88 29ft (8.8m)/ Spitfire opinions?
 

Any opinions + /- on an 1988 29 Spitfire (8.8m) with 454's and Bravo's in great shape with good trailer? What kind of pricing, how's the ride and possible performance, known issues?

Nice boat, we've had ours for 10 years now. I've kept it partly out of necessity and partly desire. Re-sale on it is nonexistent now. I've had many boats in between and I still have the most fun with the 8.8. It's a perfect Delta/Bay boat but we have run out to Catalina with her but on a rough day with big tidal swell the hull comes up a bit short. The hull is heavy so you're asking a lot of Bravos if you go too big on power. We run a pair of 675hp N/A motors with Konrad drives, she came with TRS and she runs a respectable speed depending on props and weight and handles great.

[IMG]http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_2150.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...Big_Cat_10.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/.../Fountain2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_0845.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_2083.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Lofty;3776221]Nice boat, we've had ours for 10 years now. I've kept it partly out of necessity and partly desire. Re-sale on it is nonexistent now. I've had many boats in between and I still have the most fun with the 8.8. It's a perfect Delta/Bay boat but we have run out to Catalina with her but on a rough day with big tidal swell the hull comes up a bit short. The hull is heavy so you're asking a lot of Bravos if you go too big on power. We run a pair of 675hp N/A motors with Konrad drives, she came with TRS and she runs a respectable speed depending on props and weight and handles great.

I like what you did with it!
You say the boat is heavy. An 88 brochure I have says it is 6000 lbs with 260's but doesn't say wet or dry weight. What is your knowledge on the weight?
What kind of speeds are you seeing with the power you have?
You say that resale is nonexistent. How do you mean? Is it that it isn't worth anything because no one wants these?

Its because it's a 24 y/o boat...I'm livin' that.

not to hijack the thread but... Lofty, how did you do the windshield. It looks 10 years newer at least. Great looking boat.

[QUOTE
I like what you did with it!
You say the boat is heavy. An 88 brochure I have says it is 6000 lbs with 260's but doesn't say wet or dry weight. What is your knowledge on the weight?
What kind of speeds are you seeing with the power you have?
You say that resale is nonexistent. How do you mean? Is it that it isn't worth anything because no one wants these?[/QUOTE]

She'll run 100 with Two people, lite fuel, the right props and a nice cool day. I ran her across our scales but it was on the trailer and full of fuel, since I'm only guessing on the trailer weight my number won't mean much to you. It's a really nice and well behaved boat but there aren't many around but like Pullmytrigger says its an old hull so they just don't fetch much these days. There is allot of loose to about why Regie never built anymore of this hull but the bottom line is the molds burned up in a factory fire and they had the new long swim platform molds on line. Anyone that ever talks trash about an 8.8 has neither owned nor driven one or they would be singing a different tune.

We built a new one to mimic the newer boats. It's formed lexan on a fabricated base mount. I get lots of compliments on that, looks 10 times better in person. We also removed the deck hatch and glassed the deck in. The other major improvement in aesthetics was to remove the cow catcher bow rail, it was ugly as sin.

A major reason that I'll never sell mine

no need to sell her she is beautiful!!

Bolsters?
 

Lofty- Are those newer style bolsters or from a different year? They look nothing like the bolsters in the boat I was looking at.