1998 27 avanti project almost done!!
 

Well guys I was forced by some issues to sell the baja 272 I used to have so I had to get out of boating for a while. Missed being out in the water so much that I just could not take it anymore! I sold one of my cars and had a little bit of money and was fortunate enough to find this 1998 avanti with twin mercury 250efi motors that had been sitting for about 8 months.(got a good deal on it) Motors had good even compression all across the board. I bought it out of St. petersburg,Florida which is about 45 minutes from where I live. As soon as I got home and took it to the hillsborough river backed it in and started the outboards jus to see if they would start right up and yep they did. I was VERY surprised they started right up. Did not take the boat because it needed some work before it was sea worthy but I just wanted to see what kind of condition the engines were in, they only have 106 hours! Anyways my fiberglass guy just got done with the boat and I am VERY excited to get it back together and hopefully go boating this summer. I was able to put the 250's back on there and trim tabs, just have the other rigging to do so hopefully will be done soon. I had a new transom put in as well as new stringers. Probably throughout this winter I will redo the interior. I'm new to outboards so hopefully it will work out. The boat came out fantastic. Here are some before and after pictures enjoy!!!

This is the boat

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture032.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture038.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture033.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture037.jpg[/IMG]

Here's what it looked like when I was derigging it (needed a new makeover)
[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture016.jpg[/IMG]

Here's what it looks like now, new beefy transom along with nice new strong stringers as well as a bulkhead for more reinforcement, the fiberglass guy's name is Tim and he used to work for Spectre, he did a hell of a job!
[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture004.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture009.jpg[/IMG]

I'll continue to add more pictures as I go along. before he put the bracket back on he added some aluminum plates to where the bracket bolts on to the transom which it should have came with from the factory. It took him some time to do it but it was worth it, he went through the defects it had and corrected it the right way. He took his time and made sure there were no corners cu, I'm really excited at how it came out and can't wait to get done putting it back together.

Thanks for sharing, the quality of the fiberglass work looks top notch. Did you have to change the full length of the stringers?

Wow, very, very nice. I didn't even know Avanti built O/B sport boats that late. Boat looks fantastic.
If you are new to O/B's and especially just coming from a 272 Baja,..............get ready ;) The difference in driving, thrill factor etc, is night and day. Going from a Cadillac to a Porsche.
They say those 3.0 Mercs are great motors too. My current Sonic had 225's (basically same as your 250's) when I bought it but I ended up repowering with JohnRudes.
I'm on my 2nd twin O/B 24' Sonic which I just finished a 2yr restoration on and absolutely love what that boat will do.
Once we get back on our feet financially we will be traveling the state w/the boat so we'll have to hook up.
Taking ours out over here in a couple hrs.
Keep us posted on progress and let me know if I can help.

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...icatbeach6.jpg

twin o/b sonic I can't tell you how many times I have looked at your restoration thread for inspiration! lol you did a hell of a job on yours. The guy I bought it from said the boat will accelerate like a raped ape! My fiberglass guy looked at it completely over and said it was well built just needed to get a few things fixed which he did structurally such as the new stringers and transom. All I really have left is just hook up the steering lines and things like that. Just an issue of making time with everything going on lol. I want to put some new impellors on both motors and send the injectors out to get cleaned. Twin o/b sonic how far are you located from tampa? We definitely have to take them out as soon as I get done! :coolcowboy:

You will love the 250's, they are reliable as can be, BUT they are thirsty, get ready for your fuel bill. If ya ever want to modify them Shaun Torrente in Miami is the guy. If ya ever get over to the east coast, we need to run. Also I may get over your way(but a little further south, like fort myers) this summer.

272, Thanks for the compliments.

Playing with trim buttons will bring on a whole new meaning in that boat ;)
I am east coast, 1/2 hr south of Melbourne.
On the acceleration, the seller is correct. When I had the old Sonic I had a buddy w/a great running 25' Outlaw w/a 500 HP. Loved his boat. My Sonic though was 4 or 5 mph's faster and if we went from a 30 - 50 roll I'd destroy him. If he saw me reach for the sticks at a roll he'd look the other way ;)

Our 1st real trip will probably be the Keys and next will be Ft.Myers Beach and the neighboring islands.

raise those outboards.

Yeah, the mecr 250's are very reliable. I can also attest to Shaun Torrente's professionalism...I have two merc 250 outboards (one as spare) that were rebuilt by him. He is great to deal with.

Looks good.
When you get her all done we got to do some runing around in the bay with both of our Avantis. I'll try to keep up. :)

hahahahah yeah right paradox more like I'll try to keep up with you! Your 33 avanti is unbelivable, boy can that 33 move, I'll be lucky if I can even see the back of your boat especially the way your 33 was handling a little bit of the hard stuff in the Jacksonville poker run, we were going 80 plus through anything that day, I looked at your rpms after you passed the 80gps mark and you still had quite a bit left to go so I know for a fact your boat moves! There was a point when you got on it really good and that gps mark was playing with the 90mph mark, I think it was saying 89.999999999. lol The only way we'll be side by side is if you take it easy and go half throttle and I go full throttle! **** even then you'll probably still be ahead of me lmao. Hopefully one day I'll be able to have a nice 33 like yourself paradox or something similar. But for the moment I'll be happy with my 27 footer. :coolcowboy:

Thanks for the compliments. lol, but you'l be suprised. You have a pretty good HP to weight ratio on the 27. That thing will scoot once you got it ready.

Here are more pictures my fiberglass guy took along the way which he emailed to me, ENJOY!

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...ea/trasom2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...ea/tansom7.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/transom3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/transom4.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/transom5.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/transom6.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/transom8.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/transom9.jpg[/IMG]

Looks awesome Dude. Keep it up.

Youll love that boat in rough water, I raced a 27 for just over a year was a great boat turns like no other!

Is that the same bottom as a Corsa? (& Others)

Well got both motors started today!!!! boat is ready to go, should be taking it out this saturday with paradox, trim tabs don't work but oh well I'll worry about that this winter. Gotta enjoy what little of summer we have left lol Gotta love outboards these puppies started right up even after sitting for a while:coolcowboy:

I have my fingers crossed that everything goes well on the maiden voyage this weekend, I hope there are no bugs that need to be worked out but we all know how that is, I will find out for sure this weeknd and I can't wait!!!

Great news Alfredo. Sorry I keep missing your calls. should be around most of today. If you miss me, leave me a message and I'll call you back.
You will most likely want the tabs on your boat. With your boat being 3' longer than mine it should be better but mine is a turd w/o them bellow about 45 mph.
Good luck, be careful and keep us posted!

AWESOME NEWS!!!!!!! I'm so relieved guys I finally go the boat done and took it out after working on it all day today, I went out around 7pm for like a half hour ride, the river was pretty dirty and had some logs floating around so I was very careful and didn't really have enough room to open her up, but oh boy I got on it for like 5 seconds and the boat accelerates like a raped ape!!! Im definitely not used to that, the baja never accelerated anywhere near close to that :coolcowboy: I'll probably take it out wednesday or thursday out to clearwater with paradox and I can't wait. :drink: I must say taking both motors off, derigging the boat and then re-rigging it and puttin everything back on feels awesome to know I did it by myself and learned A LOT along the way! lol I'll definitely be taking some pictures for you guys just gotta clean her up, A LOT of cleanign to do I also wanted to say a big THANKS to all of you guys who have helped me along the way everytime I came up on an obstacle and asked a question, you guys always answered and guided me in the right direction, can't thank you enough!!!!

Did you get that shift cable changed today Alfredo? Like I said before, take you time learning to drive this boat. Its an entirely different animal from that baha. I bet you never believed John and I when we told you how that boat accelerates. Don't listen to the guy telling you to raise the motors. Learn how to run the boat first and find some bigger props when you are comfortable with it. You will find that the boat doesn't need much trim to run good. As a matter of fact it doesn't take much trim for those engines to start turning over 6k and setting the alarms off.

Tim does some pretty good work when it comes to fiberglass.

Have fun

Yeah ended up buying a new shift cable from west marine, since they were the only ones open on the weekend. Installed it and ended up working out. I just didn't think it would accelerate as fast as it does :eek:. The boat just needs a good detail which I will give it pretty soon, definitely have to get used to the boat first before I really start openning her up but very excited FINALLY lol:drink:

As far as tim doing great fiberglass you got that right! The man worked some magic on the transom. It came out brand new I can't thank tim enough no wonder he's always busy he knows his stuff when it comes to fiberglass. Just by looking at the before and after pictures it's a HUGE DIFFERENCE!

Welcome to "offshore" buddy.. and the adreneline that comes with it. :) Will catch up wirh you Wed. or Thursday.

Great news Alfredo. good advice from Obrien too.
As I posted before, you just moved from a Cadilac to a Porsche.
That style of boat really rewards driver input. The more you pay attention to what it's doing and wants, the faster it will go and the safer you will be.
Can't wait to see some pix's.

Well me and obrien took the boat out for a little bit yesterday before a storm came it and he was driving the boat since his friend is the one that used to have the boat which I bought from his friend. Obrien informed me that I just have to work a couple of small bugs out on the motors and it should give me the last 7-9 mph gps that the boat runs. When we ran it yesterday we were getting 70.1 consistent on the handheld gps. Obrien says the boat has more left in it he just felt like it was misfiring a little bit up top so next is changing the spark plugs and hopefully that should get them to roon smoother since those spark plugs have been on there for YEARS. Will keep you guys updated but slowly but surely getting there :coolcowboy:

BTW anyone else going to the egmont key get together tomorrow? Me and paradox will be there

Alfredo,
Another thing that was suggested to me is that you might want to get rid of the stock steel intake reeds for some good aftermarket ones like Boysen or Chris Carson Marine.

Here is the most recent picture of the boat, this was this past Sunday at the Clearwater Boat Races. It felt good to know all of my sweat and hours and hours of working on it had paid off! Can't even tell you how fun it is to drive it :coolcowboy:

[IMG]http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/x...waterraces.jpg[/IMG]

Boat looks great, now can you post more pics of the girl in the passanger seat???:lolhit:

lol that's my fiance she's awesome for putting up with me and this sickness that we call "boating" :lolhit:

Thats one cool boat. Great pics!