windshield is farther forward on the SS which makes the cabin a little smaller and the sunpad is smaller on the SS. I believe the back seat is pushed back so that the front of the engine is under the seat and the whole back seat comes up as part of the engine hatch. It seems like they took 3 or 4 feet total off the cabin and sunpad, and came up with a huge cockpit. I beleive they use the same hull and should run the same, but the LS will be more sporty, the SS more practical.

kjo43

Just be glad formula put in circuit breakers rather than fuses... I wouldn't worry much about it, I never quite understood the wiring formula used around the stereo, My aftermarket doesn't keep its memory and turns on everytime you switch the batts from OFF -> ON.

All the descriptions are right on with the SS vs. LS. I have a few pics of an SS and LS 223, the next model down from 242. Good luck with the trial and engine test. What engine does it have?

1988 223 (2 feet shorter than 242) This is an LS...

kjo43

This is my 1988 223 SS.

jaybird

Masi said it right. More seating in the SS, LS has bigger sunpad.

Sun Runner? You're kidding right? Comparing Sun Runner to Formula is like comparing a Yugo to a Mercedes. IMO and many others , Sun Runner's are junk cheapo boats. My friend had one that was the biggest POS. A glass shop had one in that the hull split wide open because the stringers came loose. Poor quality construction - stay away.

ThirdBird

I wonder if that's my "First Bird". I sold my '88 223SS to a guy from Onieda Lake. I kept the boat at Sandy Pond.

Is this you?

Dave

kjo43

Dave,

No, wasn't me - I just picked it up this year. BUT it could very well be your old boat. I know the boat was purchased new from Coopers Marine - I think in Brewerton. I got the original Formula binder and there was a salesman card in the folder, don't recall the guy's name...

Fast forward 10 years...In the fall of 1998 the previous owner (to me) purchased the boat from the Syracuse area and brought it down to Pittsburgh, 501 engine hours. I think he said he was the 3rd owner.

May 2004, I picked it up for a song and brought it back home to NY. Ran it all summer + just put it down for the winter last weekend. Its on a red eagle trailer that is also an 88, of course most of them were at the time.