That's a good looking boat. The 24's and 25's (which seems to be how you are leaning) are great boats for their size. Big enough to handle big(ish) water, small enough for easy towing, launching and storage. With an HP500 a 24 should run 70ish, I think springs are about the only thing that need done on the carb HP500, sooner than later depening on hours.

My suggestion, and I don't mean to keep harping on this, is to get in and out of the cuddy half a dozen times when you look at the 24 and decide if you want to be doing that all day to get stuff in and out. I was in my mid-20's when I bought mine, now 10 years later I've had enough of crawling into it on my hands and knees. It's a good place to pass out, that's about it. The advantage that the 25 has over the 24 is worth the extra money in the long run, in access and the two little couches and head room. I absolutely dread having to unpack my cuddy after a weekend at the islands...I had a buddy with a 25 and I was so jealous of how much more user friendly his boat was.

c_deezy - thanks for emphasizing the Baja 24/25ft difference. In my 50's, my crawling period is long gone. I also like the "bench seating" in the cuddy, great place to watch a football game or read a book!

That thing is butt ugly

What he said! dont buy a pos hacked together boat. Bajas are fair to poor quality built boats... you dont see many old ones around cuz they arent worth restoring when they get older and are water logged, they get junked.
Look at magnums cigs any decently constructed 24/7 donzi,magnum, pantera splash. These hold up to relentless pounding in big water and hold their value. My .02

Based on my experience listing/selling a boat online, if your budget is 18k, you should be looking at boats in the 35-50k asking range. :evilb::stooges:

32 fever - Are you saying that when haggling over price you are looking to beat the asking price down by 50+%?...that just doesn't seem rational, I would certainly accept that deal? If this is the case, is it a rule of thumb that can be applied broadly, or is this only true within certain types of niche markets?... if nothing else, i'll pay you to negotiate a deal like that for me! :-)

In what context would it make sense to tie an alpha 1 drive with horsepower greater than even the stock 454 hp (330)?

I took his post as a combination of that and the fact that most people simply list their boats to high....way too high in some cases Some people are living in a fantasy land when it comes to what they believe their boat is worth. Whether they are simply upside-down or invested a bunch of money in aftermarket stuff that they think should raise their boats value dollar for dollar. Most aftermarket upgrades only raise the value of the boat about $.25 on the dollar, so if you install a $4,000 sound system don't expect it to raise the value of your boat by more than say $1000. Some mods such as supercharges and engine mods/rebuilds will net you maybe closer to $.60 on the dollar. When I was boat shopping last year I looked at a lot of boats and it was unreal what some people were asking, two identical make, year and model boats with similar hours and condition yet their asking prices were 35% apart. If you are a cash buyer it can give you a little bit of leverage during negotiating, whipping out a backpack full of cold hard cash suddenly makes your lowballish offer look more enticing and real to some buyers. You don't know the selles reason for selling, you don't always know how long the boat has been listed. You might be the first person to view the boat in weeks or months, they might be super motivated to sell and will take you offer or at least counter offer you somewhere close. That's how I landed my boat, got it for 25% less than the sellers listed price. I had to drive 250 miles for the boat and was prepared to pay a little more but my plan worked out. When I was driving home I was kicking myself in the ass for not making an even lower initial offer. At the end of the day I think both the seller and myself were happy.

My dentist/good friend has a 1994 Baja Bandit 24' 454 for $12,500. I highly recommend it not because he is my friend, because it has been well cared for and maintained with an open wallet. New upholstery within the last few months. New transome. Send me a PM and I'll give you his number. Goes for anyone that would be interested.