I'm 31.

I've had motor toys all my life. I restored a 1984 Chris Craft Stinger 260 I still have. When it was finish (restoration), I bought a 1985 F 35-7 wich I stripped completly this winter.

Since I have'nt tried to sell my Stinger, I still don't know if I'll be able to get back my money...Wich leads me to ask myself if it's better to have what I call a 'poor guy's speed boat', totally restored, with new colorfull paint job, NO DEBT, NO LOAN,

OR

Get a newer boat, get a loan on it for 5-10 -20 years, not really have a super paint job and customized interior, but have something that is worth a lot more money...

Then, selling the restored boat, or selling the newer one, wich one is going to sell the fastest, and more importantly, wich one is going to be the biggest spending between investment and resale price???

Personnaly, I prefer having a boat that cost maybe 5000$ to 15000$ above average value, no loan, instead of having big time paiement each 12 month of the year, and paying a lot of interest to the bank.

I'm I wrong???

nope I always liked not having loans on boats that way you can take out small ones to do up grades, if you need.I'M redoing some stuff right now for this season now and I had to take the last 2yrs off because of a injury at work, comps fighting me had to pay for two knee operations last year so I'm glade I don't have a boat payment so if you can do the work yourself fixem runem sellem and always try to make a little then you can pay cash for the new one

restore if you can afford it. just make sure who ever does it , is competent , and reliable.

Restore it!! I have had more people not understand why i have spent soo much money on a 22 yr old boat. They say you could have bought a new 42 fountain for what you have in that thing. The way I see it is that I will never pass another boat like mine. You see 42 fountains all day long. My boat is a piece of me and everything that has been done on it, except building the longblocks, has been done by me. I have choosen everything about it and it has come out great. Now when someone asks what it is or if its new i can smile and say, no its 22 yrs old. Look through my pictures for some inspiration. My $ .02

PS: I have always like the lines of the older Formulas, do something with it.

Jeff the 357 is a real head turner. I really love mine. I recently had the same question you did. I went and purchased a newer boat. After all the work I put into my 357 I am having a tough time with the thought of selling it. Its like selling my soul. I'm find myself second guessing my decision on going newer. Good luck what ever you decide!

I think it depends on how long you are going to keep it. If you plan on dumping a bunch of money into an older boat and turning it around to make a profit, you might as well quit while you're ahead. If you plan to keep it for several years and use it, go for it. I just went through this decision too. I have a 1985 28 Cigarette that is having both motors pulled right now so I can re-rig the whole thing with lots of new stuff. I got sick of fixing one little thing after another so I'm going to fix everything at once but I also plan on keeping the boat for many years. I thought about getting something newer but as I looked around nothing gave me the same feeling as looking at a classic. They are the boats I fell in love with many years ago and promised myself I'd have one. In the future, I think the older, updated, well built and cared for classics will always have a certain person that wants it, espically anything that came from Aronow.

Boats are $ Losers anyway you look at it. I personally don't like loans on toys. If you have a boat that you like, and it is paid for, take your time and redo it the way you want. Sure your going to put more money into it then you will ever get out of it, but if you plan on keeping it who cares. I plan on being barried in mine.

There you go...get to work

make out a time-line of what all you want to do and how long it will take, then multiply it by three and that will give you an idea of when it will be done. I am still trying to finish mine if the interior guy would just finish his part, I could rig it. At least you are starting with a working boat, I started with a hull, then bought a new deck and went from there.

what excalibur and magnum said combined